The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-05-22

OF spokane.
SPOKANE, Wash, May 18th, 1902.
EDITOR UNION:-As several old
friends made request that I should
write them through the columns of the
UNION will now, with your kindness
give them an idea of Spokane and the
surrounding country, as I see it after
several days residence here.
We left Princeton Thursday morn
ing April "a, going to Anoka where we
changed TO the N. P. train for Spokane.
A. c. Carter of Spring Vale, and John
Fink of Green lake with families we're
aboard from Minneapolis and after we
na~ got comfortably settled down so
we couio count noses, we found our
selves to be qu1ue>a party and all the
way out we had all sAanner of good
times. We were dubbed tho ssio,lv
crowd" and the Pullman porter claimed
we were the ''only pebbles on the
beach" and that he had never before
had the honor to chaperone such a
crowd OF lovely ~ men across the con-
tinent. Carter carried off the prize for
being the most beautiful with myself a
close second, Fink was simply mot in
It," We had very pleasant trip and
from the foot of the mountains the
word pleasant cannot express it. 1t
was simply grand. After the second
engine had been attached to the train
at Bozeman and we began to climb the
mountains the exclamation points be-
came so thick in the car the lamps had
to be lighted. One of Carriers excla-
nation points fell out of the car win
dow, knocked down a telegraph pole
and killed coyote on a rock a half
mile away. Near the top of the main
ridge the train stopped at tank for
water and several passengers got out
and picked flowers, sprigs of juniper,
sage brush, bits of rock, etc., for me-
mento OF the trip. No one can have a
conception of the grandeur of the
Rocky Mountains until trip is taken
over and through them. Anyone ex-
pecting to come west should take the
N. P. train, leaving Minneapolis at
10 a. M. which will take them through
the mountains by daylight.
We reached Spokane at 7 A. M Sat-
urday and proceeded to make ourselves
at home. While the mayor did not meet
US and give us the key to the city, we
have been free to come and go as we
pleased. This city is hustling lively
little place of about $4,000 inhabitants
and growing rapidly. 1t is we'll built
and has many business blocks and pri-
vate residences and grounds that sur
pass anything in the eastern cities. It
has the admiration of every stranger
who enters and it's citizens are hospit-
able and social. Among the wealth.
lest there does not appear to be- that
reserve and stuck-up-a-tive-ness so
much found elsewhere.
l find all lines of business represented
here and large stocks carried, both
wholesale and retail. Groceries, drv
goods, clothing, shoes, stoves etc., are
as cheap as at Minneapolis. Wagons,
buggies, agricultural implements and
tine furniture are somewhat higher.
The people are mainly Americans; a |
few Scandinavians and Germans are
found and quite sprinkling of Chinese
and Japanese. The Chinese are mainly
engaged as laundrymen and truck |
vendors, while the Japs make section
men and ''hired girls" To be right in |
style a person needs to have a jap bow
as ''hired girl"
1 find that in the city there are some
thing like 300 Smiths, while there are
only about 23o ,erohnson's. This is
wrong, for a johnson is as good as a
Smith without a bit of doubt in nv
mind. The Jones follow next with
about 200 There are about eighty-fve
churches and religious societies, twenty
schools, nearly a hundred coffee houses
and restaurants, twenty-five to thirty