Da Ow A Ga: The Washoe and the Edge of the Lake

For thousands of years before any wagon road reached this shore, Lake Tahoe belonged to the Washoe people, and in a real sense it still does. In their language the lake is da ow a ga, meaning the edge of the lake, or simply the lake. When early settlers heard those first syllables, da ow, they mangled the sound, and out of that mispronunciation came the name Tahoe.

For a time the lake even went by the name Lake Bigler, after a California governor, but the Washoe word endured. The Washoe considered this a sacred place, a source of healing, food, and tradition. They wintered in the warmer valleys to the east, then, as the snows melted each spring, families climbed to the shores of da ow a ga for a great summer gathering.

Here they fished, harvested, socialized, and held games and competitions, footraces and archery among them. The lake sat at the very heart of their world, the center of a homeland that stretched across the mountains and valleys of what is now the California and Nevada border. Today the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California remains, still bound to this water they have always called the edge of the lake.