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The Dalles Weekly Chronicle, The Dalles, OR., December 27, 1912, page 6

NEWS FROM TROUT LAKE
Electric Railway Is Believed To Be Headed Toward Resort Region

TROUTLAKE, Wash. Dec. 19 - Ice cuttings has been in progress for several days past until snowed precluded any further cutting being done. The ice is of excellent quality. When freezing weather again comes this winter more ice will be harvested from the lake here. More of the product will be put away for summer use than in any previous year as several of the new settlers will have ice houses ready for their ice soon.
Snow arrived earlier than usual this year and it is believed by the "oldest settlers" that a long winter may be looked forward to. Many here have some confidence in the prophecy of an Indian visitor who was in this valley last summer and who said: "Heap Snow, yes, heap snow. Hi-u-wata; hi-u-watah; hi-u-snow; byme by man have to build ahk like Noah; all iliahee gone; no moah trees; no moah land; all watah. "Whether or not the prognostication of the old red man will come true none can tell but it may come true that there will be more snowfall in the mountain regions than has been the case before in many years.
William Kingman and his partner in the trapping business here have caught five bear and 18 marten in traps this winter in the foothills. They were down in the settlement last week and returned Tuesday to their cabin in the hills. Last summer the two men built two more log cabins for use this winter. Their trap line extends over an area of about 80 miles. The trapping industry it is a lucrative one to men accustomed to hardships and the natural ability to scent game and who know all about the haunts of the wild wood folk and their habits. About 10 men in this immediate vicinity are engaged in trapping.
It is now expected that work on the big dam on the White Salmon will be completed about April 15, 1913. This dam is a few miles above Underwood and 800 men are employed there. It is one of the big concerns of the entire United States and millions of dollars are behind the scheme of the power purpose to which the electricity generated by the White Salmon will be put. As soon as this dam shall have been completed work will begin on another dam about ten miles below Troutdale valley on the White Salmon river. It is the belief of those who claim they know what they are talking about that an electrical railway will be soon coming this way. The Northwestern Electric company has filed on all the water rights on the White Salmon and Trout creek as well as several springs on the way from the Columbia river to the head waters of the streams in this vicinity. As soon as the controversy between the Northwestern and the Horse Heaven projectors and the Klickitat Irrigation & Development company is settled, much activity in the way of development of irrigation and power plants may be looked for.
In the meantime settlers all along the White Salmon and Klickitat rivers are expending every energy and thousands of dollars in the development work, planting orchards and berries and otherwise improving their lands. The price of land in this locality has not soared so high that a man with limited income may not invest as is the case in many other places. The ranchers are satisfied to divide their holdings and place the landing at a moderate price per acre so that the country will doubtless settle rapidly.