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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 9 |
| 1884 | 7 |
16 stories matching date
- The Comedian Who Never Came — and the Advance Man Who Took the Town
Spokane Falls announces the coming of comedian Jas. O'Neill, prints the bills, and then learns the actor is tangled in a real-life comedy at Billings — while the advance agent may have pocketed the take.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Spokane's Date with Destiny: Welcoming the Northern Pacific Railroad
The completion of the transcontinental line brings Henry Villard and hundreds of guests to Spokane Falls, promising a new era of growth and connection.
- A Violent Land Dispute on the Little Spokane
A settler’s attempt to harvest hay on his newly acquired land leads to an armed confrontation with local Indigenous claimants.
- The Perils of Courting in a Buggy
A livery stable customer recounts a disastrous date involving a runaway horse, a kiss, and a very narrow escape.
- 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.'
- The Stolen Petition That Could Have Split Spokane County
In 1883, a push to carve a new county out of Spokane turned ugly when a 350-name petition vanished from a Howard Street law office.
- The Plot to Carve a New Territory Out of Eastern Washington and Idaho
As the Coeur d'Alene mines boom, Spokane Falls pushes to become the capital of a breakaway territory—and the railroad towns are fighting back.
- 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.
- 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.
- A Stagecoach Ride Into the Last Paradise of Bunch Grass
A correspondent survives a headfirst plunge into an icy creek to report on the new stage route, the boomtown of Okanogan, and the railroad the Big Bend is begging for.
- 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.