kssummer.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., August 8, 1968, page 9

SUMMER MEETING OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY HELD AT TROUT LAKE HISTORICAL SITE

A cool, shady brookside retreat in the Trout Lake valley was the scene of the summer meeting of the Klickitat County Historical Society, held July 21. Mr. and Mrs. Keith McCoy and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Overbaugh were co-hosts for the gathering, held at McCoy's "Old Slaughterhouse."
A number of guests, including a delegation from the Skamania County Historical Society, were among the 78 persons present. Many came from Bickleton, Roosevelt of the Yakima Valley, as well as from Vancouver and downriver points. Goldendale, Glenwood, Bingen, White Salmon, Wishram and Trout Lake were represented. One little girl present was from New York.
The scene of the meeting was the Trout Lake Slaughterhouse, built in 1907 by Ulrich Zuberbuhler. It was operated by him until 1919, and in later years (1919-1942) by John Pfister, who ran the Trout Lake Meat Market and also a meat wagon serving outlying farms and logging camps. After 1942, it was used by farmers, on occasion, for their own butchering. When the McCoys gained its possession in 1964 it was in tumbled down state, overgrown by brush and weeds.
Cleaned, repaired and thoroughly scrubbed, the old building has been made usable for weekend or summer camping, and decorated with innumerable relics of bygone days, artistic signs and historic printed information. It has outdoor fire-place and shaded lounging areas, plus ample grassed picnic space. An irrigation ditch serves as brook on the one side, the White Salmon river on the other.
Bernard Pollard, White Salmon school-teacher and former editor of the Mt. Adams Sun, presented the program for the day, following the potluck picnic dinner, and a short business session. Standing with Mt. Adams visible over his left shoulder, Pollard gave an interesting early history of the mountain, encompassing both Indian legend and accepted geological history of the Pacific Northwest.
In the business session, Membership Chairman W.F. Hornibrook reported a total paid membership of 342. This includes 68 life members. The museum report showed the attendance has averaged over 100 visitors per week, with individual day counts running as high as 40. Recognition of the museum is gaining. Mrs. Hornibrook mentioned in the museum report. Its problems this season have been in the field of volunteer hostesses.
"It has been extremely trying to get people to give a day to help receive visitors," she said, "We very much need man and wife teams for the Sundays remaining in the year. If any of you know of people willing to help, please ask them to contact me or President Harold Fariello. They need not know the museum contents by heart, nor have any other special training. They just need to be present to welcome the visitors, receive their admission fees and show them the way through the building. We must have volunteers for this work."
Pollard's talk traced the upheaval of the Cascade mountains as a chain of islands, from the floor of the sea which extended eastward to the, Rocky Mountains. Vegetation developed and primitive life forms emerged and sea sediments formed hard beds before volcanic activity covered much of the surrounding land under hundreds of feet of lava, pumice and volcanic ash.
Mt. Adams, he said, is characterized by multiple outlets for volcanic eruptions, as contrasted with Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens which are the cones resulting from a centralized outlet with smaller branches. Adams is second only to Rainier, among the Cascade peaks, in bulk as well as height, he said. The multiple outlets of Adams account for the lava caves found in the Trout Lake vicinity, according to his sources.
The Indian name for Adams was "Patoe," Pollard's treatise reminds, although it also was referred to by them as Klickitat." To the white men, it was known by a variety of terms. Its present designation honors the second American president, which honor was slated for Mt. Hood, in Hall J. Kelley's "Presidential Range" nomenclature. Only Mt. Jefferson seems to have followed its original Kelley designation. This leads to speculation that Mt. Adams may have been intended as "Mt. Washington."
Roger Stamey, Mt. Adams District Forest Ranger, followed Pollard's talk with comments about the forest, and its attractions for the public. "It looks like a good huckleberry year," he said. "We had early blooming."
His remarks began with the suggestion that "to enjoy your national forest, get out of your car and walk. We have new trails this season. At Bird Creek Meadows the flowers will be at peak in the next 10 days. We have a new "Nature Loop Trail" there, and have tried hard to make it so people will keep to the trail and not trample the delicate flowers. Two others are the "Hell Roaring Meadow" trail which will show the visitor a different variety of flowers, and the "Bird Lake to Bird Creek Meadows" trail, a 1½ mile shortcut from a good parking place, which displays many flowers, on the way to the higher fields.
"Two other longer trails have been completed. The "Cascade Crest, Indian Heaven, Blue Lake" trail, into the Race track area, which offers some spectacular views. And, this year we have completed 16 miles of rebuilding the "Cascade Crest Trail," all nearly level whereas the old trail was filled with ups and downs.
"You can drive your car on pleasure jaunts over 355 miles of Mt. Adams Ranger District roads, to streams, hiking take-offs, or just to view wildlife and flowers," Stamy said. "Our working force members say they have seen more fawns this year than ever before. Elk are moving into the district in larger numbers; we have one herd of 20 or 30 in the upper Trout Lake valley. Wild turkeys, planted east of here on the Klickitat river, have migrated into our high country. We are working now to get a plant of mountain goats in the district's upper areas.
"We have 26 established campgrounds, which isn't nearly enough. The crowd which moved in over the Fourth was bigger than at any previous time. They camped everywhere. This is a sign we must provide more mountain areas for recreation for urban America."
The huckleberry areas, once 8000 acres in scope, have shrunk to only about 2500 acres producing berries. Stamy said. "Forest reproduction is crowding out the berries, more and more," he explained. "However, I have never seen a year when we didn't still have berries to be found, at the end of the season."