Along the line of Union Pacific in this grand new empire will be found many energetic, thriving young towns, all possessing those social and educational facilities which are now a part of every Western village. Pendleton, on the main line, is a wide-awake, bustling young city, situated in a fine agricultural district. Walla Walla, Athena, Weston, Waitsburg, Dayton, Pullman, Garfield, Latah, Tekoa, Colfax, Moscow, Farmington, and Rockford are all thriving towns, and are already good distributing centers. The last-named town enjoys the advantage of being in the center of a fine lumber district, and within a circuit of five miles from Rockford there are ten saw-mills, besides an inexhaustible supply of mica. Crossing the border into Idaho, rich silver and lead mines are found along the Coeur d'Alene River.
Rockford is twenty-four miles from Spokane Falls, and has about 1,000 population; its elevation is 2,440 feet. Four miles distant is the boundary of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, a lovely tract, thirty by seventy miles in extent, embracing beautiful Coeur d'Alene Lake and the three rivers, St. Joseph, St. Marys, and Coeur d'Alene, which empty into it. There about 250 Indians on this reservation, and they enjoy the proud distinction of being the only tribe who refuse Government aid. They have been offered the usual rations, but preferred to remain independent. They live in houses, farm quite extensively, and use all kinds of improved farm machinery; many of them are quite wealthy. The lake is one of the prettiest sheets of water on the continent; its waters are full of salmon, and in the heavy pine woods are many varieties of game, from quail to grizzly bear and elk. The town of Rockford will in the near future assume importance as a tourist point, both from its own healthy and picturesque location, and its nearness to Coeur d'Alene Lake. A Government Commission is now at work on a settlement with the Indians, whereby the whole or a part of this noble domain will be thrown open to the public. The peculiar attractions of Coeur d'Alene must in a short time render it a much sought for resort.
SPOKANE FALLS
is one of those miracles possible only in the alert, aggressive West. When Mr. Hayes was inaugurated it was a blank wilderness. Not a single civilized being lived within a hundred miles of it. One day in 1878 a white man came along in a "bull team," saw the wild rapids and the mighty falls of the Spokane River, reflected on the history of St. Paul and Minneapolis with their little Falls of St. Anthony, looked at the tide of immigration just turning toward the farther Northwest, and concluded he would sit right down where he was and wait for a city to grow around him. This far-sighted pioneer is still living within earshot of those rumbling falls, and they make a cheerful music for him. The city is there with him, 22,000 people, and he can draw a check to-day good for $1,000,000. For several years his eyes fell on nothing but gravel-beds and foamy waters. Now, as he looks around, he sees mills and factories, railroad lines to the north, south, east, and west, churches, theatres, school-houses, costly dwellings and stores, paved streets, and all that makes living easy and comfortable. The greater part of this has come within his vision since 1883. But even then there was quite a village. After this pioneer had spent a lonely year or two on his homestead, two other men came along. They were friends, who, upon an outing, had chanced to meet. They were captivated by the waterfall, and by what the pioneer told them of the fine fanning lands in the adjacent country, and they offered each to take a third of his holding. Then they began to advertise, and to place adventurous farmers on homestead claims. They were wise in their day and generation, and they worked harder to fill the country with grain-producers than to sell real estate around the falls. They soon had their reward. The merchants were quickly provided with store-houses, rental values were kept low, every inducement was offered that could possibly stimulate building activity, and in three years the farming country was made to perceive that Spokane was its natural point of entry and of shipment. The turbulent waters of the Spokane River, a clear and beautiful mountain stream, were caught above the falls, and directed wherever the factories and mills that had been established above them required their services. Four large flouring-mills quickly took advantage of the rich opportunity growing out of this unique situation.
From two enormous agricultural areas they are enabled to draw their supplies of grain, flour, therefore, being manufactured for the farmers more cheaply at Spokane: than anywhere else. This circumstance alone exercised a large influence in giving the new town a hold upon the country districts. These constitute more than a region—they are really a grand division of the State, and form what is known as the Great Plain of the Columbia River.
THE COEUR D'ALENE MINES
have reached a high and profitable state of development. These mines extend over a comparatively limited area. They are close together, and their ores, producing gold, silver, and lead, are all similar. Their output for the last three years has been quite remarkable, and has placed the Coeur d'Alene district among the foremost lead-producing regions in the country. Gold, associated with iron, and treated by the free-milling process, is largely found in the northern part of the district, but the greatest amount of tonnage is derived from the southern country, where the Galena silver mines, a dozen or more in number, have been discovered. That minerals in large quantity existed in this country has been known for years. But the want of railroad facilities for a long while prevented any serious effort to get at them. The matter of transportation is now laid at rest, and within the last three years $1,000,000 has been spent in development. The returns have already more than justified the investment.
Tributary to Spokane, and reached by the various railroads now in operation, are five other mining districts, at Colville, Okanagan, Kootenai, Metaline, and Pend d'Oreille. They are in various stages of development, but their wealth and availability have been clearly ascertained. Spokane's population, in a degree greater than that of most all these new cities, consists of young men and young women from the New England and Middle States. They have enjoyed a remarkable and wholly uninterrupted period of prosperity. Some of them have grown quickly and immensely rich from real estate operations, but the great majority have yet to realize on their investments because of the large sacrifices they have made in building up the city. They are to-day in an admirable position. As they have made money they have spent it; spent it in street railroads, in the laying out of drives, in the building of comfortable houses, in the establishment of electrical plants, and in a large number of local improvements, every one of which has borne its part in making the city attractive.
WONDERFUL VITALITY.
It has been well said of Spokane Falls, that "it was another fire-devastated city that did not seem to know it was hurt."