Wooden Framework on truckee River

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

As I’ve driven a semi-truck back and forth over the hyway between California and Nevada, I have observed what’s left of an old wooden framework that runs along the truckee river next to interstate 80. Can anyone tell me what this was really originally used for?

People around Reno ( & other Nevada towns) have told me this was used for several different purposes. 1 ) It was used to channel water down to Reno from Lake Tahoe. 2 ) It was used to float cut trees down To Reno, for building the original town buildings. 3 ) it was used to wash Placer gold down to the smelter at Reno. 4 ) Because of its sturdyness it was used by the Virginia & Truckee Railroad to run trains from Reno to Truckee and points west. 5. ) It was used as a combination with all of the above. Are these people right? Or does anyone know for sure what it was used for???[%-)] Thanks

2

Its a flume My dictionary defines a flume as “a chute or trough for carrying water, used as a source of water power, to convey logs, etc.”

The flumes in the Sierra were built to transport water to where it was needed (for irrigation, domestic uses, industrial uses, power generation, etc.) and/or transport logs…

Flumes are still being used to carry water in the Sierra.

Brave or foolhardy people sometimes used them for transportation. The book The Pacific Tourist originally published in 1884 (I have a 1970 reprint) has a description of a ride on a log flume.

The V & T did not run to Truckee CA. The Truckee in the name refered to the Truckee River. The V & T interchanged with the Southern Pacific east of Reno at Mound House NV