It seems like an early settler named Sierra Nevada would be well known around these parts, but the opposite is true. Few have heard of her.
Born in 1854 in Nevada City, Sierra was four years old when her parents, John and Mehitable Phillips, decided to become inn-keepers. The little family moved to a property about two and a half miles from Echo Summit, and there, they built a two-story hotel along with five barns, establishing Phillips Station. The Station catered to everyone using the popular, heavily traveled Bonanza Road between Placerville and Virginia City.
Vade, as she was called, grew up in the family business, and the skills she learned working with her parents at the station served her well all her life. A grown-up Vade married Lake Tahoe steamboat captain, A. W. Clark, and gave birth to a daughter, Mehitable Jane Clark in 1879. When Vade was widowed, the lessons learned from Phillips Station proved their worth.
At the end of 1888, Vade paid George Hunsaker $5,500.00 in gold coins to become the new owner of 40 acres of land at Rubicon Springs. The hard working, and surely hard driving, Vade, built the 16 bedroom Rubicon Mineral Springs Hotel and Resort. The hotel was known for its elegant parlor. Vade served her discerning guests three meals a day, complimented by white linen tablecloths and polished silver.
Vade also established the Rubicon Flyer. Four horses pulled a six-passenger coach the nine miles from McKinney on Tahoe’s shore to the hotel. Lasting two and a half hours, the trip was described as hair raising. Adding injury to insult, the buttons on the coach’s supposedly comfortable seat cushions were labeled bun-busters.