Johnson, Albert

Albert Johnson, born in Kentucky, was a well known owner of the resort on Donner Lake in Meadow Lake, CA. He rented rooms in the hotel and rented the cabins. Johnson had come to California around 1871, and was employed at the Truckee Hotel by Stewart McVay. He had also been employed on a Lake Tahoe Steamer; he is first listed in the 1880 U.S. Census as a steam boat cook and a single man who was born in Kentucky around 1832. Albert Johnson is also listed in the 1910 U.S. Census as a single man who was a hotel keeper, and he could read and write. Just prior to his death in 1911, Albert Johnson had become stranded in his hotel due to a heavy snow. He died at the county hospital in Nevada City, CA. Johnson Canyon is named in Albert Johnson's honor. The canyon was formerly known as Negro Canyon. For more see "Negro boniface is dead at 94: Albert Johnson, found destitute in mountain hotel, dies in county hospital," The Sacramento Union, 04/15/1911, p.9; and "Johnson Canyon (Upper Gregory Creek)" at the Truckee Donner Land Trust website.