THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



217 



prohibiting the erection of wooden structures within 

 the boundary established. Thus Spokane escaped the 

 shanty period, which usually follows in the wake of a 

 widespread blaze, and as a result Spokane is today the 

 best built modern city of its size on the continent. 



One of the institutions of interest to the newcom- 

 ers as well as the residents of Spokane is the Chamber 

 of Commerce, which occupies the second floor of the 

 Hutton building, at Washington street and First and 

 Sprague avenues. Frederick E. Goodall is president 

 and Levi Grant Monroe is secretary. The organization 

 has 800 active members, who are working shoulder to 

 shoulder for the upbuilding of the country. The main 

 hall contains beautiful exhibits of the resources of the 

 Spokane country. Thousands of homeseekers and tour- 

 ists and sightseers bv the hundreds have viewed the ex- 



and child in the city it constitutes a liberal education 

 in itself." 



Much has been written of the derivation of the 

 word Spokane, pronounced "Spo-kan," but little is defi- 

 nitely known. It is believed the word is from the lan- 

 guage of the Indians who formerly hunted and fished 

 on what is now the site of the city. Eoss Cox, an early 

 writer, says that the chief of the tribe is known as "Illim- 

 Spokane," which means "Son of the Sun." From this 

 and from the nature of the country, being more open 

 and having more sunshine than that of the Colvilles, 

 inhabiting the valleys to the north, or of the Coeur 

 d'Alenes, whose hunting grounds were in the mountains 

 and foothills to the east, the tribal name is interpreted 

 to mean "Children of the Sun." 



M. M. Crowlev. an early settler, who traded with the 



Riverside Avenue, Spokane. 



hibit and their words of praise of the arrangement and 

 the enterprise of the people of Spokane in maintaining 

 this branch of its general exploitation scheme would fill 

 several pages of this journal. A recent visitor struck 

 the keynote when he wrote these words in the registry 

 book : 



"After seeing this exhibit I am ready to believe any- 

 thing you may tell me about the Spokane country. The 

 Chamber of Commerce is one of the show places in Spo- 

 kane and should be seen not only by every newcomer 

 into the city and district, but also by every man, woman 



Indians for years at what is known as Spokane Bridge, 

 east of the city, and through whose influence the Spo- 

 kane Indians were prevented from joining with Chief 

 Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe in a war of extermina- 

 tion against the settlers of the Spokane Valley, says 

 Spokane is pronounced "Spokan" by the Indians and 

 means "wheat," and that literal interpretition is "the 

 man who lives in the country which grows the wheat," 

 to distinguish them from the Colvilles, Coeur d'Alenes, 

 Nez Perces and other tribes who inhabited the dis- 

 tricts in which wild game abounded. They also have a 



