Polaris
Unincorporated community
Polaris is located in California
Polaris
Polaris
Location in California
Polaris is located in the United States
Polaris
Polaris
Polaris (the United States)
Coordinates: 39°20′21″N 120°08′09″W / 39.33917°N 120.13583°W / 39.33917; -120.13583
Country United States
State California
CountyNevada County
Elevation
[1]
5,695 ft (1,736 m)

Polaris was a historic ice farming community located nearly 3 miles east of Truckee, approximately at the intersection of modern day Glenshire Drive and Quail Lane.

History

The community was named after Polaris, the north star, either by the Central Pacific Railroad in 1867, or by the National Ice Company in 1901 in anticipation of the establishment of a post office.[2]

Its 5,695 feet elevation meant that there was plenty of ice around during the winter. After the Transcontinental Railroad came through, entrepreneurs built a number of ice ponds, usually by damming or diverting the Truckee River, around railroad stops such as Winsted[3] (later Polaris) and Boca. Ice harvesting began at Boca in 1868.[4]

In 1886, a group of business people formed the Tahoe Ice Company at Winsted. They built a 75-foot dam which created an 80 acre pond used to make ice. They added infrastructure such as roads, stables and a large warehouse, 290' by 130', for the harvested ice.[5] It was reported to be the most efficient ice harvesting operation on the Truckee River. In 1901, the much larger National Ice Company took over the Tahoe Ice Company and installed D. M. Dysart as manager.[6] Dysart was considered to be the “Ice King of the Sierras," having been in the ice business over 20 years.[7] He expanded National's operation at Polaris, and built a house there, affectionately known as the Pink Palace because of its pink asphalt shingles.[8] When he died in 1905, he was capably replaced by Robert Koepke, who ran the operation into the 1920s.

Winter ice at Polaris regularly exceeded 12 inches of thickness and the harvest often ran 13–16,000 tons of ice.[9] The ice, insulated with sawdust, was shipped by rail around the country for use in iceboxes and was used to pack around fruit being shipped to eastern markets. Several hundred men and many horses were employed for the ice harvest. The work was largely seasonal, lasting from around mid-November, when preparations for harvesting the ice began, to early February, when the harvest was largely complete. For a while, Polaris also served as a packing station in the summer, where ice was packed around fruit before being shipped east, but packing was soon consolidated at Truckee and later moved to Sparks, Nevada.[10] Apart from homes and lodging for the seasonal workers, little has been reported about the town itself. It did have a blacksmith shop. There is no record of a store, saloon or hotel. It did not have a school; children went to school in Truckee.[11] On November 1, 1901, Dysart applied to establish a post office to be located 250 feet from the south side of the railroad station. His application listed the population as 35 during the summer and 150 during the winter.[12] Dysart was the first postmaster and Koepke became postmaster in 1913.[13] Polaris was connected to Truckee by a telephone line operated by the Sunset Telephone Company.[14]

By 1923, with the advent of ice making machines and refrigerated rail cars, the ice industry came to a sudden end. The post office closed that year. The area around Polaris became a center for recreation, including fishing, camping and ice skating.[15] Little of the ice harvesting industry remains visible, except for the old ice pond.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Polaris, California
  2. ↑ While a number of historians assert that the name was given by the railroad when it opened a waystation there in 1867, a 1901 newspaper report states that when the National Ice Company took over the Tahoe Ice Company, it changed the name from Winsted to Polaris. Compare Gudde, Erwin G. (1998) California Place Names : the Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names and Janicot, Michel (1994) A History of Nevada County Post Offices, p. 32 with Truckee Republican, September 7, 1901, and Macaulay, T, Ghosts of the Truckee River Canyon, available on the Truckee-Donner Historical Society website at https://www.truckeehistory.org/ghosts-of-the-truckee-river-canyon.html viewed 29 July 2022.
  3. ↑ Sometimes spelled Winstead.
  4. ↑ For a good overview description of the ice harvesting industry, see Sproat, H., Ice Harvesting and the "Hot Tamale," available on the Truckee-Donner Historical Society website at https://www.truckeehistory.org/red-hot.html viewed 29 July 2022.
  5. ↑ Macaulay, T, Truckee-Donner Historical Society newsletter "Echoes From The Past" (March 2015) pp. 4-5.
  6. ↑ Truckee Republican, September 7, 1901.
  7. ↑ Truckee Republican, December 2, 1905.
  8. ↑ Macaulay, T, Ghosts of the Truckee River Canyon, available on the Truckee-Donner Historical Society website at https://www.truckeehistory.org/ghosts-of-the-truckee-river-canyon.html viewed 29 July 2022.
  9. ↑ Truckee Republican, January 3, 1903, December 23, 1905.
  10. ↑ Truckee Republican, May 19, 1906; Grass Valley Union, January 21, 1921.
  11. ↑ Truckee Republican, September 27, 1917.
  12. ↑ Post Office Application in National Archives at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/68231356 viewed 5 August 2022, Polaris is images 939-940; Janicot, supra, p. 32; USPS Postmaster Finder at https://webpmt.usps.gov/pmt007.cfm?PostOfficeCounty=Nevada&stat_state_name=CALIFORNIA, viewed 28 July 2022.
  13. ↑ Truckee Republican, February 1, 1902; Grass Valley Union, November 1, 1913.
  14. ↑ Truckee Republican, May 11, 1904.
  15. ↑ Grass Valley Union, January 10, 1917.
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