Most of the towns in the Okanogan Highlands are still in their infancy, for its development has been so recent; but therein lies much of its charm. In the Pend Oreille Valley the leading city is Newport, the county seat, prettily located on both sides of the river, half in Idaho and half in Washington. In Stevens county are Chewelah, a mining town, and Colville, the largest city in the region, with a population of over 1,500 people. A place that attracts tourists for miles is St. Mary's Indian Mission on the Colville Indian Reservation near Omak. Other interesting towns are scattered throughout the four counties.

[IRRIGATION SCENES IN EASTERN WASHINGTON.]

[THE CITY OF SPOKANE FROM CLIFF PARK—MOUNT SPOKANE IN THE DISTANCE.]
Photo by Frank Palmer.

THE SPOKANE COUNTRY.

From the city of Spokane all corners of the Inland Empire are easily reached. Five transcontinental lines enter the city and two others operate trains; while a network of electric lines serves the immediate vicinity, penetrating the territory as far south as Colfax, Palouse, and Moscow; southwest to Medical Lake and Cheney; and eastward to Hayden Lake and Coeur d'Alene. Highways have been built through the most scenic sections along the river valleys and up into the mountains. Each mode of transportation unfolds a different panorama. The hills nearest Spokane are covered with a dense growth of pine. Farther away are forests of pine, fir, cedar, and tamarac, concealing many lakes teeming with trout and black bass. Within a radius of a hundred miles are fifty mountain lakes, thirty-eight of which are ideally located and supplied with all necessary equipment for camping. They include Pend Oreille, the second largest fresh water lake in the United States, fifty miles east; Hayden Lake, forty miles east in the heart of the Idaho National Forest Reserve; Chatcolet Lake, thirty-two miles distant; Liberty Lake, seventeen miles; Priest Lake, seventy-eight miles; Spirit Lake, forty-three miles; Coeur d'Alene, thirty-two miles; and Twin Lakes, thirty-three miles.

The mountains are visible either to the north or the east. They are neither as lofty nor as rugged as the Cascades and Olympics, but they are nevertheless beautiful. The highest peak in eastern Washington is Mount Spokane, 5,808 feet, twenty miles northeast of the city. From its summit one may look out into the three northwestern states of Oregon, Idaho and Washington, and into the province of British Columbia; and count seventeen different lakes and rivers.