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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 19 |
| 1884 | 8 |
27 stories matching ground
- 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.
- A New City Charter Would Let Spokane Bill You for Water Whether You Use It or Not
Council Bill No. 77 would hand the city sweeping power over water works — including the right to tax any lot that merely fronts a water main, used or not, and to charge a tenant's bill to the landlord.
- The Agent Orders the Spokane Tribe Off Their Ancient Fishing Grounds
A newly arrived Indian agent, backed by orders from Washington, moves to clear the Spokanes and Coeur d'Alenes from the falls where they have always gathered — while promising land to those who comply.
- The Gold Rush That Wouldn't Wait for Spring
A Spokane Falls merchant is summoned back to the snowbound Coeur d'Alene mines as fortune hunters pour in a month early — and the Falls positions itself as the gateway to the new El Dorado.
- A Rough Welcome to Spokane Falls
A pioneer photographer's arrival in the city ends in a painful accident after his wagon hits an excavation.
- Turning Gravel into Gold
Local skeptics are proven wrong as experiments with flax and wheat on Spokane's rocky soil show surprising success.
- The Editor's Pistol: A Deadly Quarrel in Walla Walla
Chas. Besserer, editor of the Walla Walla Watchman, shoots a brewer who threatened him, and is acquitted on grounds of self-defense.
- A Rough Ride for Pleasure Seekers
A buggy ride through Spokane ends in a tumble when a team of horses takes fright.
- A Tragic Railroad Accident
A young man loses both feet after falling between train cars while riding illegally.
- 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.
- He Walked to the Doctor With His Arm Hanging by a Thread
A Pend d'Oreille man struck by a Northern Pacific train near Sand Point was brought to Spokane Falls, where surgeons amputated at the shoulder. He died two days later.
- A Blanket Theft, a Brutal Assault, and No Arrests in 1883 Spokane
Two Native American men attacked a Chinese camp over a blanket. The injured man was left in the care of his countrymen, and the attackers vanished.
- Spokane Falls Bets on a Grand New Schoolhouse
After voters approved a special tax, trustees bought a block at the south end of Howard Street and hired an architect and builder for a two-story frame school.
- 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 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 Falls Builds Through the Winter
Despite the cold, construction in Spokane Falls never stopped, and the coming spring promises a building boom that will double the city's size.
- A Spokane Craftsman's Twelve-Year Masterpiece in Human Hair
Charles Streib spent over a decade creating portraits of Generals Washington and Sherman from thousands of strands of human hair—a feat of patience and artistry that astonished the city.
- Sixty Armed Men Took the Jail at Dayton
A convicted murderer was hauled out of the Columbia County jail and strangled from a rope in the public square — the coroner's jury named no killers, and the local editor scolded lynch law while calling the mob 'cool and systematic.'
- 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.
- 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.
- Spokane Falls Fights to Stay the Gateway to the Coeur d'Alene Mines
As rival towns and papers tout their own routes to the gold fields, the Spokane Falls Review insists the Big Meadows road will make this city the permanent key to the mines.
- 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 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 Case for Washington Statehood
A San Francisco paper argues Washington Territory has the population, wealth and schools to join the Union — and urges Congress to admit it.