The Real Estate Frenzy that Built Spokane
An early reporter’s account of Spokane’s explosive growth, driven by railroad speculation and the 'lucky' millionaires of the mining boom.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Spokane is only eleven years old. In 1878, Mr. A. M. Cannon and J. S. Browne came along this way and found Mr. J. Glover in sole possession of the falls. There were but three houses in the place and not a half dozen white people. Messrs. Cannon and Browne offered to purchase a half interest from Mr. Glover, but there was a disagreement about the price, and the two former gentlemen made up their minds to go elsewhere. One night they rode off to Spangle, eighteen miles distant. After he had gone to bed, Mr. Cannon began to think the subject over and concluded he and his associate had made a mistake. He became so worried about it he could not sleep, and day had hardly broken when he called Browne and told him of his conclusion. Browne had reached a similar conclusion, and they rode back to Spokane, arriving so early that Glover did not discover their absence, and negotiations were renewed which resulted in the purchase by Cannon and Browne of a half interest in the falls and the land upon which Spokane now stands for $4,000. Today, Cannon and Browne are all living here, and are bankers and millionaires.
“It turns an ordinary head dizzy to hear of fortunes made as quickly and so easily.”
Spokane’s rapid transition from a three-house settlement to a rail-connected metropolis mirrors the 'boomtown' cycles that have defined Seattle and the Puget Sound region for over a century. The story serves as a reminder that the city's current high-stakes real estate market is deeply rooted in the speculative fever that accompanied the arrival of the transcontinental railroads in the 1880s.
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