At the falls of the Spokane River, in the heart of Washington’s now booming Inland Empire, Spokane stands as a symbol of an America that, in many ways, is only just beginning, and Miss Fargo here gives the story of its rise from trading post to regional metropolis.
Lightly and skillfully she brings the city and its past to life through the toil, the triumphs, the zest for work and fun of its citizens—people like: Ross Cox, “scribbling clerk” of the fur trade era who was lost for two terrifying weeks in the Palouse hills; Father Cataldo of the Jesuits from whose “rock pile” arose Gonzaga University; the hotel-keeper’s wife whose party dress froze to the wall just as she was about to show Spokane its first waltz; Jim Glover, “Father of Spokane;” and “Dutch Jake,” who ran a gambling resort and crossed swords with Ida Tarbell.
Spokane Story is the colorful history of a colorful city and its people, from the years of its lusty youth to the day when a clergyman sat in the Mayor’s chair and a new city charter heralded the end of its days as a frontier town.
Chapter 1. Big Business on the Little Spokane
Chapter 4. Bunchgrass Realm High, Wide, and Handsome
Chapter 7. She Danced the First Waltz
Chapter 9. A Whistle Blows in the County Seat
Chapter 10. In the Days of the Jackass
Chapter 11. According to His Code
Chapter 13. “Electric Service Since 1889”
Chapter 14. Tabernacle and Soap Box
Chapter 16. She Huffed and She Puffed