(Information gathered by Olita Johnston, Hauser Lake City Councilwoman & Historian)
 

Our lake has not always been known as Hauser Lake.  Old maps show that our lake has had three other names: Mud, Mudd and Sucker Lake.  So who was Hauser?

Sometime after the gold and silver strikes in north Idaho, Daniel Corbin at the request of his good friend and governor of Montana, Samuel T. Hauser, came to north Idaho to look into the possibility of building a railroad into the Coeur d'Alene mining district.

Corbin built a branch line on the Northern Pacific Railroad, which is now Hauser Junction.  The line went through what is now Post Falls and on to the steamboat docks in Coeur d'Alene.  Completed in 1886, it was approximately 13 ½ miles long and was called Spokane Falls and Idaho Railroad.
 

It is believed that Hauser Junction was named at the time the branch was completed by Daniel Chase Corbin in honor of his good friend and business partner who was appointed governor of Montana Territory in 1885 by President Cleveland.  Samuel Thomas Hauser, born January 10, 1833, died in 1914.  It would then follow that the lake and the village would be named Hauser.
 

Hauser Lake Village was incorporated May 12, 1947.  Sometime later the State said, "Those who call themselves villages shall now call themselves cities."  The village was the fifth new village in Kootenai County after Idaho enacted new laws governing slot machine operations and regulating liquor-by-the-drink.  Trustees who were appointed were Charles Eisenhauer, Melvin Amundson, John Nelson, Walter Ness, and Ronald Blanchard.  Blanchard was chosen chairman, Howard G. Miner, clerk of the board and Lucile Nelson, Treasurer.
 

Settlements

(From History of North Idaho, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903)
 

Hauser is the junction of the main line with the Coeur d'Alene branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad.  It is twenty-one miles east of Spokane and six miles southwest of Rathdrum, the county seat of Kootenai County.  It is in the Spokane Valley, or what is termed locally, the Rathdrum Prairie, about midway between Mud Lake (now Hauser Lake) on the north and Spokane River on the south.  the surrounding lands are largely agricultural and some of the best ranches in the county are in this vicinity.  It's proximity to Post Falls, which is only about five miles away, has retarded progress at Hauser in a business way; but to the north and west is quite a large expanse of territory that must, when fully settled, become a tributary to the town.  Consequently, there is reason to believe that in the future it will become a thriving village.
 

Settlements were mad here as early as 1880, but in 1900 it was credited with a population of only 38.  E.P. Manor, now of Rathdrum, was one of the early settlers and businessmen.  He moved his business to Rathdrum in 1894.
 

The main line of the railroad and its branch afford great shopping facilities.  John Cogan is the present postmaster.  He also conducts a general merchandise store.
 

The town is pleasantly situated, with the prairie stretching away to the east and west and the mountains rising on the north and south.  There is an abundance of timberland to the north that is valuable, not only for the timber, but for its productive qualities when cleared.  It is a desirable local for home builders.  Adjoining lands on all sides are being rapidly settled.

Below is an article from the Spokane Chronicle, September 20, 1920.