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At 7:45 the morning of Aug. 23, 1931, Myrtle Huddleston entered the cool water of Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side of the lake near Glenbrook in an attempt to become the first person to swim across the lake.
Though a strong swimmer, powerful cross currents and a gusty wind pushed her off course, which added time and distance to her endeavor. She struggled throughout the day to keep a good pace, but the water, which was much colder further out, began to drain her energy.
Buoyed by the shouts of encouragement from her 15-year-old son, who was in one of the support boats nearby, Myrtle found the strength to keep going.
Eager observers at Tahoe Tavern in Tahoe City watched Myrtle’s progress through binoculars until the sun sank below the mountains.
In darkness, and exhausted to the point of hallucinating, Myrtle kept swimming.
As dawn broke, the area around Tahoe Tavern erupted with sound: alarms from local police cars, whistles from steamships, and the roar and rumble of an excited crowd.
Myrtle was close, and everyone knew she would make it.
At 6:54 the morning of Aug. 24, Myrtle reached the pier at Tahoe Tavern. She was the first person to swim across Lake Tahoe. She completed the trip in a grueling 23 hours and nine minutes.
Four years earlier, in 1927, Myrtle became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, despite being attacked by a barracuda.
Her swimming feats ended with her untimely death in 1937 at the age of 40 due to high blood pressure.
Photos: Myrtle Huddleston, c. 1928 and Tahoe Tavern, c. 1930
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