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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 11 |
| 1884 | 8 |
19 stories matching built
- 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.
- The Pioneer Who Started With $24 Sells His Liquor House
J. N. Squier, in Spokane Falls since 1879, hands his wholesale liquor business to a San Francisco firm to chase his mining interests — leaving a fortune built from almost nothing.
- Spokane's Board of Trade Fights to Save the Northern Pacific Land Grant
In February 1884, Spokane Falls merchants rallied against a Congressional bill that would forfeit the railroad's land grant — and with it, they feared, the town's entire future.
- The Railroad Raises Its Rates, and the Northwest Howls
Spokane Falls merchants protest a Northern Pacific freight hike that makes shipping from Minneapolis cost as much as shipping from New York — and warn the railroad it is strangling its own territory.
- The Boomer Who Lied About the Gold Fields
Spokane Falls' paper takes a Minnesota editor to task for a wildly inaccurate account of the Coeur d'Alene mines — and in doing so lays bare the whole machinery of Western town-site hype.
- The First Pack Train Leaves Spokane for the Mines
Mr. Garrison, a veteran of mineral-district pack trains, launches a weekly saddle and freight service from the Sprague House straight into the Coeur d'Alene country — and the paper urges every prospector to outfit here.
- A Frontier City That Could Not Stop Building
Brick blocks, storefronts, and frame houses rose across Spokane Falls as contractors raced winter—and touted the town's future.
- The Self-Made Man of Spokane Falls and His 240-Acre 'Idlewild'
A profile of James E. Roe, who arrived four years ago with not a dollar and now owns a livery stable, a sawmill interest, and a ranch of surpassing beauty eight miles east of the city.
- The Coeur d'Alene Stampede Through Spokane Falls
Every train brings a delegation of prospectors as the Coeur d'Alene mining fever turns Spokane Falls into the gateway to the new diggings — and prices at the mines run to $70 a barrel of flour.
- Paint the Town for the Last Spike
With the Northern Pacific about to close the continent, Spokane Falls is told to clean its streets, whitewash its houses, and prepare for a wealth-laden excursion.
- Central Block: A New Landmark Rises on Riverside Avenue
Spokane's newest brick building, Central Block, nears completion on Riverside Avenue, showcasing modern architecture and the city's rapid growth.
- The Railroad That Built the Town Now Charges It Tribute
Spokane Falls merchants discover the Northern Pacific has quietly raised freight rates 50 to 150 percent — to fatten Portland at the inland towns' expense.
- Browne's Block: A New Brick Landmark Rises at Post and Riverside
A detailed tour of Spokane Falls' most ambitious new commercial building, nearly complete and set to open December 1.
- The Night Fire Nearly Took Browne's New Brick Block
A stove left burning in a plaster-drying room set Spokane Falls' finest new brick building alight — and the town had nothing but buckets to fight it with.
- A California Mining Veteran Bets Everything on the Coeur d'Alene Gold Rush
George Henderson, a hardened prospector out of Martinez, California, arrives in Spokane Falls, spends one day in the Coeur d'Alene diggings, and walks out having staked claims, built two houses, and hired a crew to winter over — telling the town the mines 'could not be exaggerated.'
- The Newspaper War Between Spokane Falls and Cheney
Spokane's Review savages the county seat of Cheney as a mud-bound, half-deserted village of one brick building — and admits the whole feud is over which town will boom.
- Gold Fever at the Doorstep: The Coeur d'Alene Rush
Word of fabulously rich quartz strikes fifty miles east of Spokane Falls has set off a stampede — veterans of '49 are said to be packing up again, and 50,000 men are expected in the mountains next spring, with Spokane Falls positioning itself as the supply depot.
- 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.
- 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.