North Lake Tahoe was a very different place when Bruce Yankton was a young man — the town of Incline Village didn’t exist and Kings Beach was a sleepy, summer-only vacation stop. But over the last half century, Yankton helped change all that and more, playing a part in the development of Incline Village, Northstar, Tahoe Donner, and Kings Beach.
Born in North Dakota in 1942, Yankton came from a unique lineage. His father was a full-blooded Sioux Indian and one of the first commissioned Indian officers in the U.S. Army Air Corps. His great-grandfather, Redhorse, was at Custer’s Last Stand. His father met his mother, a U.S. Army nurse, at a United Services Organization (USO) dance. When Yankton was a toddler they relocated to the Reno Army Air Base (now the Stead Air Force Base).
Yankton moved to Kings Beach with his parents in the summer of 1960 because it was the only place they could find housing close to Incline Village. Yankton and his stepfather worked on a logging crew for the Crystal Bay Development Company, Incline Village’s original developers. After his first summer logging, he left for Cal Poly Pomona on a football scholarship, but dropped out to help his family on the ranch after they fell on hard times.
Yankton was the head of Yankton Excavating from 1967 until his retirement last year. He and his wife Alice, who married in 1999, have 16 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren between them. He has three sons, Kevin, Dakota, and Andrew.
Moonshine caught up with Yankton to find out more about his life.
Was there a deep emotion about the lake back when you were logging like there is now?
None. We were logging the land to make way for roads and right-of-ways. We logged all summer and burned all winter.
What was Kings Beach like in 1960?
In summer the population swelled from about 400, but in winter the motels closed up and we had the area all to ourselves because the tourists went to Squaw Valley. There was a little ice cream shop and a gas station where Sierra Mountain Tires is now that sold hot dogs and burgers. They were open late so you could get a big, greasy burger at 10:30 at night. There were two movie theaters, and behind where the conference center is there was a big bowling alley called the Poker Parlor with pool tables.
Why did you start your own business?
I wanted to be my own person. I set up business as a backhoe-loader service. One of my first jobs was building Northstar as a sub for Teichert Aggregates. We worked in there for about five years before it opened. We excavated for the subdivision lots and streets. In winter, I plowed snow in my little Case backhoe from the state line all the way to Squaw. It had no heat so I burned Sterno cans on the floor to keep my feet warm. I’d wear a yellow rubber suit, Smith ski goggles, and a cowboy hat with a hood underneath.
Why did you stay in Kings Beach?
It was an opportunity for secure employment. I really didn’t want to be a farmer. I could have run a ranch in Gardnerville. Then I went to Cal Poly and got tired of Pomona and L.A., all the crowds and the smog. I didn’t want to live in that environment. I love the lake, the local people. I stayed in Kings Beach because as the area developed projects they needed site work in summer and snow removal in the winter.
What’s something people don’t know about you?
One of the most impressive things I remember about growing up in Genoa was seeing flashes from nuclear bomb tests in Yucca flat. We’d crawl under the desk at school. We grew up knowing we probably wouldn’t make it.
Bruce Yankton recommended Geno Duggan, who worked at La Playa, La Petite Pier, Captain John’s, and Crystal Bay Club, for the next Tahoe Stories.
