Welcome to Incline Village! We’re on a residential road, and we’re gonna see some beautiful lakeside homes. And then, at the end of the road–pow! You’ll get to see jaw-dropping Lake Tahoe in all its glory!

Meanwhile, I’m gonna tell you how Incline Village got its name, and about how silver mining once led to the obliteration of every single tree in the Carson mountains above Lake Tahoe. Plus, this tale features a fearless local sheriff who told one big, fat lie. 

It all began back in 1859, a little after the height of the gold rush, when silver was discovered 15 miles from here, in Virginia City. News of “The Comstock Lode,” as it was called, brought lots of dreamers to this area, hoping to strike it rich. 

But searching for silver was nothing like panning for gold. Silver could only be reached by mining deep into the earth–we’re talking over three thousand feet below ground! In order to build those mines, timber was needed to brace the shafts so that they wouldn’t collapse on the miners. The longer and deeper the mines, the more timber they needed. This turned logging into a big business. Soon, the surrounding mountains were being stripped of their forests. 

But, after cutting down the trees, the loggers had to get them off the mountains and all the way to the mines in Virginia City. So how’d they do it?

Well, did you ever ride the log flume at an amusement park? Ya know, where you’re floating along in a log boat until gravity sends you flying down a steep chute and splashes you into the water? 

Well, that’s pretty much how the loggers got the timber down the mountain into the lake. Three long, vertical log flumes were constructed along the mountainside above Sand Harbor just a couple of miles from here. The logs were sent down flume chutes from the top of the mountain, right into the water. From there, the logs were floated to the north side of the lake, placed onto horse-drawn wagons, and finally hauled to the mining sites.

Meanwhile, the Nevada territory was lobbying to become a state. But California accused Nevada of scarring the mountainside with those logging chutes. And, fights broke out as logging companies fought over who got to use the flumes. None of this looked good in Nevada’s quest for statehood. So the U.S. Congress sent officials from Washington D.C. to investigate. 

The local sheriff escorted the delegation, led by Senator McBarna, to the site of the log chutes. The sheriff noticed the concern on the senator’s face upon seeing the huge scars on the mountainside. McBarna shook his head, and said he was bothered by such a defacing of a national treasure like Lake Tahoe. He turned to the sheriff and asked, “What on earth are those ‘slides’ doing mucking up the mountainside?” 

As the story goes, without missing a beat, that quick-witted sheriff turned to him and said, “Why, those are natural, Senator. Those are bear slides. That’s how the bears get down to the lake to swim and catch fish. Those slides have probably been there for a hundred years!”

Well… against all odds–McBarna accepted that ridiculous answer! And Nevada was granted statehood. The bears were unavailable for comment.

Eventually, engineers dug a tunnel and built a steep, cable-powered railway–much more efficient methods of transporting timber to the mines. With a maximum grade of 66%, the bottom of that new railway became known as…Incline Village. And that’s how the town we’re driving through got its name.

As for those three logging chutes, they were never used again. But they’ve been known ever since as “the bear slides.” And from some vantage points, you can still catch glimpses of those three long, vertical ‘stripes’ down the mountainside. 

And coming up next… that million dollar view of Lake Tahoe!

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