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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 102 |
| 1884 | 41 |
143 stories
- The Ladies Stayed Home: Spokane Falls Votes Without Much Fuss
A quiet April election returns the straight citizens' ticket, with one lively independent fight in the Second Ward and a notable absence at the polls.
- A New Mayor Inherits a Solvent City — and a River Full of Filth
Spokane Falls' incoming council takes the oath, draws lots for term lengths, and confronts the sewage being dumped above the falls.
- The New Council Takes On the Sewage in the River
Spokane Falls' freshly seated city council moves against the habit of dumping garbage and sewage into the river above the falls — and against boys loitering in saloons.
- A Jailbreak in the County Seat
Three prisoners escaped the county jail by cutting through a door and scaling the fence, leaving behind only one inmate who was too portly to fit through the hole.
- A Cedar Tree Accident at Eighterle Prairie
A man suffers a broken leg while clearing timber near Spokane.
- The Tin-Can Alarm Clock Prank That Sent a Spokane Sleeper Racing Downtown at 1:30 A.M.
A prominent citizen rigged a string-and-tin-can wake-up call with the night watchman. Local pranksters pulled the string first—and he dressed and ran for a train that wasn't leaving.
- A Stage for the Falls: The Push for Spokane's First Great Opera House
With touring companies expected on the Northern Pacific, local boosters propose a 1,000-seat frame hall—and a joint-stock company to build it for $6,000.
- A Bridge to Span the Spokane
Citizens fund a new crossing at Post Street, promising a vital link between the city's shores and a grand view of the falls.
- Drawing the Lines of a New City
A called council meeting in September 1883 redrew Spokane Falls’s boundaries, split it into four wards, and argued over who would elect the city’s officers.
- A 100-Acre Bet on North Spokane
An Eastern investor buys a tract north of the river for $12,500 and plans to plat it into lots and build houses—classic Spokane booster speculation.
- A Miner's Pockets Full of Gold Nuggets — and a Placer Strike 40 Miles From Town
A Spokane Falls businessman bound for the Cœur d'Alene mines never got there, but came back with nuggets and gold-crusted quartz from a richer claim far nearer home.
- Trail Wars: Spokane Fights for the Road to the Coeur d'Alene Gold
As prospectors rush the new Coeur d'Alene diggings, Spokane boosters battle a Portland paper over which trail is passable — and who gets to outfit the stampede.
- Spokane Merchants Meet to Carve a Wagon Road to the Big Bend
An enthusiastic crowd in Cannon's Hall backs a road from Spokane Falls to Okanogan, and two men set out through a snowstorm to find the route.
- Spokane Falls Organizes to Build Its First Public Library
A handful of citizens meet in Cannon's Hall to launch a free reading room and library — a public institution open to all, funded by subscription, and aimed at the thousands who will make the town their home.
- A Silver Strike North of the Falls Promises a Fortune
Four men from Tacoma and Spokane incorporate the Spokane Mining and Smelting Company on a claim in the Colville country, with assays running nearly $60 a ton.
- The Man Who Survived Thirteen Doctors
A patient's wry, furious account of his bout with spinal meningitis — and the horse-doctor who killed a servant girl with a morphine syringe — skewers the medical profession of his day.
- The Hotel That Was 'Out in the Woods' Now Can't Keep Up
Fifteen months after skeptics predicted the Sprague House would fail for being too far from town, its proprietor is adding fifty rooms to meet the rush.
- The Rush That Wouldn't Quit
Pack trains, wholesale houses and a flood of strangers: Spokane Falls cashes in on the Coeur d'Alene mining boom.