, 1889-07-11
s7-===------=-=--
A PRIVATE LETTER.
A Citizen OF Spokane Falls Writes 70
u Friend.

One of the REVIEWS Missouri ex.
changes contains an extract from a per-
sonal letter written by a resident of this
city TO q friend AZ his former home. "A
preface to the letter states that II will be
a surprise to the writer to see the letter
in print The extract Is as follows:
This is undoubtedly the most wonder
ful city on the face OF the earth. Over
2O00 new buildings have been put up
within year and all good ones--many
i've, four and three stories, of brick and
granite. Within three years the place
10000. The bank clearances are nearly
quarter of million a week, and the
real estate sales seldom fall short of half
IA million. The city is supplied with
electric light, gas light, water works,
two uniformed messenger companies,
in fact al modern metropolitan
now, but there Is more ac-
tivity to the square inch than any other
place ever saw--kansas City not ex-
cepted We have less than six weeks of
winter--the hills carpeted with flowers
in February and last winter the ther-
momcter reached zero only one day; in
summer the maximum IL about 00o as
"a rule, although 1t has gone higher. The
nights are always cool. ! wear an over
coat home every night. Ii you are fond
of fishing for salmon and trout You can
find enjoyment in that line. | have no
difficulty in catching them, but they al
ways get away from me. | am in love
with Spirit lake, thirty miles north
east of here, Just over the Idaho line,
and beyond Mount Carleton, whose
snow-capped crest is now visible from
my window. The sole inhabitant of
that region is hermit, but he is not
averse to company. The COur
d'Aloucs, the Spokanes and the
san Puells once fought a great battle
there and many were killed. Their spir-
its now inhabit the waters and their war
cries may be heard any night. thought
ut first they emanated from COYOTES and
while rowing one moonlight night loon
flew over, uttcring a shrek that would
make timid mans hair stand on end.
Then from all the hills came back a sim
liar shrek, indicating that theru were
thousands of looms in that vicinity. |
concluded that this was an echo, but
have the word of Chief SSo-las-kin that
it was the voice of the spirits. He was
surprised that my boat and | were not
dashed to pieces and hurled to the bot
tom Of the lake. An Indian cannot be
induced to look at it, although they
make pilgrimages TO Mount Carleton and
Sff Spirit sVi['e9 wSoiC wrath they Is iFsSs hope
some day to appeasc. This lake
is supplied by melting snow from the
mountains, and like all waters in this
Sicily of the North, is as clear as tile at
mospherc, Its outlet Is river nearly as
large as the Spokane and at a distance
ofabout five miles the river plunges into
the earth and is lost sight of forever. |
would like to have some of your scien-
titic gentlemen solve this mystery.
didn't start out with the in tontion of
describing this Country-herculean task,
but will add that in addition to the
finest water power in the world, Spo-
kane Falls is the railroad and commcr-
cial center of the richest and most pro-
ductiVe agricultural region yet dis
covered--the Palouse country, the Big
Bend country and tho Okanogan colvi.
try, either of which is greater in area
than many of the states of the union,
and is surrounded on three sides by the
C0ur d Alenc, Chloride, kooreuai and
Okanogan mining regions. Why peoplc
should tight over Oklahoma Willie so
much of this country rcmAius unoccu-
pied, cannot imagine. IL is the policy of
the people here not to boom the towns
or country, and we never advise any
might ensue. believe II to be fact,
however, tnat no person who ever saw
this country was dissatisfied with IL, or
could be induced To leave IT., Reverses
may come later; climate or metcoroligi-
cal conditions may change; the country
may become mproductive or unhealth-
ful-nobody knows what the eject of
settlement and cultivation will be, hence
we simply describe II rs it exists, warn
ing all who contemplate coming that
thev must do SO on their own responsi-
sibility and assume all risks; then what
ever may happen they Will have nobody
To blame but hemSelNcS.