It has been well said of Spokane Falls, that "it was another
fire-devastated city that did not seem to know it was hurt."
If Washington can stand the loss of millions of dollars in its four great
fires of the year, at Cheney, Ellensburg, Seattle, and Spokane, it is the
strongest evidence that its recuperative powers have solid backing. It
does seem to stand the loss, and actually thrive under it.
The great fire at Spokane Falls on the 4th of August, 1889, burned most
of the business portion of the city. Four hundred and fifty houses of
brick, stone, and wood were destroyed, entailing a loss, according to the
computation of the local agent of R.G. Dun & Co., of about $4,500,000.
The insurance in the burned district amounted to $2,600,000.
No people were ever in better condition to meet disaster, and none ever
met it with braver hearts or with quicker and more resolute determination
to survive the blow.
The city was in the midst of a period of marvelous prosperity. Its
population was increasing rapidly, many fine buildings were in process of
construction, its trade was extending over a vast region of country which
was being penetrated by new railroads centering within its limits, and
there were flowing to it the rich fruits of half a dozen prosperous
mining districts.
[Illustration: ONEONTA GORGE, COLUMBIA RIVER, ORE. On the Union Pacific
Ry.]
Its working people were all employed at good wages, and money was
abundant with all classes.
Hardly had the sun of the day following the fire risen upon the scene of
smoking desolation, when preparations began for rebuilding. It was felt
at once that the city would be rebuilt more substantially and more
handsomely than before.
The rebuilding of Spokane commenced on a very extensive scale; the city
will be entirely restored within twelve months, and far more attractively
than ever before. The class of buildings erected are of a very superior
character. The new Opera House has been modeled after the Broadway
Theatre, New York; the new Hotel Spokane, a structure creditable not only
to the city, but to the entire Pacific Northwest; five National Bank
buildings, at a cost of $100,000 each; upon the burned district have
arisen buildings solid in substance, and beautiful architecturally,
varying from five to seven stories in height, and costing all the way
from $60,000 to $300,000. This sturdy young giant of the North arises
from her ashes stronger, more attractive, more substantial, than before.
And there is abundant reason for solid faith in the future of Spokane
Falls.
It is the metropolis of a region 200,000 square miles in extent,
including 50,000 square miles of Washington, or all that portion east of
the Cascade Mountains, more than half of Idaho, the northern and eastern
portions of Oregon, a large part of Montana, and as much of British
Columbia as would make a State as large as New York.
It is the distributing point for the Coeur d'Alene, the Colville, the
Kootenai, and the Okanagan mining districts, all of which are in a
prosperous condition, and all of which are yielding rich and growing
tributes of trade.
It has adjacent to it the finest wheat-growing country in the world,
producing from 30 to 60 bushels per acre.
It has adjacent to it a country equally rich in the production of fruits
and vegetables.
It has adjacent to it the finest meadow lands between the Cascade and
Rocky Mountains.
It has adjacent to it extensive grazing lands, on which are hundreds of
thousands of cattle, sheep, and horses.
It has, adjacent to it, on Lakes Pend d'Oreille and Coeur d'Alene,
inexhaustible quantities of white pine, yellow pine, cedar and tamarack,
the manufacturing of which into lumber is one of the important industries
of the city, and a source of great future income.
It has a power in the falls of the Spokane River second to none in the
United States, and capable of supplying construction room and power for
300 different mills and manufactories. The entire electric lighting plant
of the city, the cable railway system, the electric railway system, the
machinery for the city water works, and all the mills and factories of
the city--the amount of wheat which was last year ground into flour
exceeding 20,000 tons--are now operated by the power from the falls. One
company alone, the Washington Water Power Company, having a capital of
$1,000,000, is now spending upward of $300,000 in the construction of
flumes and other improvements for the accommodation of new mills and
factories.
Most fortunately for the city, all the milling properties and
improvements on the falls and along the river were saved from the fire.
The city has a water-works system which cost nearly half a million
dollars, and which is capable of supplying 12,000,000 gallons daily, or
as much as the supply of Minneapolis when it had a population of 100,000,
or as much as the present supply of Denver with a population of 120,000,
and more than the City of Portland, Oregon, with a population of 60,000.