Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-12
A CITY OF ODDITIES.
How Spokane Falls, WASH, Strikes
a Stranger from the East.
A BUSINESS-LIKE FRONTIER TOWN,
Whose Population Is Cosmopolitan, and
Whose Growth Has
SURPRISED CITIZENS THEMSELVES

rasp of the saw, the blow of the hammer
and the click of the spade. Whoever made
that remark must have had In mind the
Spokane Falls man. His soul is certainly
attuned to music-the harmony which
springs from the stroke of chisel and the tap
of trowel.
The typical Spokane Falls business man
has but little sentiment in his soul, and that
little bit he is ashamed of. Ten years ago,
when the city was but wide waste, inhab-
tied by the prowling and dreamy Indian, it
was as picturesque and awe-inspiring spot
as Imagination could well conjecture. Here
the mighty Spokane river. with many tor
tuous bend and leap, comes rushing past in
mad haste to join forces with the Columbia.
Where the town stands this series of pro-
digious leaps called forth the name "Falls."
Wonderful indeed are these falls, whose in
cessant clamor may be heard miles away,
above the roar of traffic, the din of ma
chinery.
A PICTURESQUE PLACE.
"Spokane" is an Indian term. signifying
mighty" To-day the natural beauty OF
the spot is as great as decade past, when
the red man fshed in the waters or chased
the antlered deer along the velvety banks,
which he thought the Great Spirit created
for him alone; but at first glance the sight
seer is so absorbed in the beauty and lie of
the town, that he overlooks, for the nonce,
natures endowments. The city is human
bee hive. There is about as much buzzing,
too, to the square inch Of solid bee, as one is
apt to hear in any great metropolis. All
are king bees here, and if any poor drone
chances to get in among these peppery fel-
lows, he soon takes unto himself wings, or
stays to die of his wounds
For frontier town Spokane Falls has
certainly achieved great deal. Springing
up in ten years from merely staked-out
plain into a city of nearly 10000 inhabit-
ants. And when one, and a stranger, too,
looks upon the pretty town and eels those
indescribable quirks, which we designate as
thrills of admiration, chase each other up
and down his spine. how much greater
must be the pride and satisfaction of those
brave and honest pioneers who have
watched their city's progress from the first
and gave to the town its early impetus
toward success.
A QUEER FRONTIER CITY.
Said one resident to me: II feel as if it
must be all a dream. Why, only Yesterday
watched with a heavy heart lest the In
family. To-day I speak through tele-
phone and read by electricity"
Marvellous, indeed, the change, wrought
by time and skill.
While Spokane Falls is one of the most
attractive of our frontier towns, there are,
nevertheless, many quaint things to be seen
here, many curious things to be heard. 1t
is city of oddities, OF social contrasts.
The location of the town forbds its being
the metropolitan city as yet, although many
prophesy that but half dozen years more
will treble if not quadruple its population.
This is perhaps over-estimating its growing
power; still the observant newcomer cannot
but admit that in the whole belt of northern
country, stretching from Duluth to Seattle,
there is no town of equal size that can hold
its own with Spokane Falls, from the stand
point OF visible growth and progress made
during the past year. How is this to be ac-
counted for?
GREAT NATURAL RESOURCES.
AS human beings we are born querists
Natures cry, the poet informs US, is always:
"Where? Where?" OF course, a thing or
place cannot grow without cause. Spokane
Falls gives one the impression that 1t sprang
from nothing and is fed frcm nothing. But
no idea could be more erroneous. Vast re-
sources lie close at hand, that at first sight
are invisible. One feels tempted to argue
with the town for daring to put on airs in
such an out-of-the-wolld section of country
and assuming such imperant criticism, with
little to support it; that is, when he first
sees the place, but the city has tendency
to mslead-its capabilities are hidden, but
boundless A great timber belt surrounds
the town, together with extensive areas of
farming and grazing land.
The cattle industry is one of expansile
capacity here in Washington-the head
quarters Of many firms being located at
Spokane. Then there are some half dozen
mining districts near at hand, one of which,
now under thorough development, promises
to be one of the most productive In the
world. Then. too, there is water power of
extraordinary volume, and happily so ar
ranged as to be of great commercial value.
To these resources we must not omit adding
the
FINE RAILWAY ADVANTAGES
of the town. Taken all in all, one can see
that Spokane Falls is we'll located as to
prospective and present growth, and ii an
other decade should raise the city up to
verify predictions we can only sav-it
couldn't be helped-it would grow. AS I
said before, however, Spokane is sort of
melee of nationalities-an ollapodrida of
curiosties The social life of the place is a
unique and interesting study. People from
all over the United States are located here
ON one hand the rich poor man-on the
other the poor rich man.
Here the gaunt and solemn Indian looks
stolidlv into the face of the festive and pig
tailed Chinaman. The rough miner, lust in
from the mountains, jostles against the cuI-
tured Yale graduate. The snowy-capped
and aproned servant wheeling by in his di-
minutive carriage, the scion oil some wealthy
Spokane house, stops for a moment at the
corner, and gazing down at her little aristo-
cratic charge in wonderment stands the.
blanketed and dirty Indian mother who,
with her papoose in her arms, is also out for
an afternoon airing. Social contrasts in
Spokane Falls are marked and frequent.
QUEER STREET SCENES.
The first day of my stop in the town a
magnificent equipage came rolling past, and
at the same instant came gaunt, heart-sick
looking horse, bearing two Indians, fam
tastically attired. their long, black locks
braided with tinsel and scarlet wool and
gaily striped shawls around their shoulders.
The woman who sat behind was evidently
believer in "dress reorm." She wore the
short bifurcated skirts that followers of the
dress-reform craze assure us are so meltingly
becoming, and sat her horse like a man.
Oh! that the Jenness Millerites could have
gazed upon that scene. Both Indians were
bareheaded.
1t is common saying here at Spokane
that if you get up tea party, half the |
States of the Union are pretty sure to be
represented. saw IL pretty cottages all in
a row on one of the leading streets the first
day OF my stay, which were inhabited, I |
was told, by natives of IL different States. |
Spokane Falls is certainly Kaleidoscope
he -, o,I