Re: Fallen Comrades *PIC*

Ron Yanke (1936-2004) Industrialist, philanthropist, “ancient iron” enthusiast. He owned Yanke Machine Co., largest machine & fabrication plant in the state, energy and real estate development interests and was a founder of Micron Technology, now the 2nd-largest microchip manufacturer in the world.
Ron owned a truly astounding collection of antique machinery – Cars, motorcycles, trucks, fire engines, mining and agricultural equipment. The collection is housed in two large buildings and is certainly something to see. At the time of his death, he and his son were refurbishing a private rail car for business and family travel.
In 1998 SVRy #100 was donated back to the Sumpter Valley by Idaho billionaire J.R. Simplot, a close friend of Ron Yanke’s. Shortly thereafter, Ron contacted us with an offer to help with the restoration. As a result, #100 was moved (using Yanke’s mobile crane and lowboy) to a site at the machine works. From the outset, Ron made his huge shop, tools and skilled staff freely available to the restoration crew. I cannot begin to enumerate the tasks of precision machining, the fabrication of obsolete parts they accomplished for us. Suffice it to say that the restoration (now about 85% complete) could not have been undertaken without his help. Ron’s only request in return for his remarkable generosity was “a chance to pull the throttle when you get it running at Sumpter”. I’m sorry he won’t be there next summer when #100 returns to home rails, but we’ll be thinking about him.