The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-02-05
CHAPTER II.

oI Jne pfettleSt, best laid out and most
progressive cities we had visited. We
were surprised by the elegance and
magnitude of the buildings on its
principal thoroughfares, several being
ten, twelve and even fourteen stories
high. This city is not yet forty years
old and in 1885 had a population of
less than 5000, while today it boasts
of population of 100000 with all the
varied industries it takes to make a
city of this size. Here is located the
greatest water power plant in Amer
lea, which controls the bulk of the
water power in the state and owns
twenty acres of valuable land in the
heart of the city Electric power is
possibly cheaper here than any other
place in the country, and it has been
the cause of many manufacturing
plants locating here. Spokane is also
the center of a great mining district
in fact the city is built upon the for
tunes accrued from mining. Many
buildings were pointed out to us own
ed by men who twenty-five years ago
came into the district without a dol
lar comparatively, and by a lucky
stroke have made millions in the
mines. Several Colored men have
been fortunate in mining and at the
present time a company of Colored
men are exploiting what is known as
the Clarence Ray Buffalo Hump Gold
Mining Co. There is also a very sub
Stantial Negro cornora +io,, opoorro5 l.,
the fruit development under the head
ing of the Deer Lake Irrigated Or
chards Co., of which Mr.. P. B. Barrow
Jr., is president, and which has a cap
ital stock of S150,000. They own 14O
acres of land in the beautiful Deer
Lake Valley, which has a soil of fine
volcanic ash, the best in the world
for fruits, which is A miles north of
Spokane and produces a wonderful
crop of apples and fruits each year
While here we were entertained at
the home of Mrs. Wagner, 108 E. Pa
cific street, and after removing the
stains of travel and having a substan-
tial breakfast, we called a taxi and
drove over the city, viewing various
points of interest. We had the pleas
ure of meeting Mr.. F. A. Stokes, the
real estate and mining king of the
race in that section of the country, and
whose sister is the wife of the Rev.
J. B. Beckham of independence, and
whose mother also lives there, and we
were royalty entertained at his beau
tiful and palatial home during the
evening. We also met Mr.. w R. Mo
tin, secretary of the Negro Business
League in that city, who is a brother
of Ruben MOtin of our city. We also
had the please of meeting Mr.. and
Mrs. Crutchfield, who are very active
in the life of our people in that city.
Mrs. Crutchf1eld was formerly Mrs
Hasbrooks of this city, and with her
is her son Fred, who is an agent for
the Clarence Ray Mining Co., and who
has a beautiful wife and a happy
home, and her daughter, the charming
and brilliant Ella Hasbrooks, who is
now Mrs. Ella Holloway and who was
one of the most popular girls who ever
lived in Kansas City.
We also met our old friend, H. D.
Washington and wife, formerly of Car
rolton, Mo, who has a hundred and
sixty acres sixty miles north of Re-
gina, Canada, and who says he is as
good a blacksmith as he was back
home. Possibly there was no one we
met with more real pleasure on our
trip than Mr.. and Mrs. Clarence
Grubbs of 1923 Crestline avenue, with
whom we had a most delightful 10
o'clock Sunday morning breakfast.
They have a beautiful home nicely To-
Gated and decorated and beautifed
with all that quiet but impressive ele-
gance for which Mrs. Grubbs, who
was formerly Miss Jessie Pierce of
this city, is renowned. After break
fast we accompanied them to the
Bethel A. M. e. Church, of which the
brilliant and eloquent Rev. d. A. Gra-
ham, d. D., is pastor, but we were dis
appointed in hearing him as it was
Quarterly meeting and the Presiding
Elder, our old friend and battle scar
red warrior of more than thirty-tive
years service in the Masters cause,
Rev C. N. Douglass, delivered the
message, which was very appropriate
to the occasion. Here we met Mrs.
Hagan, formerly Mrs, Houston of Kan
sas City, and also had the pleasure of
meeting the family of Rev. Graham,
whose wife is a sister to the wife Of
Rev. Sampson Brooks, pastor of St
Paul in ST. Louis Their daughter,
Lola B., won third prize in the Orator
ical contest in the High School of the
city of Spokane and gold medal in
the Typewriter Contest offered by the
Remington people, the fourth prize
ever won by that company in the city
of Spokane. We also met Fred Muir
ply, member of Lodge No. SO of Ma
sons in this city, and also Miss Esther
Carter, young black girl who won
the scholarship of the High Schools OF
the city and was given three-year
scholarship in any college she chose