Two to Travel's Blasts from the Past: Lake Tahoe Trip: M/S Dixie

6 July 1984

It must surely be the fairest picture the whole world affords.

Mark Twain – 1862
(Upon seeing Lake Tahoe for the first time.)

After riding the rails in the morning (click here to read the post), we switched gears and spent the afternoon on a Lake Tahoe cruise aboard the sternwheeler M/S Dixie.

The M/S Dixie is ported in Zephyr Cove, about 21 miles (34 km) from Carson City.

From the brochure we received when we boarded the 360-passenger Dixie:

The hull of the Dixie was first built in 1927 on the Mississippi River, where it was used as a cotton barge until 1931. At that time it was moved to the Red River in Texas, where partial conversion was started in order to use the hull as a riverboat. The ship’s history about that time is cloudy, but in 1947 Jim Moss of Reno, a retired Mississippi riverboat captain, purchased the boat. He had it cut into four pieces and shipped to Reno by rail, then by truck to Cave Rock where it was reassembled.

(No photo of the Dixie; the one below is of M/S Dixie II, the sternwheeler that is currently cruising the waters of Lake Tahoe. Click the photo for more information about day cruises on the lake.)

Since the Dixie originated on the Mississippi, most people assume that she was named for the Southland. However, Mr. Moss named the ship for his daughter, Dixie Moss.

When Mr. Moss was approximately half-way through construction of what he hoped would be a cruise ship such as the Dixie is today, he applied for a gambling license in Carson City. When he was denied the license, he had to cancel his plans. He lost the boat in litigation, and rather than giving her up, he deliberately scuttled the Dixie at Cave Rock in 1949.

In December of that same year, she was raised from the bottom and taken to Logan Shoals Harbor in Glenbrook, where she was kept in storage for three years. In 1953, Ken and Margaret Amundson purchased her. The Dixie was used for offices and warehousing space for some five years. She was then converted into a family pleasure boat for weekend cruises with friends. At first a Buick engine was used to drive her paddle wheel.

During this time, the Dixie was seen in several national television series such as “State Trooper” and the long-running “Bonanza.” In 1970 the Dixie was pulled out of the water. It was widened, lengthened, and two decks were added. With this reconstruction complete, the Dixie made her maiden voyage in February 1972. Since that time Dixie hospitality has been extended to such distinguished groups as the National Governors Conference, and the joint party for the Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts.

After our cruise to Emerald Bay (on the California side of the lake), we returned to Carson City … but first, a quick stop at the Logan Shoals Overlook.