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ARNOLD GOODHEART ANRIG
Born March 19, 1876 in Atagallen, Switzerland

I had one sister and one brother. My sister came with me to New York with my mother and stepfather in 1880. I was four years old at that time. My mother's name was Albertina (Anrig) Weingartner and my stepfather's was Elois Weingartner. We lived in North Aurora, Ill. from 1880 to 1888. Then we came to Portland, Oregon in June 1888 by Union Pacific Railroad and lived in Portland until September 1888. My folks bought 160 acres from August Benz family and settled in Troutlake Valley, which is at the foot of Mt. Adams. When we first came to Troutlake Valley, we went on the Dalles city boat, transferred from the boat to a railroad at Cascade Locks and then reloaded again at Stevenson on a boat (at that time there were locks). Got off the boat at Bingen, Washington and travelled by team and wagon to the lower Troutlake Valley. There was only one hotel at Bingen and 5 or six families living at Bingen. Went to White Salmon and only a post office and a store run by Rudolph Lauterback was there and 4 or 5 families in White Salmon (about 2 miles from Bingen). Went to Troutlake Valley and had to cross over on a log on the White Salmon River (about 20 miles from White Salmon ) to go to the Weingartner homestead (today there is a bridge across the river). We carried water one mile from a spring in the opposite direction from the river to the homestead for all water needed. The Weingartner place was called "Bear Valley". I had one step sister Annie Weingartner and a stepbrother John Weingartner. My brother came over to USA in 1890 but did not like it and went back to Switzerland and he never came back. I lived in Troutlake Valley until 18 years of age (1894) and then worked on a dairy farm for $10.00 a month for 10 months for Sam Kunkle in Louisville, Clark County in 1895. then I took a ship for $5.00 from Portland to San Fransisco in 1896. Then I got on steamer from Frisco to Stockton, Calif. for 25 cents (119 miles). From there I went to Fresno and picked grapes at $1.00 a day for 30 days. Moved back to Stockton, Calif. for 2 years on Roberts Island on a farm for $20.00 a months plus room and board. Came back to Troutlake in the fall of 1897. I then bought a homestead right relinquishment from a Englishman named R.D. Cameron for $20.00 which was for 160 acres and already had a log cabin on it. (about 4 miles from my father's place). I them homesteaded this acreage. The first settler in Troutlake was Pete Stoller in 1876. He came from Camas Prairie to Dallas and from Dalles to Lyle and from Lyle to Glenwood and from Glenwood to Troutlake by horseback with his wife and 5 daughters and 3 sons, some rode horseback and some traveled afoot. He packed in his cook stove on horseback on an Indian trail from White Salmon. There was no one living at Troutlake but him and he homesteaded where now stands the Guler Hotel. Then in 1860, 6 or so settlers came in the area; William Stadelman, Henry Finney, Ruge and Charlie Byrkett, C.A. Pearson, Pete Smith, John Peterson and maybe one more that I can't recall, plus Indians. The settlers all settled on the west and east side on the Valley because they had springs. There was no water in the middle on the Valley. We couldn't raise crops in the middle of the Valley without water so it was necessary to irrigate. We formed a water company of 5, named the Troutlake Water Company in 1901 and then latter years we had a company of 17 people. The company was formed for our own personal use and we did not sell any water. We dug a ditch for about 6 miles from the White Salmon River. (the original company of five were John Yost, Elmer Wright, A.G. Anrig, John Myers and Elois Weingartner.) We put in a head gate (dam) to irrigate. At the head of the ditch (upper end) in 1903 was Powers and on the lower end was Weingartner. The White Salmon River has a drop of 2 miles and is today 8 ft. to 80 foot deep by my old homestead. Had to get water above the dam as it was impossible below there. At the ranch had to pull water from the river by bucket 80 ft. Elmer Wright homesteaded on the east side of the river 2 or 3 years prior to me and he built a bridge across the chasm 60 ft wide between my place and his. In 1898 (June) I files on a homestead that I received from R.D. Cameron. In the spring of 1900 went by boat to North Portland (known as Slab Town) and married Rena Ochs October 14, 1900. While in Portland worked on a steam wood saw. In November 1900 moved to Troutlake with my wife. We had a family of 14 children, nine of which are still living today. My wife had never planted a garden before we were married, so she had many trials thru error of trying to raise vegetables. The first stage was driven in Troutlake in 1898 by wagon and team by Elois Weingartner (my stepfather) and Chris Guler (Gulers lived one mile south of Weingartner place) (3 brothers homesteaded this place - Antone, Chris and John Guler). They drove stage for about four years. Mail for Troutlake went thru Gilmer Post Office originally in 1882 then by horseback over the hills to Troutlake. The Postmaster at Troutlake was William Stadelman. Then regular mail came in 1889 from White Salmon thru Husum to Troutlake by team and buggy. Also passengers came in the buggy to go to Guler Summer Resort. There was a large hotel there for resort fishing in Troutlake on the Guler place. My wife settled in the log house already built when I homesteaded. Had no cattle or horses, just a garden. In 1903 there were about 20 families in the valley. Prior to this I worked for $1.00 a day and board to support my family at Troutlake until I went freighting from Troutlake and White Salmon for 12 years 1903 to 1915 except in winter when weather was bad. Drove a four horse team. Then trucks started coming in, so I quit freighting. In 1903 I bought a team of horses for the homestead. In 1904 George Harder built a dam with gates in the White Salmon River to flood logs down. In the valley there were all yellow pines and on the mountainside all fir trees. One lumber company came in Troutlake in 1903. They settled about 6 miles below my place opposite Guler place. They logged on the west and east side of the river. I hauled logs in the winter time with sleighs and four horses for $4.50 a thousand ft. The Menomine Lumber Co. logged at Camp 5. They rolled the logs into the river and they floated them in high water to the Columbia River. They had a sawmill 2 miles below Hood River. The Northwestern Dam was built in 1910 on the White Salmon River about a mile above the Columbia River for electricity and was 90 ft. high. Then the logging company went out of business as they couldn't run the logs anymore. Cheese factory came in Troutlake in 1904. I got some cattle, 5 or 6 cows, in 1904 and milked them for one year and sold the milk to the cheese factory and got $54.00 a month for the milk. Sold the cows in 1905. During these years I used to pasture horses for the Simcoe Indians while they went to the huckleberry fields (1903-1905). they gave me huckleberries for pay for pasture as they had no money. An old Indian "Jim Charlie" told me a story that his father had recanted to him about the Bridge of the Gods. There used to be a natural rock bridge where the Indians used to come back and forth across the Columbia River and an earthquake caused the bridge to fall in and caused the rapids which a boat couldn't go thru - which is now Cascade Locks. In 1911 our log cabin burned down to the ground. We moved to the first school house that was built across the creek for one year. Then rebuilt another large log house. My first barn burned down in 1915 - lost no cows but lost 4 horses and 60 tons of hay and machinery. In 1915 I started getting cattle and farmed until 1945 when my son Thomas Anrig took over the farm. Lived in Troutlake Valley for 72 years. In 1941 our log home burned down and we built a new modern home, which still stands today. Went back and forth staying with some of my daughters and sons plus to the farm until 1949. I have made my home with my daughter in Portland, Oregon for the last four years. I am 87 years of age and will be 88 in March 1964.