218 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



word pronounced "Spo-kan-ee," which means "the sun." 

 From the words "Spokan" and "Spo-kan-ee," the early 

 settlers evolved the name Spokane, which was given 

 afterward to the Indians as a tribal name. The original 

 tribal name of the Spokane Indians is "Sin-co-mahn- 

 nah," meaning of which has long been lost. 



Spokane, gateway of the Pacific Northwest and 

 metropolis of Inland Empire, embracing 150,000 square 

 miles in eastern Washington, northern Idaho, western 

 Montana, northeastern Oregon and southeastern British 

 Columbia, where the National Irrigation Congress will 

 hold its seventeenth sessions, may well be called a city 

 of strategic position and power. It is the commercial, 

 financial and industrial hub of the district, and is easily 

 the greatest railroad center west of the Missouri River. 

 It is the keystone in the arch of states spanning the 



way and others projected, its population of 120,000 to- 

 day will be near the 500,000 mark in less than two 

 decades. This is an ultra-conservative statement. Hun- 

 dreds of others, who have watched the growth of the 

 city, believe that the half-million point will be reached 

 before the close of 1920. When that figure is realized 

 the district will have a total population of between 2,- 

 500,000 and 3,000,000, as against 543,710 now. 



Tributary to Spokane is the greatest timber belt in 

 the Union and this includes the largest stand of white 

 pine left intact on this continent. Within the same 

 limits are the richest silver-lead mines in the world, 

 comprising the famous Coeur d'Alenes, which produce 

 40 per cent of the lead output in the United States, 

 in the Boundary country and northeastern and central 

 Washington, as well as in eastern Oregon and western 



Fishing and Hunting within and near the City Limits of Spokane. 



western country between the Rocky Mountains and the 

 Pacific slope, as well as the pivotal point of the vast 

 territory which gives it name. 



Broad-minded liberality in planning, together with 

 daring, foresight, enterprise and energy, and patience 

 and thoroughness in execution, are the factors which 

 entered into the making of the Spokane of today and 

 the upbuilding of the country, declared by seasoned 

 travelers and economists to be without a rival in the 

 world. Entrenched in prosperity and fortified with the 

 treasures of forests, mines, fields, ranges and orchards 

 and the swiftly developing country tributary to it, Spo- 

 kane is destined to become one of the chief distributing 

 points of the Northwest; and, in fact, there are already 

 more than surface indications that it will gain recogni- 

 tion as a converting center in a very few years. 



Spokane is not dependent upon any one industry 

 in the veritable empire tributary to it. It will always 

 have many, due to the fact that raw materials in quan- 

 tity, quality and variety are all within 150 miles of its 

 while other metals in quality and quantity are mined 

 doors, and with the development of the industries under 



Montana. South and west, east and north are stretches 

 of agricultural lands, including orchards, more exten- 

 sive and productive than in many of the famed states 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, under existing conditions, 

 with the country sparsely settled, the wealth-production 

 in 1908, exclusive of manufactures and imports, was 

 $145,410,000, or $267 per capita of an estimated popu- 

 lation of 543,710. This is equivalent to $1,200 for the 

 average family and from 100 to 150 per cent higher 

 than the general average in the United States, including 

 the wealth produced by manufactured and imported ar- 

 ticles. The statistics as compiled by the Spokane Cham- 

 ber of Commerce follow : 



Mineral $40,000,000 



Wheat 36,160,000 



Lumber cut, 1,250,000,000 feet 18,000,000 



Live stock and poultry 16,000,000 



Apples and other fruit 14,000,000 



Farm and garden 15,250,000 



Dairy 6,000,000 



This is the keynote to the situation in the heart of 

 the Inland Empire, where a city of 120,000, declared 



