The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1920-01-03

| DullulHS lFOIH tHe CeHteT vi DUCK o
on the east side of north Main, Oc-
cupied for some years by b. w.
Emery, brings to memory many in
teresting things of the past. At
one time this building was the pride
of Colville. Today it occupies the
center of Main street, on rollers,
being moved to Second and Wynne
where it will hencefOrth serve as a
dwelling.
"The city of Colville is not the
same town of 35 or more years ago"
This observation is suggested by the
first citizens who saw the beginning,
and have seen it evolve from the
street which once was described in
it's limits by a staked and ridered
| fence on either side of the thorough
fare tracing its way through a
fringe of forest in 1888, through an
active, feverish and uncertain per-
iod of pioneering until this day
when the last remnants evidencing
the monumental imaginations of the
| founders of the city are giving way
to substantial business blocks facing
| the street where the rail fence per-
formed pastoral part in the recla-
nation of the verdant frontier.
With the old year of 1919 went
practically the last landmark of the
| good old days when business, count
| ing the circulating wealth of the
country in comparison with the num-
Der of the people, was better than
| today. The Canadian money was
more plentiful than any other token
| of value and went at par. Every
man had a 500 gold piece in his
pocket then and was willing to loan
| it to his neighbors without the for
mality of security, quite the con-
trary to the financial practices in
vogue now.
But, the landmarks. The town was
laid out in 1888. 1t was promoted
by a man named Maxwell, and it
was the purpose at first to name
the budding metropolis Belmont"
| Why they should wish to ignore the
| historic name of Colville in the pro-
cess of making city in the very
center of a country and a valley by
that name can only be attributed
to an idle fancy. Before filing the
plat the attorney for the toWnsitc
promoters suggested that the sta
| tutes of that time provided that the
county seat should be located at
| Fort Colville, or more properly, Col
vile. There was not at that time
| any plat of survey of any town in
Stevens county-which then included
| all OF Okanogan, Ferry, Pend
Oreille and the present Stevens
couroies. Fort Colville had been
abandoned by the department, and
the town of Pinckney City which had
contemporaneous existence with and
was a dependency of the garrison
was depopulated. If the new town
were named Colville it would be-
come officially the county seat. The
name was changed on the plat from
| Belmont to Colville and the next
term of court was held in the new
town. The jail was moved bodily
from the banks of Mill creek to the
block dedicated to the public for
courthouse in the new town, and here
| the commissioners met in quarterly
| sessions.
In the year 1883 the building boom
| in the new town began. c. H. Mont
| gomery, who had been in business in
| the old town at the Fort for many
years, saw the change coming. At
least he knew the business center
of the country would be moved from
| the hills to the valley and he moved
| his stock, of goods to the site west
| of the present store of the Colville
| Implement Co. When it was known
where Main street would be he was
among the first to buy property and
he lost no time in building the
largest mercantile building north of
Spokane. This building was two
stories high, constructed on
ground plan of 24x40 feet, the first
floor being used for store, postoffice,
stage station and express office, Mr..
Montgomery performing all of these
agencies with the help of one clerk,
Joe Mcdonald. The upper floor was
made into living rooms and served
as residence. John r. Kinsley, who
was county auditor, the duties OF
which position he filled at odd times,
had charge of construction. 1t is
said that people who had business
with the county auditor found him
here where he accepted deeds, mort
cages, mining location notices and
other papers entitled to record which
he deposited in the inside pocket OF
| the old waterproof overcoat which