A Joint-Stock Stage Line to Beat the Railroad to the Mines

Among the many important questions that have been sprung by the recent organization of a Board of Trade in this city, there is not a single one that calls for a greater consideration than that of securing the trade of the new Coeur d'Alene gold mines, and none that at the present time so affects our business men.

Recognizing the great necessity for uniting a strong and vigorous effort to draw the trade to this point, our people, to a unit, are exerting themselves to open up easy, direct and rapid communication with Eagle City and other points on the road to and in the mines. Taking all things in confidence this is the natural supply depot. The mines and the country contiguous thereto. Enjoying special rates on the railroad, having large capital and buying for cash directly from first hands in the Eastern markets, our men here are prepared to deliver goods at as low figures as they can be purchased anywhere on the coast. The hardware houses here carry immense stocks, representing hundreds of thousands of dollars, and entering upon a demand for a certain class of goods the firms have taken pains to make such selections as will meet the requirements of the new market.

Besides these advantages enumerated, Spokane has another and important advantage of being the largest city within easy reach of the mines. It is just as natural for a miner to seek the largest inhabited place in his neighborhood as it is for a duck to travel toward water. The prospector is a sociable kind of ape of the human family when off duty, and concludes that where the greater number of people congregate there pleasure awaits the seeker in a corresponding prodigality. Altogether Spokane Falls occupies an unrivaled position in its situation and ought to profit largely thereby, and the scheme on foot and about to be carried out will insure to it a trade that might possibly drift in another direction.

We refer to the organization of a joint stock company to be known as the "Spokane Falls Stage and Transportation Company." This project is one of the fruits of the Board of Trade. While it has no connection directly or indirectly with that institution, yet the company is an outgrowth from suggestions offered at a meeting of the Board. It took all shape at once in a proposition to incorporate a company with a capital of $20,000 represented by 200 shares. The apportionment committee appointed for that purpose, and up to the present time over one-half of the stock has been taken, with every indication that the entire amount will be rapidly subscribed. A meeting of the stockholders will meet, elect officers and draw up articles of incorporation. The object and intentions of the company are to immediately put on a daily stage between Spokane and the Coeur d'Alenes, to accommodate passenger traffic, and also freight wagons for the transportation of goods. Arrangements have been made with the Coeur d'Alene Navigation Company to carry goods from points place directly into the mines, so that the communication between the Falls and Eagle City will be continuous and unbroken. The project is feasible and easy to carry out. The road between our city and the Post is level as a floor and free from all obstruction. No difficulty will be experienced in carrying heavy loads between the two places, and it can and will be transported at a nominal cost. In fact the main object of the company is to put goods down in the mines with promptness and at a low cost to the shipper. It is safe to say that the company will have everything in running order by February, if not earlier, and parties heading for the mines will find Spokane Falls to be the best point from which to start.