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Newport Turns On the Lights

The Northern Idaho Montana Power Co. is wiring 2,500-candlepower arc lights and tungsten incandescents at intersections across Newport—a $4,500 bet on the town's future.

Newport Streets Will be Finely Illuminated.

Locations Named By Council.

Linemen of the Northern Idaho Montana Power Co. are at work stringing wires for the new street lighting system. The equipment required for the carrying out of the contract with the city will call for an expenditure of over $4,500, another evidence of the faith of the company in the growth and future prosperity of our city. The arcs will be 2,500 candle power, of the new flaming type, which are the strongest and best invented up to date, and the new system, when completed, will give the town a greatly improved street lighting, one which is not surpassed in any city in the northwest. The lights have been located by the town council at the following locations:

Arcs at Union and Fourth, Washington and Third, Warren and Fourth, Cass and Fourth, Union and Fifth, Washington and Second, Washington and Fourth.

40-watt tungsten incandescent lights at Newport and Second, Pine at I. & W. N. crossing, Union and Third, Union and First, Union and Spruce, Washington and First, Washington and Pine, Washington and Spruce, Washington north end, Spokane and Fourth, Spokane and Third, Spokane and Second, Spokane and First, Spokane and Pine, Spokane and Spruce, Warren and Fifth, Warren and Third, Warren and Second, Warren and First, Scott and Fifth, Scott and Third, Cass and Second, Newport and Sixth.

“The new system, when completed, will give the town a greatly improved street lighting, one which is not surpassed in any city in the northwest.”

— Printed in The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-Current, 1909
Then · 1909117 years apartNow · 2026

Street lighting was more than convenience: it marked which corners counted and where the town expected to grow. The 1909 list doubles as a map of Newport's commercial grid and a reminder that utility contracts are always civic bets on the future.

The original page

The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-Current, 1909-10-14. Library of Congress, Chronicling America.

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About this story

From
The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-Current, OCT 14, 1909, Page 1
Text
Cleaned up from the page — spelling and layout repaired — not a word-for-word transcription. The page itself is above, for exact wording.
Rights
Public domain
Place
48.17963, -117.04326 · placed automatically
The paper in the Library of Congress catalog ↗