Have reached a high and profitable state of development. These mines
extend over a comparatively limited area. They are close together, and
their ores, producing gold, silver, and lead, are all similar. Their
output for the last three years has been quite remarkable, and has placed
the Coeur d'Alene district among the foremost lead-producing regions in
the country. Gold, associated with iron, and treated by the free-milling
process, is largely found in the northern part of the district, but the
greatest amount of tonnage is derived from the southern country, where
the Galena silver mines, a dozen or more in number, have been discovered.
That minerals in large quantity existed in this country has been known for
years. But the want of railroad facilities for a long while prevented any
serious effort to get at them. The matter of transportation is now laid
at rest, and within the last three years $1,000,000 has been spent in
development. The returns have already more than justified the investment.
Tributary to Spokane, and reached by the various railroads now in
operation, are five other mining districts, at Colville, Okanagan,
Kootenai, Metaline, and Pend d'Oreille. They are in various stages of
development, but their wealth and availability have been clearly
ascertained. Spokane's population, in a degree greater than that of most
all these new cities, consists of young men and young women from the New
England and Middle States. They have enjoyed a remarkable and wholly
uninterrupted period of prosperity. Some of them have grown quickly and
immensely rich from real estate operations, but the great majority have
yet to realize on their investments because of the large sacrifices they
have made in building up the city. They are to-day in an admirable
position. As they have made money they have spent it; spent it in street
railroads, in the laying out of drives, in the building of comfortable
houses, in the establishment of electrical plants, and in a large number
of local improvements, every one of which has borne its part in making
the city attractive.