While plans are underway to rehabilitate or replace the 87-year-old Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City due to traffic congestion and age, this historic bridge is firmly placed in every Tahoe guidebook as a must-see spot.
The two-lane vehicle bridge was affectionately known as “rump row” due to the thousands of sightseers who stopped daily to peer over at the large rainbow trout in the waters below. “Later, a local newspaper columnist renamed it ‘Fanny Bridge’ as it is known today. He claimed to be able to estimate the number of tourists in the area by the number of backsides he counted,” according to the website of the Bridgetender, the historic restaurant located next to the bridge.
Placed at the only outlet of Lake Tahoe, the bridge connects the North and West shores of the lake. During peak summer months, Fanny Bridge holds an average of 22,300 vehicles per day and nearly 400 cyclists and pedestrians an hour, according to the Tahoe Transportation District.
While looking over the bridge, visitors face Lake Tahoe Dam, which was built between 1909 and 1913 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to control the top 6 feet of Lake Tahoe. Operation of the original dam, built in 1870 by Col. A. W. Von Schmidt, was passed to the Donner Lumber & Boom Co. The lumber company regulated the water flow for the dual purposes of transporting lumber and generating power, according to the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society. The dam releases water from the lake to supplement flows in the Truckee River.
“About 1900, the [Donner Lumber & Boom Co] was accused of devastating the river from Tahoe to Truckee,” the historical society’s Lake Tahoe Outlet Works and Gatekeeper’s Cabin booklet states. “The dam was operated by the impoundment and subsequent release of a large quantity of water, flushing the logs downstream.”
In 2005, the Lakeside Trail Crossing was built as a more pedestrian-friendly way to view the fish and the inner workings of the dam. The trail runs parallel to Fanny Bridge on the other side of the dam. Both the bridge and dam were placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1981.
Despite its place in local history, Fanny Bridge is currently designated as a seismically deficient structure and is reaching the end of its service life. While the bridge may not see as many cars as in the past, it will most certainly continue to attract lined-up fannies for decades to come, although there may be less this summer due to the lack of fish because of the drought. For more on the current Fanny Bridge project, see here.
