Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-08-06
The Historical Town!
A VISITORS OPINION OF OUR
PICTURESQUE CITY.
Bright Future in Store!
The Teachers Institute a Grand Sue.
cess-Many Good Resolution
Unanimously Adopted.

WASH, who made visit to Lewiston
II few weeks ago, contributed an article
to a recent issue of the Spokane Review,
entitled "From Rockport to Lewiston" !"
The whole article was fine and instruc-
tive, and especially that concerning
Lewiston, of which the following is an
extract:
The traveller journeying to Lewiston
should approach the quaint and beau
tiful old town from the north. TO one
grown accustomed to the verdent and
comparatively level fields of the Pa
louise, the contrast presented by the
view from the top of the Lewiston
Hip Is startling in the extreme. Far
below him is seen the pretty old town
deeply embowered in the foliage of pop
lars and orchards. The Snake and
Clearwater rivers from that height
seem but slender rills. The gigantic
hills, Titans in outline, waterless and
scantlly clad with vegetation, seem
almost foreign to Eastern eyes. Strange
pyramid-shaped heights beside the
Snake recall those mighty monuments
of the Nile. One would scarcely ex-
periencc surprise to see caravan of
camels approaching, laden with ivory
and dates from the interior of Africa.
But the long grade is traversed in due
time; the wire rope ferry lands the
traveller in Lewiston, and very soon
he learns that he is not in foreign parts,
but in live western town, a CONNER.
cial center, in fact, whose trade ex-
tends over vast region of mines and
farms. The arid-appearing hills are in
truth of the greatest fertility, and
wherever water has been brought upon
the soil prodigious crops are grown
with certainty. Every grain and fruit
of the temperate and semi-tropic zones
flOurishes here. And without irriga-
ton great crops of gram are produced,
although this season the yield is lighter
than has been known for many years.
When Lewiston gets direct railway
communication with Spokane over the
Spokane & Palouse, Lewiston fruit will
occupya prominent place in the mar
kets of the metropolis. Lewiston, of
all points in the Northwest, has about
it the charm of history and the fasci-
mating giamor of tradition. In the old
days of '61 the gold-seekers bound for
the placer diggings of Orc Fino founded
the town at the Junction of the Clear
water and Snake, which they named
Lewiston In honor of Captain Lewis,
the intrepid explorer, who was sent
out in 1903 by President Jefferson to
explore the wilds Of the far West, the
Louisiana purchase. A real and pal
pable deficiency of our young Western
towns, considered from aesthetic and
literary standpoint merely. is their
lack of the flavor of antiquity and his
toric interest. Lewiston Is thus unique,
and its deeply shaded streets are classic
ground. The traveller treads in the
footprints of Lewis and Clark and the
wise men of the first legislature Of
Idaho, which convened at Lewiston,
the first capital of the territory. Lewis
and Clark camped upon the site in
1905, and In their published journal
they described the Clearwater as "a
handsome, bold creek of cold, clear
water, flowing to the westward" An
irrigation canal of great importance to
Lewiston Is now In course of cOnstruc-
tion. 1t takes water from the Sweet
water creek about thirteen, miles from
town, and irrigates a great extent of
fertile land south Of the city. The i'm
portance of this enterprise cannot be
over estimated. Lewiston as a fruit
growing section can compete with
California when water can be secured
In abundance. Some of the leading
men Of Lewiston are back of the enter
prise, and 1t will be q success. The
summer heat of Lewiston seems intense
to one accustomed to mountain cli-
mate, but at nightfall a delightful
breeze pOurs up the channel Of the
Snake, grateful, cooling current from
the tar off sea. Then pleasant, sono-
rous murmer of dancing leaves and
clashing bOughs fills the streets. The
poplars toss their long arms fantasti-
cally in the twilight. A soothing tu-
mutt is in the air. There is not another
town in the West Of SO unique and in.
teresting q situation and history.
When the Spokane and Palouse Is I'm.
ished tourists will run down from
Spokane in great numbers to visit this
historic spot. Already the spirit of