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A massive fire destroys the heart of Spokane, leveling banks and landmarks while the city's future hangs in the balance.
“The fire originated at 6 p.m. in a block of frame buildings, which burned like tinder, and four hours later the fiery demon had done its work.”
A catastrophic fire destroys thirty blocks of Spokane's business district, echoing the recent destruction in Seattle.
“The city is doomed. Already two blocks of business houses are gone, and the fire is jumping the streets and traveling rapidly.”
Four mills destroyed and workers missing after a massive industrial fire consumes the riverfront.
“The flames spread with wonderful rapidity, and in a few minutes the entire structure was ablaze.”
A morning commute turned into a catastrophe when a steel span over the Spokane River collapsed, sending two trolley cars into the freezing water.
“One great steel girder pinned underneath it every passenger on the east side of the car, and at the same time swept away the shattered wood and metal to an extent that allowed the other occupants to clamber clear.”
A landmark Supreme Court ruling has suddenly rendered thousands of property deeds void, threatening the downtown core of Spokane.
“The highest court says all these deeds are void.”
The Great Northern's freight rates left Spokane merchants bitter enough to organize, sue, and threaten the railroad baron with produce.
“If Jim Hill was to walk down Riverside avenue the people of Spokane would undoubtedly rotten egg him.”
A notorious horse thief is killed in a violent struggle after attempting to free his son-in-law from custody.
“Masterson kept firing, but after the third shot he was struck by four bullets and staggered into the room, dying almost instantly.”
In a case drawing attention from Hillyard to the city courts, Maud Coverly accuses her husband of starvation tactics and physical abuse, revealing the precarious legal standing of working women in 1902.
Across the West, unemployed men organized as 'Coxeyites' or 'Industrial Armies' are clashing with law enforcement and rail companies as they travel toward Washington, D.C.
“The industrial army now numbered 150,000. He asserted that within sixty days he would have 300,000 in Washington City.”
Hundreds of 'boomers' flooded a disputed railroad tract in the heart of Spokane after a legal ruling fueled rumors of unclaimed land.
“Daylight brought renewed activity, and before 9 o'clock at least 700 men had staked out lots. Policemen caught the infection and joined in the work of grabbing.”
A catastrophic hillside failure near Monroe Street buries part of a shantytown; a local man is missing and presumed dead.
“A section of the O.-W. R. N. big fill, nearly a block long and 200 feet high, slid to the river's edge.”
In a pivotal 1888 ruling, the Washington Territorial Supreme Court officially disenfranchised women, setting the stage for a decades-long fight for political agency.
“The right of suffrage is not a natural right but a privilege conferred by law. It may be limited or enlarged by the legislature.”
Mayor R.K. Nichols of North Yakima reaches out as news of a second major fire catastrophe hits Spokane.
“North Yakima grieves to learn of Spokane's second fire bath. We are ready to do everything we can.”
Following the Great Seattle Fire, the sister city of Spokane Falls faces its own catastrophic conflagration, with millions in damages.
“The fire burned until it exhausted itself... but there is no need for the citizens of Spokane Falls to despair.”
A detailed account of the massive conflagration that leveled thirty blocks of Spokane, leaving thousands homeless and causing an estimated $12 million in damages.
“Looking upward a broad and mighty river of flame seemed lined against the jet-black sky.”
The nearly completed city hall, a $100,000 project, was gutted by a blaze that started from a plumber's tarpot.
“In three minutes the entire interior was in flames.”
A Spokane sheriff’s posse orchestrates a midnight stakeout to bust a sprawling meat-theft ring, leading to a tense, violent shootout in the woods.
“Their part in the thievery was to drive the cattle to a slaughter-house on Hangman creek, where the animals were quickly butchered.”
Telephone operators revolt against a new manager's 'Puritan' dress code and demand union recognition.
“The operators demand recognition of the union, slight changes in the scale of wages, revocation of orders regarding department apparel.”
A government inspector alleges that a U.S. Deputy Marshal in Spokane is actively protecting opium smugglers.
“The customs officers here regard Marshal Vinson as the active friend of the smugglers and the enemy of the treasury department.”
105 patients are safely evacuated into the bitter cold as fire destroys the west wing of Spokane's premier hospital.
“Miss Johanna Burns, the superintendent of the hospital, not only gave orders which saved the life of every patient... but actually seized one patient and carried her a considerable distance.”
A westbound freight train on the Northern Pacific line was derailed when a stowaway fell under a car, triggering a chain reaction that plunged nine cars into Hangman's Creek. One man died; the rest were spared.
A teenage girl is missing after being allegedly coerced into a variety theater, sparking a public outcry and exposing local police corruption.
“The case is so appalling in all its aspects that we believe all the resources of our city and of the state of Washington should be called into action.”
The American Legion in Spokane launches an investigation into the vegetable trade, claiming 'Oriental control' of the local market.
“Believing that the vegetable produce industry in Spokane is under the control of the Japanese, the Spokane post of the American Legion decided to conduct an investigation.”
A drunk man wandering through downtown Spokane with a rash on his face nearly triggered a disaster that killed hundreds—until a sharp-eyed pharmacist stepped in.
In a daring midnight maneuver that bypassed local obstructionists, the Oregon and Washington Territory railroad laid its tracks through downtown Spokane in a single night, turning a political standoff into a civic celebration.
An early reporter’s account of Spokane’s explosive growth, driven by railroad speculation and the 'lucky' millionaires of the mining boom.
“It turns an ordinary head dizzy to hear of fortunes made as quickly and so easily.”
A Spokane man shoots his wife for running a lodging house, a tragic climax to their long-standing conflict over her livelihood.
“Woods had tried to get her to quit the business and as she repeatedly refused to do so he concluded to kill her.”
A political mob forcibly seizes company records from a government official in a Spokane hotel room.
“You are undertaking to do by mob violence and force what you cannot accomplish by law.”
After a mob of 3,000 surrounded a Northern Pacific train in Spokane, ten men were charged with contempt and riot; three pleaded guilty and two were sent to hard labor.
“Olson, one of the accused, led a party of forty hoodlums, who broke into the roundhouse, seized a locomotive and ran it down the track for the purpose of demolishing Superintendent Dickinson's train.”
After a family quarrel and a daughter's night away, Mrs. Jacob Schoder swallowed carbolic acid; her 18-year-old daughter Hattie found her and told the story from St. Luke's Hospital.
“Mother was distracted because of family troubles. Everything seemed to go wrong Saturday.”
As winter approaches, government agents scramble to move Spokane families to the Coeur d'Alene reservation, offering small frame houses as an incentive.
“The agents realize that no time may be lost if the Spokanes are to be installed in their new quarters before winter arrives.”
A landmark ruling leaves homeowners and farmers on railroad land in legal limbo, requiring an act of Congress to resolve.
“In effect it holds that the railroad company has no power to sell any of the land granted to it by the government under franchise for a right-of-way.”
A federal commission's frustrated attempt to settle tribal land disputes in Spokane Falls leads to a reluctant agreement brokered by a Catholic missionary.
“Negotiations with them were hard, because the chiefs preferred whiskey drinking around the town to wearing a reservation.”
After years of construction, the final spike connects Spokane to the Great Northern line, linking the city to the East.
“The first through train over the Great Northern arrived at 11 o'clock tonight.”
Tracklaying reaches a fever pitch as James J. Hill's Great Northern connects to Spokane, with plans to bridge the Cascades and link Seattle to the East by the new year.
“Unless the winter comes on very early or the snowfall is very deep there will be no hitch in these plans.”
A freight agent reports on the aftermath of the devastating Spokane fire, highlighting the community's resilience in the face of immense loss.
“The people of Spokane Falls are plucky and full of business and confidence.”
A day after the great conflagration swept the city, Spokane's banks reopen, merchants trade under canvas, and outside capital pours in — even as thousands who were prosperous on Sunday night are left homeless.
“Another Spokane will rise from the ashes of the old, and will rise to stay. Her people have gone to work with that pluck and determination which has characterized them in the past.”
A landmark Washington State Supreme Court ruling protects minority shareholders from being forced out by predatory syndicates.
“They might be termed experimental dupes, who are subject to the necessity of contributing to the losses but denied the privilege of sharing the profits.”
A packed Spokane convention picked judges and congressmen, then turned on a single plank: whether the party would demand free silver.
“The silver question was the chief question today, and the state of Washington is deeply interested in its solution.”
Nine Supreme Court hopefuls, three congressional candidates, and a free-silver bloc turn Washington’s 1894 state convention into a backroom brawl before it even opens.
“It will not be a tame convention by any means.”
A multi-thousand dollar embezzlement scheme involving forged signatures and fake stock certificates rocks Spokane's financial elite.
“In all about 500,000 shares of stock were issued on these certificates, with spurious signatures, and most of the stock was sold to eastern parties.”
When a rural Washington couple faced ruin from debt and injury, the wife took a train to Spokane with nothing but her satchel and a fierce determination to earn her keep.
A legal war between Denver, Washington, and the city of Spokane ends in the state supreme court, effectively wiping a town off the map.
“The rules were strong enough to hold, but the plank was rotten.”
A manhunt across Eastern Washington ends in a fatal shootout at a Spokane cabin.
“The officers fired three bullets into Gingle, who died without speaking.”
A gas explosion in Spokane turns a bookstore into a furnace, leaving a woman to face her final moments in front of a helpless crowd.
“When Mrs. Beam saw that rescue was out of the question she gave farewell messages to her husband and children.”
After a decade of litigation, a pioneer wins a judgment against the Northern Pacific Railroad for a prime section of downtown Spokane.
“The case has been in the courts for nearly 10 years, having first made its appearance in May, 1888.”
Spokane mill owners testify that predatory railroad rates make it impossible to raise workers' wages, sparking a call for state regulation.
“This is not the worst feature of the case, for the coast mill can put the glass into sash and ship the glazed sash into Spokane in carload lots at a rate of 40 cents per 100 pounds.”
A Spokane farmer’s livelihood was destroyed and his livestock slaughtered in a brutal, racially-motivated attack.
“This outrage is one of the most cowardly ever perpetrated in this county.”
As contract negotiations fail, two million workers threaten a total shutdown of the nation's rail system, prompting intervention from President Wilson.
“A general strike on virtually all the railroads of the nation, paralyzing commerce and throwing approximately 2,000,000 men out of employment, can be averted only through the good offices of President Wilson.”
Thirty-five Spokane merchants ask a federal judge to force the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific to obey an 1891 Interstate Commerce Commission order that found the roads were gouging the inland city.
“As the local rate back to Spokane from Western terminals exceeded the through rate in all cases, the consequence has been that shippers at Spokane ... were compelled to pay twice, and in some instances three times, as much as on articles shipped from Eastern terminals to such points as Seattle, Portland and Tacoma.”
Seven men are jailed for contempt after a mob derails trains and seizes a roundhouse during the 1894 railroad strike. The federal judge calls it insurrection.
“It was a contempt of law and government amounting to an insurrection, while it lasted, and deserves to be dealt with as an insurrection and as incipient treason.”
After allegedly forging a million shares in mining stock, a well-connected broker slips out of a sanitarium to evade arrest.
“Friends of the broker admit that there has been a determined effort on the part of some of the victims to induce Kressly to leave here.”
Facing the threat of replacement by white workers, a labor group of Black Pullman porters in St. Paul organizes to abolish the 'tip evil' to save their jobs.
“The only way in which the colored porter can now hope to retain his position on the trains is to abolish the tip evil.”
Nearly 300 women crowded into court to demand justice for a victim of sexual assault, signaling a new era of civic activism.
“At this the women in the room hissed, and when the justice fixed the bail at $10,000 there was applause.”
After the Great Spokane Fire of 1889, civic leaders rejected the urge to build cheaply, choosing instead to construct a permanent, iron-and-stone metropolis fueled by the river's immense power.
“There was a powerful feeling that the foundation should be laid for a large city, and that the buildings should not be such as would have to be pulled down in three or four years.”
A Spokane court battles a Montana requisition order for a woman held under a restrictive labor contract, marking a local test of indentured servitude.
“The attorneys have informed Gov. Ferry that the object of the charge is simply to compel her to return to Montana to fulfill the performance of a contract.”
Charles Gloystein was called from his Spokane County home at midnight. Weeks later all that has surfaced is his battered, bloody hat — and the editor points straight at the oath-bound Freemen's Silver Protective Federation.
“Gloystein has disappeared as completely as if he had never existed.”
A Spokane detective identifies a deceased woman as a notorious murderess who allegedly poisoned her husbands.
“I secured an order from the coroner to have the body of Greer dug up and get the stomach examined. Two prominent physicians analyzed the ashes and enough arsenic was found to have killed a dozen men.”
A pioneer revisits Eastern Washington's boomtown and marvels at its rapid transformation from a frontier hamlet to a bustling metropolis powered by the falls.
“I felt very much as Rip Van Winkle may be supposed to have felt when he awoke from his twenty years' sleep and found a bustling and populous city occupying the hamlet in which he had his home.”
On July 13, 1905, Charles H. Davis, a former bartender, killed his wife and infant son before taking his own life at their Boone Avenue home.
Accusations emerge that funds meant for fire victims were diverted to municipal infrastructure projects.
“The relief committees... should publish a report of the disposition of the funds so generously and heartily given by a sympathetic public.”
After the great fire, a relief distributor made off with the city's food and funds, establishing a private grocery store on the backs of the desperate.
“There is great indignation among the people of Spokane Falls over Ingalls' knavery.”
A carpenter at work on the new Post Street bridge loses his footing and is swept to his death before a crowd of witnesses.
“He made a gallant fight for life, cheered by 400 persons on the shore and bridges, but it was hopeless.”
Thousands wait in anxiety as the first names are drawn for homesteading rights on the Colville Indian Reservation.
“The first 325 names drawn caused great anxiety over the Northwest.”
Edward Spencer takes the stand in his own murder trial, claiming amnesia and absinthe-induced blackouts to explain why he shot Ella Mundt in Spokane.
A Spokane contractor sues to overturn state labor protections, sparking a landmark constitutional challenge to local public works contracts.
“The ground taken by Mr. Broad is that both the city ordinance and the state law are invalid.”
Federal authorities in the Pacific Northwest scramble to intercept desperate immigrants crossing the border on foot, fleeing failed colonization schemes in Western Canada.
“On some of these farms, particularly those occupied by the Russians, the women of the colony take the place of horses at the plow.”
A newly formed interstate association of laundry owners eyes a coordinated campaign against Chinese-run businesses while resisting union wage demands.
“Chinese laundries are barred from membership, and a fight with some material backing may be waged against the celestials.”
A traveler posing as a hardware salesman is arrested in Spokane after authorities discover 1,300 pounds of contraband in his luggage.
“Davis's method had been to pass through British Columbia as a traveling man with four large sample trunks labeled hardware.”
In November 1902, local merchants and manufacturers met in secret to form an 'Employers' Association,' aiming to present a united front against the growing power of labor unions.
A dedicated Salvation Army captain is murdered in Spokane by a rejected suitor who then takes his own life.
“She had gone into the Army because she had learned she possessed a wonderful influence over depraved men, and more particularly those enslaved by drink and opium habits.”
A Tacoma man takes his own life in a Spokane courtroom after a bitter domestic dispute and legal battle with his wife.
“She promised to quit the state and all intercourse or society of people in that business and start living a domestic life.”
Paul Hoffman, a German Lutheran minister turned job-seeker, was arrested for vagrancy after collecting donations from churchgoers. In his cell, he wept as he recounted his fall from grace.
A convicted man at the state penitentiary steps forward to clear his accomplice, arguing that he was the sole criminal mastermind and his partner was merely a pawn.
“Corbett says he met Cook here in Spokane and that the latter was broke and disheartened. Corbett suggested that they could get money by holding some one up, and after some persuasion, induced Cook to join him.”
A man lies dead in a Spokane saloon with no identification but a letter from 'Maggie' and a question about a baby.
“There was nothing by which to identify him except a letter, not in an envelope. The letter... began: 'My Dear Frank.' It was signed 'Maggie,' and a postscript said, 'How is the baby?'”
A gambling house faro dealer and his mistress are found in a grizzly scene in Spokane, leading to a murder investigation that revealed the stark, hidden vulnerabilities of women living on the social margins of the 1890s.
“The body of Trixey Leighton, as she called herself, was lying stretched upon a disordered bed, her face and hair covered with black, clotted blood.”
Convicted hold-up man Harry Kelly nearly freed himself from the county dungeon using nothing but a rusty pair of scissors and sheer determination, leaving Sheriff Doust scrambling to find who supplied the tool.
Officer Ike keeps a watchful eye on Tobias, the 'bad boy' of the Cineograph theater, after he becomes a fugitive from home and targets Japanese children with chemical pranks.
A charismatic stranger dazzled Spokane with tales of gold and a lavish lifestyle, only to leave town with $10,000 in worthless checks.
“Higgins' check went for almost any amount and he is about $10,000 richer above the money he used to make this show of prodigality.”
A Spokane barber finds himself behind bars after a landlady uses criminal law to settle a civil board bill.
“Many lawyers believe that the boarding house law, or at least the purpose for which it is often used, is unconstitutional. They take the position that its enforcement practically amounts to imprisonment for debt.”
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