Lake Tahoe Dam + William B. Layton Park

William B. Layton Park is located near the heart of downtown Tahoe City, California. The small, 3-acre park offers a nice wooded area to enjoy some peace and quiet. Picnic tables are spread about and there is even a short pathway with wooden cutouts of animals for kids to enjoy. A display on one of the sheds in the park features old logging saws and equipment that date back to the mid-late 1800s.

The park is also home to the Gatekeeper’s Museum & Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Museum. Exhibits span a variety of topics ranging from the winter olympics and skiing, to black bears and wildlife, to baskets and Native Americans culture.

The Lake Tahoe Dam is also found here near the park. The first dam across the Truckee River was built here in 1872 by the Donner Lumber and Boom Company. Water released from the dam would control the flow of logs to lumber mills downstream. The dam that stands here today is a concrete slab and buttress structure that controls the top six feet of Lake Tahoe and regulates the lake outflow into the Truckee River. Visitors can explore the dam by walking across it.