Did you know this year the theme for the Nevada Day Parade is Pumpkins, Pioneers and Tale Tales?
As we gear up to the Day of Days, we’ll be sharing some of the stories that will be appearing in the official Nevada Day Magazine, which will be handed out for free along the parade route day of!
As a reminder, because Nevada Day falls on its true birthday this year (October 31), Trick-or-Treating will be held Friday, October 30 in Carson City.
Until then, meet Captain Dick “Them’s My Toes” Barter — who some say still haunts Fannette Island to this day…
On Fannette Island in the middle of Emerald Bay—the only official island in Lake Tahoe—once lived a toeless hermit by the name of Captain Dick “Them’s My Toes” Barter, who some say still haunts Fannette Island to this day.
The island itself has gone through several different names, including Fannette, Baranoff, Coquette, Dead Man’s, Hermit’s, and the Emerald Isle.
In 1863, an eccentric captain moved to Tahoe from England and took up residence in the bay. He was known as Captain Dick “Them’s My Toes” Barter.
Captain Barter was a retired British sea captain who came to make Tahoe his home when he was hired by the son of a commercial stager named Ben Holladay, who, in 1862, had built a two-story, five-room home on the unoccupied land surrounding Emerald Bay.
Holladay hired Captain Barter to look after the property during the winter until he could return to his summer home during the easier months of the year.
Captain Barter was hired because, during Tahoe’s winter snowstorms, the only way in or out of Emerald Bay was by boat. For 10 years, Captain Barter looked after the home and became well liked as the isolated sea captain who was known to sail almost 20 miles from Emerald Bay to Tahoe City to drink whiskey and converse with his fellow winter Tahoe residents whenever he felt the need to socialize.
Captain Barter got the nickname “Them’s My Toes” after he was caught in a sudden storm while rowing his boat off Sugar Pine Point.
A gust of wind upset his boat and threw Barter into the water. He was eventually able to get himself back on board, but after spending so much time in the water, hypothermia began to set in.
He survived only by tying himself to the boat and waiting out the storm. He made it back, the story goes, by rowing against the storm while screaming, “Richard Barter never surrenders!” over and over again. He was 63 years old.
He made it back to Emerald Bay at dawn. He said that when he returned, he managed to get himself into the house and didn’t leave for almost three months because his feet and one hand were frozen and he couldn’t get back outside.
He said that he couldn’t walk on his feet, so he tied small cushions to his knees and crawled around on the ground. He had been exposed to the cold long enough to suffer frostbite in several toes, which he amputated himself.
He earned the nickname from his peculiar habit of showing off the toes, which he had kept, to his guests. On one such occasion, a reporter from a San Francisco newspaper spoke to the captain about his harrowing ordeal.
During his recovery, he built a seven-foot miniature man-of-war ship, followed by a full-sized boat that weighed four tons, which he launched into Emerald Bay himself.
The reporter was skeptical, the story goes, and couldn’t believe that a man could have undergone such physical labor while recovering from a near-death experience.
In response, Captain Barter scooted over to a dresser and pulled out a small jewelry box. He opened the box, handed it to the reporter, and said, “Them’s My Toes!”
And so, a legend was born out of a box of salted, mummified toes.
While on Fannette Island, Captain Barter erected his own tomb and chapel, where he told everyone he would one day be buried.
A bizarre story needs a bizarre ending, however, and it so happens that despite his hard work, Barter was never laid to rest in the tomb and chapel he built for himself.
In October 1873, Captain Barter sailed into town to drink and talk with his friends. On the way back, a sudden wind overturned his boat off Rubicon Point. Pieces of the boat were recovered from the rocks near Emerald Bay, but the captain’s body was never seen again.
Some say he haunts Fannette Island, where his body was supposed to be laid to rest. But one thing is certain: Captain Barter was indeed laid to rest in Lake Tahoe—just not in the exact location he had planned.
The Nevada Lore Series is written by Kelsey Penrose and focuses on the legends of Nevada and the surrounding areas that help build our culture, from Washiw folklore, to ghostly visions from the Old West, and current modern-day urban legends.
