The Road Money That Went to Colville
Ten thousand dollars was appropriated for the Newport–Orient state road. Six thousand of it vanished into 'preliminaries,' and the actual construction ended up in the county seat instead of at either end of the road.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in speaking of the question of state roads, in a resume published on Sunday, says that $10,000 was appropriated for the Newport–Orient state road, but that $6,000 of the fund was wasted in preliminaries and only $4,000 went into the construction of actual terminals. The construction of the actual terminals appears to have been principally in Colville, where most of the preliminary funds were also spent, instead of at Newport and Orient.
“$6,000 of the fund was wasted in preliminaries and only $4,000 in the construction of actual terminals.”
Then as now, the fight over a road appropriation was really a fight over which town gets the money and which town gets the pavement. Newport's grievance — that the county seat absorbed the funds meant for the outlying ends of the road — is the same complaint rural Pend Oreille County communities still raise when transportation dollars pool in the larger city.
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