History 1900 - 1925

LEWIS KEELEY AND THE KEELEY HOTEL 1898 - 1907

It is likely that Susan Caffyn or the family of Mrs. Caffyn or the trustees of her estate sold the Emigrant Gap Hotel to Lewis Keeley.  He renamed the Emigrant Gap Hotel to the Keeley Hotel.  We know that by 1900 he was a Hotel Keeper and Post Master in Emigrant Gap.  In fact, in 1898, there is a photo on Ancestry of the Keeley Hotel (thanks to my cousin for getting me a better copy).  There are a couple of people in the photo with the last name of Rawles - but we do not know their connection to the hotel (this photo is from the Rawles family tree). 

There were at least three hotels in the Emigrant Gap region at this time (the Carpenter Hotel, the Crystal Lake Hotel and the Emigrant Gap Hotel) but based on record of sale information, we are confident that Mr. Keeley owned the Emigrant Gap Hotel.  

The interesting thing is the orientation of the building. The Allen Hotel (Allen purchased the Emigrant Gap Hotel out of probate from Mr. Keeley)  had the lower roof edge drip line facing the street.  This building has the roof top (pitch) facing the street.  So - we are not sure what happened to the original building (it is likely Mr. Allen could have rebuilt the hotel when he purchased it). 

Per Mr Keeley's descendant, he was a registered voter in 1890 within Placer County.  I found an article about him having a bad accident in 1892.  

Since Mr. Keeley was a member of the United Workmen, he may have worked on the railroad at that time.  Apparently he survived the accident, since in 1897, he was part of a group that hiked from Blue Canyon to Bear Valley. (unless this was his son).    

In 1900 and 1901, he was postmaster of Emigrant Gap and he owned the Emigrant Gap Hotel. He no longer held the postmaster position in 1901.  By 1902 the postmaster was Christian Anderson and by 1903 the postmaster was Martin P Arenz.  In fact, after Mr. Keeley, it appears that the hotel was no longer the post office and it had been moved to the Hyatt Store.    

Mr Keeley was also the local constable.  Here is a recent article I found about an arrest he made in August,1900:

Here is a letterhead from the Keeley Hotel and some receipts for purchases for the hotel:

The population of Emigrant Gap was now on a stady decline and in 1902, the original Emigrant Gap School (built by Mr. Chinn and Mr. Caffyn) was closed.  Here is an article about the closer:  

EMIGRANT GAP SCHOOL CLOSED. There having been an average daily attendance of less than five pupils in the Emigrant Gap school district, for the whole year, beginning July 1. 1901, and ending June 30. 1902. the Board of Supervisors yesterday declared the district lapsed and annexed the territory to the Blue Canyon district. James D. Stewart was appointed to take charge ot the school property at Emigrant Gap until future order of the Board of Supervisors.

Mr Keeley was in a serious accident at Emigrant Gap in February, 1904.  He applied for and was granted a liquor license in  1905.  Also in 1904 he filed his will and in 1906 he died in Sacramento.  

Here is a copy of the bill of sale from Mr Keeley's estate of the Hotel to Lou Allen in 1907.  

Some of the other people who purchased items from the estate were also Emigrant Gap residents.

Elmer Baxter lived in Emigrant Gap (but possibly not just the town since Emigrant Gap is also an area in California ).  He also lived in Baxter (an unincorporated area next to I-80).  Baxter is even smaller than Emigrant Gap.  It has an old Ice House (now a cabin), that stored ice for the rail road refrigerator cars, a closed RV park and a closed general store and snow chain installation stop.  Elmer owned a general store (1951 - 1984)  - but I am not sure if that was in Emigrant Gap or in Baxter (since Baxter is in Emigrant Gap area). Elmer's sister Mary Baxter Childs (B1862, d1951) taught at the Emigrant Gap School.    

In 1901, 2500 feet of the snowsheds were burnt down due to fire. 

1901 - ALEXANDER WINTON FIRST TO CROSS THE SIERRA IN A MOTORCAR 

In 1901, Mr Alexander Winton (Winton Motor Company) was trying to be the first automobile to cross the US via Donner Summit.  He followed the old Dutch Flat to Donner Lake Wagon Road for most of his trip.  Mr Keeley helped him out a of tight squeeze!

He broke an axle above Hampshire Rocks and had his driver hike into the snow sheds to a small telegraph office to wire  Emigrant Gap to seek help.  From there a part would be ordered in Cleveland.  They stayed at the Emigrant Gap Hotel only one night while Mr Winston fashioned a temporary fix for the axle. 

Here is an excerpt from a book written by the pilot of the car about the ride:

"When I left Colfax on the morning of May 19, the motor working grandly, and though the going was up, up, up it carried me along without any effort for nearly 10 miles. Then it overheated, and I had to "nurse" it with oil every three or four miles. It recovered itself during luncheon at Emigrants' Gap, and I prepared for the snow that had been in sight for hours and that the atmosphere told me was not now far ahead. But between the Gap and the snow there was six miles of the vilest road that mortal ever dignified by the term. Then I struck the snow, and as promptly I hurried for the shelter of the snow sheds, without which there would be no travel across continent by the northern route. The snow lies 10, 15, and 20-feet deep on the mountain sides, and ever and anon the deep boom or muffled thud of tremendous slides of "the beautiful" as it pitches into the dark deep canyons or falls with terrific force upon the sheds conveys the grimmest suggestions.

The sheds wind around the mountain sides, their roofs built aslant that the avalanches of snow and rock hurled from above may glide harmlessly into the chasm below. Stations, section houses, and all else pertaining to the railways are, of course, built in the dripping and gloomy, but friendly, shelter of these sheds, where daylight penetrates only at the short breaks where the railway tracks span a deep gulch or ravine.

To ride a motor bicycle through the sheds is impossible. I walked, of course, dragging my machine over the ties for 18 miles by cyclometer measurement. I was 7 hours in the sheds. "

Motoring West, Volume 1, Automobile Pioneers 1901 - 1909

1903 - GEORGE WYMAN AND HIS MOTORCYCLE

In 1903, George Wyman was the first person to cross America on a Motor Cycle.  He passed through Emigrant Gap, using the Snow Sheds as a nicely graded path to traverse the Sierra.   He took lunch at Emigrant Gap (probably our hotel) and then spent the next 6 miles on the vilest road that mortal ever dignified by term.Here is an excerpt from his account of his travel through Emigrant Gap:

1904 RAILROAD SPUR

In 1904 a railroad spur was built from Emigrant Gap to Bear Valley:

CROOKEDEST RAILROAD BÜILT IN CALIFORNIA 
Lumber Road Now Building Also Will Be the Steepest Steam Road in Operation. BUILT ON GRANITE BED " GRASS VALLEY, Cal., March 24. With April 1 a narrow gauge steam road will be started from Smart Station, near Emigrant Gap, Placer county, to Fall Creek, Nevada county. It will be a private enterprise, built by Blrce & Smart, the big lumbermen. The builders expect that the line will require three months to build, but even then it will give them an excellent logging season. 
The mill, which has been located at Lake Spaulding for several seasons, will be taken up and moved to Smart Station, In Placer county, thus entailing a large saving in time and energy, to say nothing of expense. Timber will be hauled direct from the forests over the railroad to the mill, and as it comes out reduced to building material it will be piled alongside the Central Pacific tracks, ready for shipment. The mill has a capacity of 35,000 feet per day. The introduction of a railroad in that section of Nevada county means more than appears on the face of things. Though the line will be but six miles in length for the present, it will eventually be extended to Graniteville, a distance of twelve miles. It will be the crookedest and steepest steam line in California, according to all accounts. Its builders have immense forest holdings in that section, and the line will be run to tap them primarily, which accounts for its departure from a direct route. No ordinary engine will be used, since the road Is to be built on an 8 per cent, grade, which is about 6 per cent, steeper than the Nevada county narrow gauge line. A cogwheel engine, of the type used to climb Mount Tamalpais, has been ordered, being the only kind which can overcome a steep grade and short curves. This, together with half a dozen Hat cars, will arrive from the East long before the road has been completed. A considerable rart of the roadbed lies through the hardest kind of granite, which will necessitate the use of large quantities of high explosives. 


The line will cross one end of Lake Spaulding, where a trestle 300 feet in length will be erected seventyfive feet above the surface of the lake. In addition to hauling timber for the lumbermen the road will carry all the freight now being transferred by team from the station to Graniteville and the mines in that locality, as far as Fall creek, whence the freight teams will take It In charge. Later on the road will be extended through to Graniteville, and the day of the freighter from Smart Station will have ended In that direction. The road will open up that section as nothing else could, and is expected to give an impetus to every industry in the neighborhood.

THE ALLEN HOTEL 1907 - 1918

Lou B Allen  (AKA Lewis) purchased the hotel in 1907 and ran it with his five sisters, Lillian, Hilda, Myra, Margaret, Eva and possibly his father Lou D. until 1918.  


Lou B Allen (Jr) was born in 1880 and died in 1965. He was the City Marshall of Roseville from 1920 and it's first Chief of Police.  He is buried in Roseville. 

Younger Margaret married Tom Pickford, a machinist for the Atlas Engine Company and moved to Oakland.  In April 1910, Eva married G B McGinnis, an operator for the Southern Pacific Railroad and moved to Roseville (many of her descendants still live in the Roseville area).  Myra married G. H. Sackett, a real estate broker, and moved to Oakland. HIlda became a stenographer for the Pittsburg Water Company in Oakland.  Lillian married C.W. Manuel an operator for the Souther Pacific Railroad and moved to  Lincoln. Her daughter (Albra) was born at the Allen Hotel in 1908 and was married to Congressman Bizz Johnson.  

In the early 1900s, the Allen Hotel served not only railroad workers, but vacationers, cowboys and sawmill employees.  

Myra Allen (the oldest daughter) once stated that there were times that cowboys road their horses into the hotel bar and upset everything. Eva told her grandson that Hilda (the youngest) was the prettiest sister and the cowboys were actually there to visit her.  

The hotel had one toilet for all three floors. There were four good wells at the Gap, one was located behind the Hotel near the barn. It was the girls job to water and feed the horses.  

During the spring, summer and fall, Mr. Allen conducted hunting expeditions into the back country.    Eva once told her grandson that she would ski from the top of lookout point down to Bear Valley during the winter.  In Leona Bright's Emigrant Gap book she captured a song written about the Allen Hotel:

Allen's Emigrant Gap Hotel.  

Home life for young and old as well. 

The Air is pure and the water fine.

          Your health is good in the bright sunshine 

at Allen's Emigrant Gap Hotel in the tall Sierras.

Lou D (Sr.) was a Civil War veteran and served as a private in Company K of the 20th Maine Infantry (Penobscot County). This regiment was organized in Portland Maine on August 29, 1862.  The regiment was at Antietam, but did not come under fire until Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.  

Once Lou D (Sr.) left the service, he worked for some time as a stagecoach driver and freighted to the Mother Lode towns and later worked for the South Yuba Water Works.  It is possible that he met his wife, Margaret (Maggie) Murphy of Nevada City during that time.  Margaret was a native daughter, born in Washington CA.  Her father crossed the plains in 1850 and settled in the Washington, then Nevada City area.  Margaret's family raised race horses. 

 
Here are photos of Lou Sr and Maggie

Lou D Sr. died in his bed in Emigrant Gap in 1918 at the age of 72 and is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Nevada City. His wife, Margaret died some years before that.  It is possible the Allen family sold the hotel out of probate. 

Allen sold 100 acres of his land including Lookout Point to T. C. Wohlbruck (famed sierra photographer). 

We were lucky to meet the grandson of Eva Allen in the summer of 2013.  He and his grandchildren were camping near Tahoe and stopped by to see the site of the old hotel.  He shared some very helpful information about his grandmother's time in Emigrant Gap which we have included in this story and we hope to hear from him in the future. 

My nephew was digging around our property (mostly we find broken glass and old tin cans since Emigrant Gap is above the Gold Line) and found an old buckle from a belt or a suspender.  When we looked it up online, the company that made the buckle was a supplier to the union army during the civil war.  So it is possible that this buckle actually belonged to Lou Allen Sr. 

1907 - DIPHTHERIA QUARANTINE

In 1907, Diphtheria broke out at Emigrant Gap and a Quarantine was placed at a cattle camp in the area.  An employee of the camp, named Roy Cunningham, was arrested in Grass Valley for breaking quarantine and traveling outside of the camp.  

The epidemic caused several serious cases and some deaths at Emigrant gap.  Cunningham was kept under arrest and in quarantine until the  epidemic was over. 

In 1907, there were plans to build a trail from Emigrant Gap to Westville.  This would have linked both sides of the American River Canyon much higher up than the current bridge at Colfax.  Here is a news article that outlined that plan:

Tomorrow the sessions will be open to the public, and stock men and raisers are expected to take part. During the past six months a great many improvements have been made in the Tahoe national forest. The Government has expended quite a sum of money In the building of trails, bridges, cabins and otherwise improving the forests which are being protected. Next season will see many other improvements, the chief one of which will be the building of a trail from Emigrant Gap to Westville in Placer county. This will Include a 110-foot horse bridge across the American river. A new road some five miles In length will also be built from Roberts’ Flat to French Meadows, which will connect with the Soda Springs road. This will be a great benefit to campers and others who traverse that country during the summer months.  Forest Supervisor M. B. Elliott reports that nearly all of the work for this season has been completed. All that remains to be done is the building of a horse bridge across the Middle Yuba river, below Moore’s Flat and near the Junction of Kanaka creek. This will be six feet wide and it will be substantially built. The bridge will prove a great boon to that section.

1909 - TOO MANY RATTLESNAKES

In July of 1909, there were numerous rattlesnakes found at the train tracks in Emigrant Gap.  The belief was that too much food was being thrown from the train and the rattlers were finding a good source of food which increased their population significantly. 

They must not be throwing food from the train anymore since I have only seen one rattlesnake at Emigrant Gap since we purchased the property.  

Here are a few photos of the Allen Hotel from 1910

1911 - ROBERT FOWLER AND CARPENTER FLAT

In 1911, William Randolph Hearst (a man with too much money and too much power) was offering $50,000 to the first aviator to fly from the west coast to the east coast of the US.  The trip had to be completed by October 12, 1911.  Robert Fowler, an automobile enthusiast and a new aviator (he learned how to fly with one of the Wright Brothers), decided he would give it a try.  He rented a Wright Brothers 30 horse power model B biplane and on September 11, 1911 took off from San Francisco, heading east.  

He stopped in Sacramento, and Auburn.  On the morning of September 12, he took off again - but crashed in Alta.  Luckily, though his plane was toast, he was uninjured. The plane was brought back to Colfax for repairs. People took special train excursions to Colfax jut to see the plane. 

On September 23, the plane was fixed and Fowler took off again.  He reached 5000 feet over Blue Canyon, continued up above Emigrant Gap and on to Cisco.  At that point he encountered 50 MPH winds and could not clear the summit.  

On September 24, he tried again and reached an altitude of 7500 feet,  but the winds were even worse. He landed at Carpenter Flat (by the current Rancho Sierra).

On September 25, he tried yet again and he reached 8000 feet but was unable to break the headwinds and cross the summit.  He landed again in Carpenter Flat. He finally had to give up on winning the prize. 

In 1912, Fowler took a route in Southern California and successfully flew from the West to the East.

Here are some amazing photos that are in our state archives of Fowler and his plane.   

Take off at Auburn, 

Over Applegate

Wrecked at Alta 

Landing at Robinson Flat

1911 - TAHOE TAVERN TROPHY


By 1911, the Tahoe Tavern started offering a trophy to the first car to cross the Sierra following the Emigrant Gap  to Donner Lake route from the town of Emigrant Gap each winter.  Intrepid travelers gathered each year thereafter to try to be the first over the summit. 

The Tahoe Tavern has a long history itself - but tragically it was torn down and replaced with condos (and the rich get richer).    We have a photo of the wharf at the Tahoe Tavern hanging at the lodge.  

In 1911 a patent was filed in Emigrant Gap for a special design of a railroad spike.  Here is a copy of that patent:

1912 - 4TH OF JULY IN WASHINGTON

In 1912. Lou was still at Emigrant Gap and was part of a committee planning a big 4th of July celebration in Washington CA.  Here is a small segment of the article that mentioned his name:

Also in 1912, Lou Allen was an agent for the Pacific Telephone company.  There were only two customers in the area.  The Reed Lumber Company and PG&E.  

1913 - GOOD LUCK FOR ALLEN & THE START OF SPAULDING  

Mr Allen had some good luck while in Emigrant Gap.   Here is a newspaper article that was posted in 1913 about his good fortune:

LUCKY TIRE PUNCTURE: Sept 18, 1913 L.B. Allen of Emigrant Gap, while traveling to Washington, Nevada County, had one of the tires on his auto punctured by a scarf pin which some one had evidently lost in the road.  It was a pin of the nugget variety and the gold is worth between $15 and $20.  

In 1913, PG&E started building Spaulding Dam which provided hydro-electric service and built a Look Out near Emigrant Gap.  Mr. Wohlbruck established a canteen and hotel at PG & Es Look Out Point along Emigrant Gap State Highway, the subsequent location of the Nyack Hotel.

1913 - GOING DRY

In 1913, Placer County was putting up for vote a decision to become a "dry" county (meaning no liquor could be sold).  An article about the impending vote mentioned that the stop of sales of liquor would hurt hotels on the summit - including the Emigrant Gap Hotel:

And finally in 1913, Southern Pacific published this bulleton:

1914 - FIRST WOMEN TO CROSS AMERICA BY MOTORCAR

In 1914 Mrs Frederick E Davis passed through Emigrant Gap to be the first women to cross the United States in a motor car.  It is unknown if Mrs Davis stopped at the Emigrant Gap Hotel, Saloon or Restaurant. 

1916 - CARS OVER THE PASS

Here is a May 1916 article about how treacherous the road could be:


Road to Emigrant Gap Open to Autos Police Officers Drive Car Far Deep Into Sierras. But Find River Too High for Fishing. Police Sergeant Harry Rible, Patrolman George Buell and wife and Harold Oundas and wife have taken the first auto of the season into Emigrant Gap. They made the trip Friday on a fishing trip. Residents of the place were surprised to see a machine again after being snowbound for months. From the Gap, the party drove half way down the slope to Bear river, where deep snow prevented further progress. They walked down to the river, which they found running bank full and too high for fishing. Accordingly the return was made as far as Canyon Creek, where they found some fair fishing. In order to make the road from Emigrant Gap to the river passable the hotel, the Pacific Gas and Electric company and the management of a neighboring mine have a crew of men busied shoveling the snow from the road. In some places the drifts, which are, being cut through, are six feet in depth.

And then later in the 1916 spring the following article appeared:

AUTO EXCURSION TO SPAULDING DAM NEXT SUNDAY 

Bee Trips Through This County Are Becoming Quite Numerous at Present (Sacramento Bee)

For its twenty-first Sunday auto trip suggestion of the season, the Bee offers a trip to Bake and to the P. G. & B. dam at the lake, which is one of the biggest concrete lams in the world. The distance is S 3 miles and the trip can be made in five hours of leisurely driving. The road to the dam and lake is generally good and there are attractive mountain scenery and plenty of good camping sites both along the route and around the lake. There are several vacant cabins at the lake, which were used for the construction gangs, and these can be used temporarily by motorists. The route suggested by the Bee is the regular road to Auburn via the boulevard passing the Sylvan school. From Auburn the regular road through Colfax, Gold Run and Towle is followed to Emigrant Gap and from the Gap the highway branches off to the left to the lake. The road from the Gap to Lake Spaulding is in good condition, as is the regular road from Auburn. The distances are Auburn 35.3 miles. Weimar 47.6, Colfax 52.4, Gold Run 59, Towle 62.3, Emigrant Gap 78, and the lake 83. Between Gold Run and Towle, Dutch Flat Is passed, the town lying to the left of the regular road. Those making the trip are urged to climb the hill at Emigrant Gap for a view of the lake, dam and valley, which is one of the big treats of the entire trip. The climb is less than a hundred feet and a stop of only a few minutes Is necessary to enjoy one of the most beautiful sights in Superior California. Lake Spaulding covers 850 acres at the upper end of Bear Valley. There is plenty, of good trout fishing both in the lake and in the streams emptying into it —the Yuha river and Fordyce creek. Both streams are only a short hike from the auto road.

Picture of the Hyatt Store (our neighbors cabin) from the same period. From the picture you can see that the Post Office was now located at the Mercantile. 

1916 - SHOE THAT HORSE (SNOWSHOE THAT IS) 


Here is an article about a snowshoe horse that traveled through Emigrant Gap in 1916

Hank Weber, who is riding a snowshoed horse to Truckee on a bet, now is within seventeen miles of his destination, according to telegraphic advices received by the Southern Pacific this afternoon. The telegram. sent from Soda Springs at 11:37 a. m., as follows: Weber and horse arrived at road crossing west of Soda Springs at 9:30. Passed Soda Springs depot at 11:04. "We'll make Summit today. Seem to be making very progress. Easy going in the early morning." 

Famous Snowshoe Horse "California" Travels through Emigrant Gap

CISCO, Feb. I8. —Hank  Weber, who is attempting to over the snowdrifts of the Sierras to Truckee on his snowshoe horse "California", and incidentally to win a bet of $250 for Samuel Snortridge, the San Francisco attorney, met with his first serious mishap near here yesterday afternoon. He was able to resume his trip today, however. Weber was riding along the bank of the Yuba river, about a mile east of Crystal Lake, when his horse slipped through a great drift of heavily packed snow that hung out over the river, and fell into the water Fortunately the water was not over the horse's head. Weber disengaged himself and made his way through the snow to the river bank with some difficulty. L.. Anderson, the Pacific Telephone patrol who was escorting Weber from Emigrant Gap to Cisco, helped Weber out of the water and then went for assistance. With the help of several men and a block and tackle ''California'' was extricated and brought safely to land. The horse did not seem to be injured by his icy bath and Weber remounted and rode into Cisco. Weber left here at 4 a. m. in company with C. Neilson, line patrol of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. A good crust had formed on the snow over night, and Weber expects to reach Telephone Shelter Cabin No. 3 in time for breakfast at 8 o'clock. The cabin is on the county road about seven miles from here, opposite Troy station. i Weber expects tc reach Truckee not later than February 22.

And here is the last article I found on Hank, his horse and Emigrant Gap:

CAVANNA AND THE EMIGRANT GAP HOTEL (ONCE MORE) 1918

Lou Allen sold the Allen Hotel in either 1917 or 1918. 

A. Cavanna bought the Emigrant Gap Hotel in 1918. He refurbished it into an A-1 hotel and by 1924 had built the annex.  It is said that the annex was built as a result of a complaint from the married railroad workers wives. The wives had grown tired of single men bringing their girlfriends up from Auburn on the train and "entertaining" them in the Hotel.  To resolve the complaint, Mr. Cavanna built a boarding house next to the hotel that had sleeping quarters on the lower floor for the single men and "entertaining" rooms on the main floor for their visiting girl friends.  

During this time, Emigrant Gap area saw transition from the railroad era to the automobile.  

An additional interesting note - the annex was built by J Cortopassi of Colfax.  The timber in the basement appears to be old railroad beams that may have been part of the 65 foot turntable structure or snow tunnels that were abandoned by the railroad in 1922.  Nice to know that these folks were recyclers like us!

So how did we find out about the Cortopassi family?  We were fixing the walls of the Dining room and the sheathing had the name Cavanna and Cortopassi written on it. We then looked up Cortopassi and Emigrant Gap and found their family connection.  

Mr. Cavanna was born in Lombardi, Italy (2/17/1877). He attended school until he was 10 years old, then he went to work on the family farm.  At 17, Mr. Cavanna left Genoa on the steamship Colombo.  He moved to Buenos Aires and lived there for 4 years.  After a brief return to Italy, he started out for California, and worked in Napa valley for the California Wine Association (12 years) at Vichy Soda Springs (3 years) and Napa Soda Springs (4 years).  He became and operator for the Railroad and was stationed at Emigrant Gap, then at Blue Canyon.  He then purchased the Woodbury Hotel in Blue Canyon in 1917.  He renamed that hotel to the El Wanda.  He sold the El Wanda in 1923 to an L.C. Christensen (possibly to fund the annex). 

He was married to Filominia Buscaglia of Lombardi Italy and they had four children: Joseph, Andrew, Mario and Mary. 

Cavanna's son, Joseph (1907 - 1988) and Joe's wife, Vera (1907-1983) re-purchased the  El Wanda Hotel in Blue Canyon.  In 1935, Joseph testified about a murder case in Emigrant Gap.  A Mr. Cramer had murdered a fellow miner to steal his money and a young boy who had stolen his rifle in Emigrant Gap and stashed their remains in old mine shafts.  Mr Cavanna's brother Mario, also testified in the case.  

Here is a photo of the El Wanda.  The old hotel burnt down a long time ago but the bar is still there and has been converted into a private cabin.  

Joe still owned the El Wanda in Blue Canyon in 1972.  He was interviewed by the Nevada State Journal at that time and the following is an excerpt from that interview (sorry for the misprints - but the copy is poor):

Memories of Locomotives Retained.   Little Blue Canyon Bar, this once bustling town of over 600 people.  

Joe Cavanna gazes across the bar at the Blue Canyon Inn and 60 years rolls away. The steam trains stopped there to take on water he came to the area with his father 60 years ago come August.  He recalls the horde of passengers that poured off the trains to take in the sights.  There were stores ,bars,  a school, many homes and a rooming house. Joe's father built the dance hall in 1922 that he now operates as a bar.  His wife Vera served on the school board for 23 years but there's no school now. It was closed in 1963. The Southern Pacific has four men and a foreman living and working there seeing that the tracks are in good shape. There are 20 permanent residents left. They vote at Emigrant Gap but its so far from the polls that all the residents get absentee ballots. Joe's business picks up in summer. There are 52 summer homes on a bluff above town. They are only a short way from the river. Joe has a book of clippings of RAILROAD PIONEERS. Joe many dating back to the days he and Vera pioneered interests of Blue Canyon. I'll always live here he said as the engine roar and clicking wheels of a long freight fades as it disappears up the canyon to the Emigrant Gap Store. 

In 1918, the Emigrant Gap Road was called Auburn-McKinney's State Highway, State Route 37, then the Lincoln Highway 40 in 1925 and finally Highway 80 in 1964. If you take some of the off ramps along highway 80, you will see historic Highway 40 signs and, if you are lucky, you may find some Lincoln Highway concrete posts with the profile of President Lincoln pressed into them.  We would love it if we had a Lincoln post at Emigrant Gap - but so far we have not found one. 

In 1920, it was recommended that the rim around Lake Tahoe be removed so that more water could escape the lake. 

Below surveyors for Lincoln in 1923:






And a wanted sign from the Lincoln Highway Association. 

Note: A few of my maps from the Lincoln Highway got lost some time ago.  I plan to re-post them as soon as I can locate the originals.  

Here is a Lincoln Highway Road sign for Emigrant Gap.  Back in the day, none of the road signs were consistent.  This is an example of one from the CSAA. Some of the Lincoln Highway signs included some extra text (like the one below for Placerville). Most people along the Emigrant Trail (Highway 80) would argue that the Lincoln Highway did not go through Placerville - and that highway was called the Victory Highway.  Still being argued today.  

 

THE PUCCI FAMILY

The next possible owners of an Emigrant Gap hotel are Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pucci. Since the dates overlap the Cavanna's - we are unsure if he owned our hotel or managed it or if he owned or managed the El Wanda, the Skyline or the Carpenter Hotel.   There is little known about the family though Mr. Pucci also owned the Pastime Club in Colfax during prohibition from 1920 - 1933.

Mr Pucci was born in Italy in 1877 and died in 1942.  He is buried in Colfax.   His wife, Emilia (Buchignani) Pucci was born in 1888 and died in 1986. 

Son, Frank served in World War 2 and is also buried in Colfax.  

Mr and Mrs Pucci had a daughter, Theresa in Washington, CA and a son, Frank in Colfax.  She and her husband also had a child who died at Emigrant Gap who is buried in a plot somewhere in the town. 

In 1920, Mr Pucci took the first trip out of Emigrant Gap after the snow:


Henry Pucci, proprietor of the local hotel, was the first man to make the trip from Emigrant to Colfax this winter and took only three hours to negotiate the distance, Mr Pucci not make the trip for the sake of the record but to help a party of San Franciscans whose big car was stalled two miles from Emigrant Gap and came to the hotel carrying their suitcases. Pucci offered to take their I suitcases to them. When the party reached Colfax, one of them told the I garage owner that he had better send help to Pucci but twenty minutes later the hotel man arrived. 

Now here is the kicker.  In 1921, Mr. Pucci found a large amount of gold while mining near Emigrant Gap.  He could have bought the hotel as a result of striking it rich:

Also in 1921, he was an agent for the Lake Valley Lumber Company.

With Women's Suffrage ratified in 1920, Mts. Pucci became an election judge in the 1922 Election which was held at the Allen Hotel.  Mrs. Carrie Hyatt was the election inspector, Mr Hyatt and Mr Wortell were additional clerks.  Though the northern part of the state (including Emigrant Gap) was considered mostly Democrat, the senatorial race held for the Republican Party. This was a midterm election and Warren Harding was the U.S. President at the time. 

Here are a few pictures of Mrs and Mr Pucci possibly taken at Emigrant Gap.

And a photo of the hotel from the 1920s:

Emilia and her husband also had a child who died at Emigrant Gap who is buried somewhere in the town. 

Henry also killed a bear at Emigrant Gap (see picture with train snowshed in background).  If I ever find any other information about that, I will post it. 


And a picture of Theresa (or Teresa).  I can't tell if the photo is from Emigrant Gap or some other swimming hole. 



1923 - DOUBLE TRACKING


The railroad next completed 6.5 miles of second track on the east side of the summit between Truckee and Andover. Construction began April 10, 1923 and was completed on August 5. Below is a picture before the double tracking and a picture after.  The second picture was taken after 1935 because the Hotel is no longer next to the Hyatt Store. 

This left a 28.4-mile gap between Emigrant Gap and Andover. Work began in November 1923 on the most difficult portion of the Sierra double-tracking. Lack of working room on the extremely precipitous side-hill locations made difficult the storing of materials and erection of construction camps. Most of the right-of-way outside the actual tunnels was covered by snowsheds. These had to be removed for construction and then replaced again before heavy snow began, requiring no fewer that twenty gangs of twenty-five men each.

The railroad was double-tracked between Blue Canyon and Emigrant Gap in 1923 and from Emigrant Gap to Andover in 1925 making train travel much safer in the Sierras.  The ruling grade from Colfax to Emigrant Gap is 2.4% (which is the steepest on the Central Pacific Railroad).

The first phase involved double-tracking from Blue Canon and Emigrant Gap. Work on this 5.3- mile section began on March 6, 1923 and was completed on August 15, including new longer sidings at both end points, and a new eighty-foot covered turntable at Emigrant Gap. The Emigrant Gap fire train, stationed to protect the vulnerable snowsheds from fire, was used during this work to haul water to the steam shovels and donkey engines building the project.

THE PROJECT saw as many as twenty steam shovels working. As had been the case with the initial double- tracking between Rocklin and Colfax, crews construction tracks that crossed the mainline tracks frequently, requiring train protection by electric interlockings. Donkey engines hauling narrow- gauge dump cars moved material from cuts. Mainline train traffic averaged one train every 23 minutes during summer and fall, thoroughly complicating the construction process.

1924 PROHIBITION

In the 1920s one of the saloons at Emigrant Gap got in trouble for selling liquor.  It is possible the saloon was the same one where Mr. Carpenter's son was shot down for not paying a debt he owed.  The Carpenter Hotel and Saloon was sold my Ms. Carpenter's husband in the early 1900s after she died suddenly.  See text below from a news article:

Emigrant Gap Resort Raided by Officers

Sheriff Elmer H. Gum , Deputy Sheriff F. H. Dependence and operative Myron Lackey last night raided the road house of E. Pelligrini at Carpenter’s Flat near Emigrant Gap, arresting the proprietor and siezing considerable wine and jackass brandy. The defendant is charged with sale and possession of liquor, and possession of a slot machine, lie was brought to the county jail. 

And:

A, Pelligrini, tho Emigrant Gap resort owner, who was raided bySheriff Elmer Gum, Deputy Sheriff r. H. Dependener and operative Myron Lackey last week, found the going rather hard in the lower altitudes when he encountered charges of possessing slot machines and liquer in the court of Justice of the Peace John Davis. He was fined $3OO for violating the Wright act and $2OO for Possession of slot machines. In addition, he was held to the Superior Court on a charge of sale of liquor. He is at liberty on $2,000 bonds.

JOSEPH SMART II AND THE EMIGRANT GAP HOTEL 

At some time between the Allens, the Cavannas and the Cortopassi's, the hotel may have been owned by Joseph Hutchins Smart.  It is also possible that he owned the Carpenter Hotel (since both hotels were in the same area).  The Smart  Lumber Mill was up at 6 Mile Valley, so he could have also owned the Crystal Lake Lodge.  The Smart Lumber Mill was sold to eastern investors in 1903.  Later, Mr. Smart owned a lumber mill in Dutch Flat  (1917).  Mr Smart was born in Dutch Flat in 1865 and died in Roseville in 1930 (he is buried along with his father, mother and wife in the Dutch Flat Cemetery).  He had many siblings one of which was Emma Smart and sister-in-law named E.K.Smart (see alcohol receipt - Schnerr/Smart courtesy of the descendants of the Keeley Family). His wife, Louise was born in 1872 and died in 1941.  

They had two daughters - Justine and Joyce.  Joyce went to college at Stanford and married a prominent writer - John Fonte (Walk on the Wild Side).  She lived the balance of her life in Malibu.  

When Joseph was young, he was the delight of the old residents of Dutch Flat.  When Whiskey Jim offered prizes to the boys on the 4th of July, Joe always won the prize for climbing the greased pole.

His father, Daniel Smart, came to California in 1851.  

I recently found out about the "new" owner via the book The History of Placer and Nevada Counties, 1924.  Here is the excerpt from the book that discusses Mr. Smart's sale of the hotel:

Joseph Smart II was brought up in Dutch Flat, he did odd jobs as a young man, 
 clerked in the store and helped distribute the mail. Later he got a job in a factory,  
receiving 50 cent- a day, but this did nol prove to his liking.  A more promising future  
seemed to open up by learning the trade in a paper pulp mill at Towle under  
Superintendent Guptill of the Pioneer Paper Company. This he did and at the age  
of twenty-five he was sent to Washington state to rebuild and operate a mill  
employing seventy men. 




Upon his return to California, owing to the death of the former manager,  
he was called upon to assume the management of both the pulp and the wood 
 flour mills, which supplied the Hercules Giant and the California Powder  
Manufacturing Company, as well as a British Columbia concern. It was found,  
however, that these products could be produced cheaper in the larger mills  
at Oregon City, Ore., and this competition forced the mills in California out of business. 

He did not, however, have all his eggs in one basket. By the time he was twenty-one  
years old he had saved $1000, this he invested in sheep and made money at  
growing wool for three seasons. About twenty-five years ago he took up the 
 sawmill business, and built and operated two mills and now has extensive timber  
holdings in the region of Emigrant Gap, with yards at Roseville, which he opened  
in 1907. The J. H. Smart Lumber Company leased a property at  
Roseville to the Sterling Lumber Company about eight years ago, retaining  
1400 feet frontage on Lincoln Street. His mill in the mountains employs 
 about forty men and has a capacity of 25,000 feet of lumber a day. He recently sold  
the Emigrant Gap Hotel, which he has owned for several years. In 1924 Mr. Smart  
completed a fine brick business block in Vernon Street, Roseville. 




He has a wife and two children, Justine and Joyce. Mrs. Louise (Runckel)  
Smart was born in Dutch Flat, the seventh of nine children born to her parents,  
the late Justus H. Runckel and his wife, Louise (Hild) Runckel.  
Mrs. Smart was a successful teacher in Placer County for a period of seven  
or eight years before marriage. She is a member of the Eastern Star.  
Mr. Smart is a member of the Union Church in Roseville ; and fraternal,  
is a Mason and is a charter member of Dutch Flat Parlor, N.S.G.W