A Salt Maker, a Sanitarium and the Fight for Medical Lake's Shore

Medical Lake, Feb. 13.—Special.—Col. Brownlee, who represented the Chicago syndicate of capitalists who proposed to invest $75,000 in a sanitarium at this place, has been meeting with some difficulty in regard to the required easements of lake front property. All easements were freely signed except by Messrs. Morter, Windhausen and Hall.

Mr. Hall, who has salt works in running order, came to an agreement with the colonel, who contracted to buy the Hall property. Mr. Windhausen, who owns 113 feet of lake front property, with salt works in operation, agreed with the colonel to take $1,000 for his property. When Mr. Morter was interviewed, he said: “I own 125 feet of lake front property in one place and seventy-five feet in another, and will not sign away my right to manufacture salt unless you will pay me $4,000 for the 125 feet. Then I will give the easement to the other seventy-five feet.”

The colonel, upon investigation, found that the largest price ever paid in Medical Lake's palmiest days was $10 per front foot for lake shore property, and as Morter's building was of no particular value—the roof having fallen in and the machinery rusted until worthless, having been left to look after itself for the last five years on account of litigation—he considered the property the same as unimproved, but was willing to allow Morter any reasonable amount for his easement, as Morter had been in the salt business, but could not think of $4,000. So the colonel left it with the citizens to settle with Morter and send him the easement.

As the citizens were not willing to pay for property generally considered worth about $500, the prospect for a sanitarium looked pretty scaly until Col. Smith produced a drawing of the lake and his property, which he claimed to be the original town plat, drafted when he laid out his farm in town lots. Upon investigation it was found to be properly recorded, with a street running from Lake to Fifth streets, and that Col. Smith had reserved all pipe rights in streets. This would leave Mr. Morter without any lake front property.

A statement of the case was sent to Col. Brownlee, who seemed to doubt the legality of the street, on account of clauses in certain property deeds which stated that said property extended up to meander line. It was then decided to take the advice of Attorney General Jones on the matter. Jones wrote from Olympia that from the descriptions given he had a very favorable opinion of its being a legal street, but could not state positively until he investigated; that he would be in Spokane in a few days, would investigate, and then give his decision.