SPOKANE, Wash., city, county-seat of Spokane County, and the commercial and finan cial centre of the territory known as the In land Empire, comprising eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana. Spo kane to the Indian tribe of that name meant "Children of the Sun." The place was origi nally called Spokane Falls, so named from the series of cascades in which the Spokane River falls through the heart of the city. Five trans continental railroads operate into Spokane over their own tracks — the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, the Canadian 'Pacific and the Ore gon-Washington or Union Pacific. Two others, the Burlington and the Northwestern, operate under traffic agreements. All have branch lines radiating into the corners of the Empite. The heart of the city is bisected by the Spokane River, having a series of abrupt falls making possible the development of 400,000 horse power of electrical energy. Only 172,000 horse-power has been developed up to the present for the operation of Spokane street cars and the illu mination of the city and to provide power for the factories of Spokane and the surrounding country. This power also is transmitted 100 miles east to the Cceur d' Alene mining district. The city of Spokane, which in 1900 had only 36,000 inhabitants, had in 1910 a population of 104,402, according to federal census.
Industries.— S..kane's factory output is valued at $50,000,110 per year, and 12,000 are employed in manufacturing. Some of the dif ferent industrial establishments are lumber mills, manufacturing different kinds of lumber products, sewer and water pipe works, flour mills, flour mill machinery works, brick and terra cotta works, foundries, vinegar and pickle works, machine shops, iron works, cereal food plant, pottery, mattress and furniture fac tories. Other manufactures are jewelry, tobacco products, gloves, clothing, brooms, trunks, wooden and tin ware, dairy products, packed and canned meats. A large part of the industrial prosperity is owing to the mines in the vicinity, the great agricultural and horti cultural resources of the surrounding territory, extensive stock-raising, and to the vast water power which offers special inducements to man ufacturers. This power is made available by the generation of electricity. Spokane is also the centre of a rich lumbering region. The city is surrounded on the north, east and south by the greatest area of white pine timber forests in the United States. The city has grain eleva tors, an electric light plant, an artificial gas plant and large lumber yards.
Commerce and Spokane is the commercial as well as the industrial cen tre of eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana. Spokane ships to the mar kets of the world the fine wheat from the in terior basin of the Columbia River, the vege tables, deciduous fruits, berries and the prod ucts in general from a region of fertile soil, and the semi-arid districts of the Spokane, Yakima and Wenatchee valleys, made produc tive by irrigation. Crop failures in this region, popularly known as the ((Inland Empire," are unknown. The wealth production from the farms, orchards, mines, forests and ranges of the Spokane country in a recent year amounted to $217,158,000, as follows: Grain yield, $93, 000,000; mineral output, $41,158,000; livestock and poultry, $27,500,000; lumber, $14,500,000; farm and garden products, $17,000,000; apples and other fruits, $11.000,000; dairy products, $13,000,000; total, $217,158,000.
Public Spokane is finely situ ated in the Spokane River Valley. In summer the winds from the Cascades and Rockies tem per the heat, while the breezes from the Japan current of the Pacific Ocean make extreme cold unknown here. In the 35 years that the United States Weather Bureau has been here, there has not been an instance of loss of life from ex treme heat or add or other climatic cunditious, such as heavy winds. Spokane leads all cities
in the United States in public park area pro portionate to population, .having 1,933 acres valued at $2,000,000. The city also leads all others in percentage of home owners, 51 per cent of thepeople owning their homes, accord ing to the United States census. The city has 68 miles of paved streets; 392 miles of graded streets; 633 miles of concrete sidewalks; 144 miles of sewers; 137 miles of gas mains; 137 miles of electric street railways; 1,408 street lights; 356 miles of water mains; 2,260 fire hydrants. The water supply comes from an underground river reached by deep wells, and is among the purest in the world. The death rate in 1915 was 8.14 per 1,000 of population, one of the three lowest among the cities of the United States. Some of the principal buildings are the government building, Davenport hotel, Old National Bank, Paulsen building, public library, city hall, county courthouse, Gonzaga College, high school, Auditorium, Review, Em pire State buildings, Masonic temple, Spokane Club building, Spokane Amateur Athletic Club building, Protestant Episcopal and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and the churches and the schools. Fort Wright, a United States military post, is located on a tract of land, 1,022 acres, which the city gave to the government in 1894 95, on condition that a large military post should be established and maintained here. The city is especially noted for its fine residences and paved streets, and is known throughout the Pacific Northwest as the
of the Mining Kings?)
Spokane is the educational centre of the '
Banks and There are 13 banks, of which three are national. The combined capital is $4,325,000; surplus and undivided profits, $1,354,919; deposits (May 1919), $46, 592,052. Bank transactions in 1918 aggregated $1,263,198,089; clearings, $422,346,431. The combined tax rate in 1918 for State, county, city and school purposes was 47 mills, on an assessed valuation of $108,760,004. Bonded debt, $4,710,000.
The city operates under a commission charter and five commissioners, elected on a non-partisan basis. The responsi bility is centralized and the work divided un der the following headings: finance, public safety, public affairs, public works and public utilities.
Spokane's brief history is in teresting. The first settlement was made in the summer df 1872, when a handful of sturdy people Fathered at the Spokane River Falls. Earlier it was the home of trappers and hunters, who sold their pelts to the Hudson's Bay Com pany and the Astors, who in turn maintained the Spokane House, before the Oregon country became part of the United States. But the town did not really get under way until the Northern Pacific arrived in 1•:1. Eight years later fire devastated the 30 blocks in the business district. It was the first real test and it found . the people of Spokane undaunted. Since then its growth has been steady and sub stantial. The population figures given by the Federal Census Bureau follow: (1890), 19,222; (1900), 36,843; (1910), 104,402; (1914), 135,657. Population in 1919 is estimated at 137,000.