Morris tribune., 1908-10-10
ABOUT SPOKANE.
A Few Obsei vatiOns on the West
by Ronald II. Morrison.

visiting in the West, and others are
contemplating going there to live, a
few facts concerning that country will
doubtless be interesting to many
people of Morris and vicinity.
Before going farther, wish to state
that it is not my intention either to
boom or to run down the West; but if
you desire information concerning
that country I may be able to give it
to you. wish also to state, lest some
of my statements seem extraordinary
or are contradicted, that am writing
particularly about Spokane and not
the West in general. In fact one
would find it very difficult to write
about the state of Washington in
general, as there is as much difference
between the various localities of that
state as between Minnesota and
Washington.
For want of q better place to begin
I will tell you the kind of weather we
have in Spokane. AS to whether it is
to be perferred to the climate of Nor
ris, depends on whether you perfer
cloudy, rainy, damp weather, with the
thermometer above zero, the snow
and rain making slush foot deep, or
sunshiny days with the mercury play
ing hide and seek with forty below
zero. This is the difference in the
winters. I think the summers of
Spokane are to be perferred to those
of Morris. They are not SO liable to
have the extreme heat, and even if it
. is very hot there the relative humidity
is so small that one does not feel the
heat so much. There is very little
thunder and lightning, tho in late
years I am told there is much more
than there used to be. Inever heard
of cyclone in the West. 1t is not
liable to rain more than once or twice
during the months of April, May,
June, July, August and September.
Hence in summer the dust gets very
thick. I have heard several times
that farmers could not find sack
of wheat they had dropped in the
road because the dust was so thick.
have driven when we could not see
the horses because of the dust. Dur
ing the winter months it may rain two
or three times in one day. The grass
is green the year around and butter
cups may be picked in February.
After giving you an idea of the
climate you. would likely want to
know as to the prosperity of Spokane,
and what opportunities one will find
there. To get at this subject we will,
!, take the wages paid into considerations.
They are in most instances double,i
and in some cases treble what they
are here. AS common illustration,
the union wages for eight hours work
for the various trades of the printing
business is as follows: machine men
$33 week, Ad men $5 a day, job
printer 81 day, pressman $21 and
$1s week and feeders $12 and $15
week. Lest lead you astray, do not
think that if you have one of those
trades you could go to Spokane and
the next day go to work at these
wages, for you must secure the posi-
tion, and do not think you would
find vacancy IN this line. AS an
other illustration, lathers receive
$2.7O per thousand. There seems to
be plenty of work in that line. Gold
coins are the common currency used.
For some reason this makes the coun-
try seem more prosperous. At pre-
sent Spokane is very safe place for
investment of any kind. For example
I know of house that was bought
some years ago for $4,000, according
to values Of property today, $4,000
would be small price for the same
property. This is common illustra-
tion. Again there was furnished
house bought for 1900 two years
ago, today it rents for $25 month,
which is not the maximum for which
it would rent. After allowing for
taxes, this is more than Is per cent
interest on the investment I know
of 1900 acres OF land on the Columbia
river that was bought for $3.50 per
acre some years ago. Today the same
land is worth 800 an acre, and is still
increasing in value. This is common
illustration Of the returns from an in
vestment in land, which is afterwards
irregated and planted to fruit.
The soil of Spokane appears to be
sand, tho I think in reality it is
powdered lava. At any rate there is
lots of food for plants in it, and with
water any common vegetable will
grow rapidly. In some parts of
Washington they raise bumper crops
of wheat and other grains. think a
hundred bushels to the acre is not