, 1890-12-25
" SPOKANE ISEN0UGH
A Wanderer Who Wants to
Drop the Falls.
IT SOUNDS LIKE A VILLAGE,
And Has a Tendency to Injure
the Future Prospects of
the City.
CLEVELAND, Ohio, Dec. IL.


To THE EDIroR OF THE REVIEW!
The question of changing tho name Of
Spokane Falls to simple Spokane
| is of considerable interest, as the pres.
ent decision will probably settle IL for
all time. Without attempting to dis
cuss the subject In all phases l will say
that the name Spokane" seoms to me
| to be very preferable. Spokane Falls"
is suggestive of hayseed, blue Jeans,
back woods and country crossroads.
| The idea that the term Fails" attracts
capital or population is absurd. A
"falls" may mean n roaring mountain
stream, u beautiful cascade, or trem-
bling cataract of either q brook or q
river 1t may allude to water
| power or an attractive piece of scenery,
and 1t as often indicates one us the
other. II we intend to include whole
| library of information in the name of
our city, why not call 1t spokane. Un.
| limited Water. Power-Falls"2 Why Is
not Minneapolis called The Falls of st.
Anthony city,? or Seattle, "Port Se-
attle"2 or Tacoma, "Iacoma Harbor"2
As the railroads are doing more for Spo-
kane than the fills. why not call it
Spokane Junction to inform tho
| world that we have more than one ioad2
The fact is, Spokane has outgrown the
period of falls or junction, or other dc
| scriptive names. There is q smack of
spread .eagleism in the name SPOKANE
Falls which gives a suspicion OF wind
| and bluster, oian attempt to bolster up
| u weak cause as though the place had to
! parade her virtues in order to survive.
| 1t has u sort of boom flavor, which, in
stead of being advantageous, is positively
injurious, For instance, 1t gives an
| impression to the Eastern capitalist that
| Spokane Falls Is banking ON her water
power, and 1t furnishes no intinntion OF
| the tremendous resources around her
which have little or no connection with
| her water power. 1t says to the world:
1--WE cali special attention to our water
power as our great resource when in
fact said power will play rather in
conspicuous part in the future develop
ment of the city. The Eastern capitalist
will say; Water power never madea
city and if that is all they have, or their
main backing. III keep QUITS u boom
town" This singing out one feature OF
our city to the exclusion OF Others isa
mistake because IL is misleading.
But Furthermore the people have made
Spokane Fails, spokane" When
citizen goes abroad nine times out ol ten
he will tell you that no Is from "Spo-
kane" have visited number of East
ern cities this fail and every where our
city is called SPOKANE am aware
that the old residents Of the city, who
in early days found IL necessary to use
the falls as the great and perhaps the
| only attraction to interest Investors aud
| at times to keep alive their own waning
courage, still cling to the name "falls."
| But | believe the Judgment and usage
of u disintcrested public have declared
/ against them that SPOKANE Is the
magic name.
From u commercial or business stand.
| point there Is but one side to the qucs-
| tioE--brevity Is tho the sole of business
when IL come to writing names, and the
increased amount Of time consumed by
| the thousands who have to wrIto "SpO.
kane Falls" every day is no small item.
There Is distinctive charaUter to snch
names as Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma
Wulla Walla, Yakima, etc, The name
SPOKANE" is unique, picturesque and
attractive. 1t has charm all its own
which lifts 1t out OF the ordinary and of
! itself attracts attention and comment
| But Falls is weak, common and out
OF harmony with its COMPANIONS. The
| ntiix Falls" is stuck on to every measly,
I disconsolate. panic stricken, bankrupt
/ village that hasn't anything else to
/ boast of than a dlmunutIye stream wIth
/ II suspicion OF Is water fall. IL has II bad
| reputation and can not claim single
/ city OF importance in the county.
/ While SPOKANE stands out as a name
| uuchHllenged by any competitor and rs
\ unique among ali the names In the cata-
| logue. am thoroughly Of the opinion
/ that the name ought 10 be changed, Tor,
| mark IL, when We get to be a city OF u
| hundred thousand we will be ASHAMED,
I If we are not already, of the cHuntfyhed
thil-pece, Fails w. Z. w.