Lake Tahoe is one of the nation's most beautiful settings, drawing an endless stream of visitors to its casinos and ski resorts. Along with its resorts, Lake Tahoe retains much of its pioneer charm. The principle attraction is the vast wilderness setting and the lake, which rests like a sapphire in the crown of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

European explorers first entered the basin in 1844 and named the town for their pronunciation of the Washoe Indian name Da-ow-a-ga, or "lake of the sky." The discovery of silver in the 1860s turned the remote outpost into a boom town, and 100 years later, the 1960 Winter Olympics in the Squaw Valley brought a permanent boom to the region, transforming it into a 8,000-plus acre ski mecca.