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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 101 |
| 1884 | 40 |
141 stories
- The Hero of the Jersey Express
A young railroad engineer risks his life to save a passenger train, sparking a community celebration in Spokane.
- A Threshing Machine Tragedy
A farm worker suffers a horrific injury after falling into a threshing machine near Spokane.
- Spokane Prepares to Welcome the Northern Pacific’s Last-Spike Excursion
In September 1883, Spokane Falls planned arches, speeches and a day of civic pageantry to greet President Henry Villard and the railroad party opening the transcontinental line.
- Spokane Dressed for a Railroad King—and Waited Until Midnight
Spokane Falls spent a week building arches and hanging evergreens for Henry Villard's Northern Pacific excursion, but delayed trains turned the grand reception into a series of after-dark whistle-stops—and Ulysses S. Grant drew the crowd that the railroad had promised.
- Spokane Bets $1,000 on a Road to the Coeur d'Alene Mines
A Saturday-night mass meeting in Cannon's Hall puts real money behind a wagon road from Spokane Falls into the mining country — and the boosters are already calling their town 'the Denver of the Northwest.'
- Spokane Falls Demands Its Fair Share of the Territory
With Spokane County left 'out in the cold' without a representative while smaller Walla Walla holds three seats, the Review calls for splitting Washington Territory in two.
- Spokane Falls Finally Gets Water Works
After years of relying on water carriers and wells, the city council grants a franchise to two newcomers to build a water system, promising fire protection and an end to the water famine.
- Spokane Falls Finally Gets a Water Company — and a Fire-Fighting Lifeline
After a winter of promises and a franchise left to gather dust, three investors buy out the original water-works rights and vow to lay pipe before the weather turns.
- Turning Gravel into Gold
Local skeptics are proven wrong as experiments with flax and wheat on Spokane's rocky soil show surprising success.
- Washington Wheat Rolls East for the First Time
A landmark Northern Pacific shipment carried Walla Walla wheat through Spokane Falls toward Minneapolis, announcing the railroad's promise to turn Inland Northwest grain into global commerce.
- Spokane Cuts Itself a New County — and Expects the Courthouse
The Territorial legislature carves a new county out of Spokane, placing Spokane Falls near its center. The town is 'exceedingly happy,' and already counting on the county seat, the land office, and the records that come with them.
- A Joint-Stock Stage Line to Beat the Railroad to the Mines
Spokane businessmen subscribe a $20,000 company to run daily stages and freight to Eagle City, betting the gold rush will make their town the gateway to the Coeur d'Alenes.
- The Union Block Collapse: A Mason's Fall Through a Defective Staging
A plank gave way during construction at Union Block, sending one mason into the cellar with a broken collarbone and a second man tumbling to the ground floor.
- The Train They Hoped Would Stop: Spokane's Bid for the Last-Spike Spotlight
A mass meeting at Cannon's Hall appointed a committee to welcome President Villard's Northern Pacific excursion and make sure the editorial train lingered long enough to see the falls.
- The Six-Story Mill Built on a Rock in the Spokane River
In 1883, S. G. Havermale and B. F. Davis began raising a flour mill and elevator on Little Island, betting that water power and wheat would make Spokane Falls a grain capital.
- A Boulder on the Track Nearly Sends a Passenger Train Down the Hill
A westbound train strikes a fallen boulder near the Hangman Creek bridge, throwing its engine trucks off the track within feet of a steep drop. A nearby pay-car locomotive pulls the disabled engine free.
- A False Alarm Reveals Spokane Has No Fire Department
A burst of flame over Howard and Main sends a crowd running — and the paper demands a fire department before a real blaze eats the business district.
- The Unknown Man Below the Falls
A decomposing body wedged between trees near a downtown Spokane thoroughfare is examined by a coroner's jury — and buried without a name.
- An Arsonist's Fire in the Black Hawk Stable
A pre-dawn blaze in a Main Street livery kills four valuable horses and nearly takes the block — and the town is sure it was set on purpose.
- The Dangerous Human Bite
A local man's thumb injury from a human bite leads to a six-month recovery and a warning about the toxicity of such wounds.
- She Met the Intruder With a Six-Shooter and a Rawhide
When a stranger entered J. A. Zangrell's tent and insulted his wife, she did not scream or faint. She grabbed a pistol and a whip and chased him into the street.
- A Midnight Ride, a Volley of Shots, and No One to Blame
A farmer on the Moran Prairie road hurried home under gunfire; deputies found only darkness.
- A Circular Saw, a Jammed Board, and a Mill Hand's Narrow Escape
L. C. Grimmel lost a finger and nearly his whole hand at Johnson & Co.'s mill when a stuck board freed the saw without warning.
- The Body Beneath the Logs at Spokane Falls
A boarder at the Northern Pacific Hotel found a decomposing stranger wedged beneath logs just below Spokane Falls—too late for the coroner to say how he died.
- A Loaded Rifle Turns a Spokane Hunting Trip Into a Fatal Accident
Warren Clark, a recent arrival looking to invest in the city, dies in ten minutes after his own gun fires as he climbs back into a wagon.