Lake Tahoe was originally named for former California Governor, John Bigler. The name was changed to the Indian name of Tahoe during the Civil War because Bigler was pro-secessionist. Mark Twain wrote an editorial blasting the name change in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise...
"I yearn for the scalp of the soft-shell crab, be he injun or white man, who conceived of that spoony, slobbering, summer complaint of a name. Why, if I had a complaint against a half-price n*gg*r, I wouldn't be mean enough to call him by such an epithet as that."
Another weird fact! There a tree trunks preserved over 200 feet deep in Lake tahoe with over 200 rings!!!