216 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



nous rainy seasons, the total rainfall in 1908, as re- 

 ported by the United States weather bureau, being about 

 19 inches and two and a half inches of snow. The mer- 

 cury reached 90 or more 23 days during the year, the 

 lowest being 4 degrees below zero. The average tem- 

 perature for the year was 49 degrees. 



Surrounded by mountain ranges in which nestle beau- 

 tiful lakes, teeming with game fish, and whose forests 

 abound with game, accessible in an hour's ride on steam 

 and electric lines, Spokane offers the dual attraction of 

 the mountain fastness and of the thoroughly cosmopol- 

 itan city with schools that are surpassed nowhere in the 

 United States, with numerous churches and opera 



Institute, endowed by Col. D. P. Jenkins of Spokane. 

 There are 81 church structures, including two cathe- 

 drals, ranging in cost from $1,000 to $200,000. 



Spokane has an interesting history, which is worthy 

 of recount at this time. The first settlement was made 

 in the summer of 1872, when a handful of sturdy peo- 

 ple gathered at the site of the falls. Four years later 

 the first saw and grist mill was erected, the waters of 

 the Spokane falls furnishing the power to turn the old- 

 fashioned wheel. The first banking institution was or- 

 ganized in 1879, in which year the first newspaper was 

 Railway Company entered from the west, and the people 

 decided to incorporate as a town. There were 500 in- 



Some of the Cosey Modern Homes in Spokane. 



houses, magnificent public buildings and modern stores 

 and business establishments. 



Spokane has been declared by prominent educators 

 to have the best facilities of any city of its size for edu- 

 cating its young. It has three recognized colleges, two 

 high schools, with 1,850 pupils enrolled, and 28 grade 

 brick and stone school houses and a half dozen private 

 institutions. The total registration in 41 schools is 16,- 

 485 students with 530 teachers. The board of educa- 

 tion has plans for several new structures, including a 

 high school for the north side of the city, now nearly 

 completed, and there are reports that another college 

 is to be established. Spokane has a Y. M. C. A. build- 

 ing costing $200,000, where there is also the Jenkins 

 established. Two years afterward the Northern Pacific 



habitants at that time. Robert W. Forrest, a native of 

 Pennsylvania, was the first mayor. In that year, 1881, 

 the second flour mill and another newspaper were es- 

 tablished, and the town began to take on metropolitan 

 airs, when, in 1882, it was made the permanent county 

 seat. The Great Northern and Union Pacific systems 

 came in 1892-3. Cheney, 16 miles southwest of Spo- 

 kane, was formerly the county seat. 



The first disastrous blaze occurred in 1883, and was 

 followed in the summer of 1889 by a fire which wiped 

 out 30 blocks in the business district. It was the first 

 real test, but the people were undaunted and the work 

 of rebuilding was begun almost as soon as the smolder- 

 ing ruins cooled. The fire limits were at once extended 

 and the city council adopted and enforced an ordinance, 



