Every Lake
Lake Tahoe
Sixteen hundred feet of water in a granite bowl, mapped from sixty million soundings.
- 204 ft · first step
- 408 ft
- 613 ft
- 817 ft
- 1021 ft
- 1225 ft
- 1430 ft
- 1634 ft · bottom
About Lake Tahoe
Tahoe sits at 6,225 feet in a fault basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Carson Range, and it is deep the way few lakes anywhere are deep: 1,645 feet at the bottom, second in the United States only to Crater Lake. It holds enough water to cover California a foot deep. The clarity that made it famous — a white plate visible seventy feet down — comes from granite watersheds that give the lake almost nothing to carry.
The Washoe people summered here for thousands of years before the Comstock silver strike of 1859 turned the basin into a timber yard; nearly every old-growth tree around the lake was cut to shore up the mines under Virginia City. The second growth is what you see today. Then came the resorts, the casinos at Stateline, and the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley that put Tahoe skiing on the map.
Our board is cut from the 1998 U.S. Geological Survey multibeam survey — the first full-coverage map of the lake floor — so the shelf off Tahoe City, the drop at Rubicon and the flat abyssal plain in the middle are the real thing, not an artist's guess.
- Tahoe City, Kings Beach, Incline Village, Stateline, Tahoma, Meeks and Rubicon Bays
- Highway 28 and 89 around the rim, the Truckee outlet at the north
- Emerald Bay's shelf and Fannette Island
Turn it in your hands
Live 3D of the actual cut files — drag to orbit, pinch to zoom. Every road you see is engraved on the real thing.
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Lake Tahoe depth chart, in wood
This is a Lake Tahoe depth chart you can hang: 8 stacked layers of birch, each one a depth contour — 204 ft, 408 ft, 613 ft, 817 ft, 1021 ft and deeper, down to the deepest hole at about 1634 ft. The lake covers about 179.7 square miles, and 1656 shore roads are engraved around it. The shape of the bottom is the real one from published soundings, so anglers recognise their drop-offs and points.
A Lake Tahoe map for the wall — or a gift
Most of these go to a cabin wall, a lake house entry, or a home office; a lot are gifts — the family that has been on Lake Tahoe for three generations, the retirement move, the first boat. The 12-inch is the desk-and-shelf size; the 24- and 30-inch boards read across a room. Add a line under the title and star your place on the shore, and it becomes the map of your Lake Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe map — the details
How big is the map?
Four sizes: 12, 17, 24 and 30 inches on the long side, from $149. Every size is cut from the same depth data of Lake Tahoe; the bigger boards carry more shoreline roads and place names.
Is it made from real depth data?
Yes. Lake Tahoe is cut layer by layer from published bathymetric soundings — each layer of birch is a depth contour, so the shape of the bottom is the real one, not decorative.
Can I add my own place on it?
Yes. At checkout you can add a line under the title (a family name, a cabin name, a year) and star the spot on the shore that matters to you.
How long does it take?
Made to order in Waterford, Pennsylvania and shipped in 7–10 days; shipping is free in the lower 48.
Can you make a lake that isn't listed?
Any lake in the United States — we hold depth data for 104,419 of them. Search for yours; if it isn't built yet we build it when you order.
- 8 depth layers down to 1634 ft
- 179.7 square miles of water
- 1656 shore roads engraved
- Title block, compass rose and depth markers
- Birch plywood, keyhole hanger, made in Waterford, PA
