Spokane Falls Finally Gets a Water Company — and a Fire-Fighting Lifeline

It is apparent to every resident that the most pressing and vital want of Spokane Falls at the present time is a system of water-works that will not only supply a sufficient amount of fluid for domestic purposes, but will also give the city some protection against fire. This poverty of water has grown upon us more and more every month, until it becomes a necessity for which the place is actually suffering. Schemes for introducing the indispensable liquid have been discussed again and again, yet nothing directly tangible, or even a probability of consummation, has ever resulted.

In January, when a couple of gentlemen presented a petition to the City Council, praying for a franchise to construct and operate water works in Spokane Falls, the offer met the approbation of the public, and a happy escape from our unfortunate predicament was looked forward to with bright expectations. After the ordinance was passed granting the privilege asked, the matter lay dormant up to the present date. While it was out of the question to commence operations in the dead of winter, yet the exacting public became uneasy, and the question has been frequently asked, "What has become of the water-works?"

We believe that the original parties could have carried out the project they embarked in if they had so disposed, yet for reasons of their own they have sold all the rights, franchises and privileges awarded them by the City Council to some of our most enterprising and active citizens. The transfer was enacted this week, and the "Spokane Falls Water Company" is now incorporated under the laws of the Territory with Frank R. Moore, Chas. Sweeney and Robert J. Linden as the associated company. These gentlemen have taken hold of the enterprise with the determination to carry it out, and that expeditiously. They are men who are not only able to put the work through, but are desirous of seeing it completed at as early a date as possible.

An engineer has been engaged to make the necessary surveys and plans, and as rapidly as the preliminary work is finished up the real labor of laying pipes will commence, and be pushed ahead as fast as the nature of the weather will permit. It gives us great pleasure to be able to make the announcement that the completion of water works for our city is only the matter of a little time, and that in all probability the principal part of the city will be supplied with an abundance of wholesome water within a few months.