Is one of those miracles possible only in the alert, aggressive West.
When Mr. Hayes was inaugurated it was a blank wilderness. Not a single
civilized being lived within a hundred miles of it. One day in 1878 a
white man came along in a "bull team," saw the wild rapids and the mighty
falls of the Spokane River, reflected on the history of St. Paul and
Minneapolis with their little Falls of St. Anthony, looked at the tide of
immigration just turning toward the farther Northwest, and concluded he
would sit right down where he was and wait for a city to grow around him.
This far-sighted pioneer is still living within earshot of those rumbling
falls, and they make a cheerful music for him. The city is there with
him, 22,000 people, and he can draw a check to-day good for $1,000,000.
For several years his eyes fell on nothing but gravel-beds and foamy
waters. Now, as he looks around, he sees mills and factories, railroad
lines to the north, south, east, and west, churches, theatres,
school-houses, costly dwellings and stores, paved streets, and all that
makes living easy and comfortable. The greater part of this has come
within his vision since 1883. But even then there was quite a village.
After this pioneer had spent a lonely year or two on his homestead, two
other men came along. They were friends, who, upon an outing, had chanced
to meet. They were captivated by the waterfall, and by what the pioneer
told them of the fine fanning lands in the adjacent country, and they
offered each to take a third of his holding. Then they began to
advertise, and to place adventurous farmers on homestead claims. They
were wise in their day and generation, and they worked harder to fill the
country with grain-producers than to sell real estate around the falls.
They soon had their reward. The merchants were quickly provided with
store-houses, rental values were kept low, every inducement was offered
that could possibly stimulate building activity, and in three years the
farming country was made to perceive that Spokane was its natural point
of entry and of shipment. The turbulent waters of the Spokane River, a
clear and beautiful mountain stream, were caught above the falls, and
directed wherever the factories and mills that had been established above
them required their services. Four large flouring-mills quickly took
advantage of the rich opportunity growing out of this unique situation.
From two enormous agricultural areas they are enabled to draw their
supplies of grain, flour, therefore, being manufactured for the farmers
more cheaply at Spokane: than anywhere else. This circumstance alone
exercised a large influence in giving the new town a hold upon the
country districts. These constitute more than a region--they are really a
grand division of the State, and form what is known as the Great Plain of
the Columbia River.