History Of Incline Village.
Once upon a time, there was a lovely, azure blue lake, surrounded by lush forest.  When Mark Twain first viewed Lake Tahoe, he remarked that “surely this is the finest view the world affords.” Lake Tahoe’s first residents were the Indians who lived and fished along its shores.  As time Passed, and civilization moves West, settlers paused in the passes to the North and South to marvel at the color and clarity of this magnificent body of water.  Incline Village slept through the Lake’s early development, as the centers of activity in the early days sprang up at South Lake Tahoe, Glenbrook and Tahoe City. In the mid-1800’s, lumber interests discovered the Nevada North Shore as an excellent source of timber for the Washoe mines, and at that point, began the methodical logging of the area we know as Incline Village.

It was called “Incline” in those days; the name was derived from the double track narrow gauge tramline, which carried logs nearly 1,400 feet vertically to the V-flume, which ran along the mountain top granite outcroppings.  The 4,000 feet-long tramline was located in the area of what is now Mill Creek Subdivision.  (Hikers will find the scars and remnants of the tramline and flume in the area between Mill creek and Sand Harbor Beach.) The V-flume carried Incline’s timber on the first leg of its route to the water tunnel through the mountains on and to the mines of Virginia City and the Washoe Valley. In 1884, the remote settlement of Incline was declared both an election precinct and a fourth class post office, thus marking the first time that Incline was “on the map.” By 1887, Incline has been left a sea of stumps, with a maze of crumbling flumes and rotting log chutes … the ugly duckling of the Lake area.  Incline was left to sleep and rejuvenate itself. In the early 1900’s visitors to Lake Tahoe spent glorious summer holidays in the vacation paradises of Glenbrook and Tallac to the South, and Tahoe Tavern and Brockway to the North.  A one-lane road connected the North and South Shores, and in the 1930’s, summer homes were built in the area of Incline Beach (south from Hyatt Lake Tahoe Hotel, along Lakeshore Boulevard.)

By this time, the lumber interests had sold most of the Nevada North Shore from Crystal Bay to Zephyr Cove to a multi-millionaire real estate magnate, “Captain” George Whittell.  Captain Whittell built his stone castle on a point south of Sand Harbor (his home can be seen from the road as you are driving to the South Shore).  Captain Whittell was quite a character, and, at one time, had wild animals roaming his reserve. Incline was little more than a “wide spot” in the road during the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s, with only summer homes and a trailer park to distinguish it.  Year-round residents were few, and those who remain tell stories of wild winters, food shortages and isolation. In the late 1950’s, Crystal Bay Development Company approached Captain Whittell, then in his declining years, with an offer to purchase the 9,000 acres which is Incline Village today.  Crystal Bay Development Company had a grand plan for a community totally unique and master-planned to perfection.  The sale made, development began, and in the 1960’s, roads were cut, a ski area was designed, beaches were developed, and Robert Trend Jones was contacted to conceive a golf course which would couple beauty and challenge. Taken from http://www.alpinerealtyintl.com/lake_tahoe/history_of_incline_village