, 1889-11-07
AS VIEWED BY OTHERS
A Tacoma Man Sees a Great
Future for Spokane,
A CITY UNLIKE ALL OTHERS
The Future Will Bring Popula-
ton OF zoo, ,O0o---Wonder-
full Resources.
Correspondence Tacoma Iedscr.I

| wv nen j reached Spokune Hlteen SeurS
ago." said Mr. Mortagh Of Colvllle to
me to-day, ~ could have bought the
present site of the city for $1,000. Seven
years ago the lands around the town
were selling for 80 so an acre, and to-day
within n radius of three miles they have
enhanced thousand fold. The bankers
of Spokane arc solid and substantial
Most of my old friends have grown rich
beyond their widest dreams. They saw
the tide of fort unc flowing and took It
at the flood and they are sailing on 1t
still, for Spokane Is only In the infancy
OF marvellous prosperity
THE NEW AND THE OLD.
The now men who have come to Spo-
kane are worthy Of its pioneer giants
They have the clcan-cut, rapid unerring
business instincts III which New York
men have heretofore excellod and If
Spokane were not framed by its natural
advantages as the site of u great city,
the talents and services of its citizens
would make II so.
"Iou should have seen Spokane be-
fore the fire. was the remark made TO
me hundred times, but have Il vision
of the Spokane of Ten years hence, when
IL will not be "a city of 25,000 people but
of zoo, 600, for IL will be that ut least then.
In my rambles rotnd tho nations of tho
earth have scOn old and new cities
have talked with men who made and
men who marrcd the growth of cities
and of states, but never have | seen
anything like the rushing breath
less goahcadism that exists in Spokane
to-day. Tacoma folks, with all their
push and activity sometimes rest, but
Spokane people know no other law than
that of motion aih they are going ahead
at II speed that beats the world. On ev-
cry corner and every street are growing
/ magnificent brick and granite pile
which could only be raised alott by men
whose faith in the future of the city was
invlnciOle. ! can not particularizo any of
the buildings, forall are on u grand scale
NOT BUILT oS SAND.
Nor arc the hopes of Spokane Falls
built on sand. Itmust ever remain the
metropolis OF Eastern Washington, and
TO il must flow the ineXhaustlble agri-
cultural and mineral wealth that lies
around it for u diitance of 200 miles. In
the heart of the cty flows river which
will forever suppl an eNhaustless power
for the mechanical arts. Already that
power Is used to light the city, print its
newspaper, and ier II dozen other objects
for which water pwer is ever used else
where.
From It radiatcia system of railroads
that pierce the COUNTRY Oh every side
and that are s,ntching onward to the
ocean or to the great tr,,nscontinental
lines. Here, where less than generation
ago the wigwamsDi the Indians were the
only habitations clustering around the
falls, wagons OF two transContinental
railroads are rafting along laden with
merchandise for ,crowdcd city, and 100
miles of road to connect with the
Canadian Pacific is built and in oper-
alton.
Between the tlumbia and the spo.
kane there czteiI,s an agricultural coun-
try equal in silT to- some of the New
England states Nfid richer tenfold than
any of them, in agricultural wealth. No
finer stock can blraised in any part Of
America, and It's capacity for wheat is
too well known (, need rccapitulation.
lierc too have beal recently discovered
mines of lead, sil'er and copper, which
must rival those of Montana, If the
promise which tn surface gives bo re-
allied. Between he Spokane river and
the Snake extends a country unriyalcd
in cereals, and to he cast along the val
ley of the Spokaneis another fine agri-
cultural country. Partners tell me that
these lands will ppducc fruit ms plenu-
fully as the Vancouver district, and that
the soil rs yet has ieen merely scratched.
The onc-thousantbh part of its resources
are not being UTILIZED and there is room
trious farmers. for thcm the prolific
soil will yield fruit, vegetables, poultry
milk, eggs, butterand honey, aud they
and cities and towDs will be enriched by
the surplus produced.
THE VERY RICHEST MINE.
But Spokane F;1s is reaching out be-
yond the supcrabudant land and mines
of Washington foIwealth and trade. A
Spokane man, Philip o. Rourkc, discov.
l .aA ,,, h.. ,,,.Lff A Al.
richest lead and siNer mines that the
world has perhap ever yet known. He
Is large owner il the syndicate that
now controls then, and he told me that
they can easily yild 81 100000 Il year.
He showed me sonc of the finest spcci-
mems OF gnlcna arl of crystali2ed lead
that have ever iecn, and also some
samples OF silver htrate as pure a. any
manufactured in he laboratory. These
were found in pockets i'm the Bunker
Hill mine, and tie deeper they descend
the broader and iehcr the mines xsee
proving. MIR. o. lourke has mining an.
terests in Montana, Washington and
Idaho, but lie declares these mines of the
Cmur d dAlene to surpass them all in
value.
All this minera wealth is Immediately
tributary to Spolane, and II lacks but
smelter to share ill more substantially
in the enormous profits derivable from
| these mines. Tie ore can not be smelted
at the mines in Iiaho for want of lime
stone or marble o form flux, aud at
present II has to be shipped to Helena
for reduction.
OF course this ldter is not meant to be
a boom for Spokane. | am-giving tie
Ledger readers the grounds on which |
rely for the great growth which pre-
dict for Spokane Falls i have talked
with business men, miners and farmers,
and carefully citsd the facts, and am
satisfied that Spokane must go forward
in leaps and bouids.
OF political gossip there is much talk
and little fact. As the great city of East
ern Washington, and the city, too, of
brains, ambition and enterprise, Spokane
looks for muchS II has a candidate for
the sreakership il ColonelJ. w. Feighan,
whose personal magnetism apart from
an unsullied andheroic record, must win
for him n big support For the senator
ship Spokane wSuld be ready TO supply
n dozen candidates, but she contents her
self with presenting two. The influence
which she has sot in the house is SO
small that she NEEDS support In the sen-
ate, her folks say and she means to have
| II III she can. 0nall sides tho senatorial
question is complex and difficult. Fair
minded people say that Tacoma should
get one Of tho selatorships, and Spokane
will not be behind in giving it to her.
American Coke aud Coal In Europe.
The Reading Railroad Company is re-
ported to be perfecting plans for export
ing anthracite coal TO European mar
kets. Samples have been prepared and
will be shipped 10 Antwerp. The high
cost of this coal laid down on the conti-
nent it is admitted will prevent any but
| the wcalthier CLASSES from becoming con.