THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: MAY 27, 1906.
5
Spokane, the Metropolis of the Inland Empire of North America
"0'opywrlght, lmn, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
""iPOKANE, Wash., May 24 Fp
I cial l'c rn poridrnce of 'Che
Jjee. .uino nie hub nun-
day mornlr.g, ar.it let ua lunch,
together a.ay oul here In the
wild and woolly west. Where shall we
go? To the Spokane club? No, that
avora too much of the spk-ndors of New
"York and Boston. The millionaire of
the town belong to It, and the came la
true of the Country club, on the golf
llnka overlooking- the city. Suppose we
try a tavern? How a). out the Spokane
hotel? It haa a restaurant which makes
one think of Berlin! the dining room haa
t a. low Dutch celling, with rafters showing
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TH ui ilia pitiairr, iru 1)1 in iiwji bm
fUrnlture of weathered oak. The band
plays there at night while dlm.er la
served, and the awell Spokaners come in
with their families and eat aide by aide
with the utrangers.
But you aay you are afraid of weatera
tavernaT
la a, Spokane Restaurant.
Then suppose we eat at a restaurant.
Davenport's claims to be the finest In the
world, and so far I have seen none like It
In America, Let us drop into the bar as
.we go through. It is known as the orange
room, because it is lit by blazing oranges.
Inside which are electric Jets; and also on
account of the palms and other tropical
plants which stand around the wall, fus
ing on we come Into tho public dining
room, gorgeously decorated. The cashier's
desk Is on the tup of an aquarium In
which great fish are swimming, and an
other quaint conceit la the mantelpiece,
upheld by two crystal pillara as big
around as your waist. In which gold fish
dart back and forth. The pillars are
really tubes of glass filled with water,
the only difference, between their ap
pearance and that of solid crystal, being
that the gold fish are moving.
We sit down to our meal in one of the
cabinets, and enjoy it. All the delicacies
of the east and west come to Spokane,
and one can live quite as well here as
In New York or Chicago. If you doubt
this take a walk with me through the
basement of the establishment where we
' are eating. It Is finlahed in pure white
marble, and it contains cold storage cham
bers so arranged that one can look in
and see the supplies. In one room there
are hundreds; of beeves, and in another
mutton, pork and game are hung up. T.ia
beef is brought from Chicago In cold
storage) and the cuts are of the same
shape and size, so that one can give a
dinner for fifty- and have each guest
served the same. This can probably be
done in New York or Boston, but I doubt
If as well as here in Spokane.
Up-to-Date West.
Indeed, the most live part of the United
States today lies west of the Rockies. All
the cities out here are growing faster than
thistles in Canada, Spokane, Seattle, Port
land and Los Angeles hare on their seven
league7 boots, and they are striding ahead
like giants on the road to greater popula
tion and wealth.
' ,.Vs far as age is concerned Spokane is a
' baby among our American towns. It was
bom Just a generation ago, but it now has
10,000 population and is doing a business,
as represented by the clearing house fig
ures, of 1150,000,000 a year. It has ten
banks with deposits of 114,000,000, and its
business establishments have a capital of
about $15,000,000. Its factories last year
turned out about 110,000,000 worth of goods,
and it haa a newspaper, the Spokesman-Review,
which boasts a dally circulation of
to, 000 copies. 'Spokane has a greater num
ber of , telephones in proportion to its
population than any other " city in the
country. It has 8,000. It has five trans
continental, railways and enough street
railroads, If they could be stretched out
In one line, to reach from New York to
'Albany, and additional suburban lines suffi
cient to connect New Yom with Wash
ington city.
It Works While They Sleep.
Have you ever seen Spokane?
If not, you have missed one of the sights
of this continent. The city lies In a valley
on both sides of the rushing Spokane. This
river here plows its way through a mighty
gorge, dashing down over fall after fall,
having a descent of 132 feet in a quarter
of a mile. The waters rage and foam as
they drop from level to level, sending
up spray which the sun turns into dia
monds. They run part 'of the way through
turbines, which have been so connected
with machinery that they are worth more
to the city than diamonds themselves.
The river, in fact, does the greater part of
the work of the city. It labors -away day
and night, day in and day out, every night
and every day all the year through. The
falls have a minimum capacity of 32,000
horsepower, and of this 15,000 has already
been developed. The river lights the city,
turns its mills and factories, operates its
street railways and travels oven. 00 miles
of wire to the Coeur d'Alene mines, and
carries there the electricity by which they
produce about one-fifth of all the lead
of the world.
The energy of the Spokane river is enor-
Unique Birthday Parly Given by a Well Known Omaha
O- tMAHA has had many a birthday
celebration that has brought Joy
to young and old alike, and that
j.-!,-. has stoid out conspicuously In
the socl!J chronicles, but by far
the most unique celebration of this oit wus
the party given Siuui-Jay afternoon, May 19,
by Mr. Julius a!eer at Metropolitan club, in
celebration of his fifty-fifth birthduy. Five
years ago "Uncle Julius," as he Is known
to the children of half the Jewish social
i set of the city, entertained the children at
the club, his guest list being limited to
the children of all his friends." and these
ranging In age from a few months to if
years. On that occasion he promised
them another party in five years, und the
event was much anticipated. This year,
however. In eiiilitlon to those not yet "out"'
Uncle Julius entertained the grandmothers
too, they being the guests of honor.
Nothing that could contribute to the
entertainment and pleasure of his guests
was left undone and notwithstanding the
diversity of age, this genial host succeeeded
In making his birthday party an occasion
never to be forgotten by those ellsibles
who were fortunate enough to be his guests.
An orchestra of thirty pieces, a grand
march, a hoop drill, a grub bug. marvls
In the way of souvenirs and favors, and,
last of all, a banquet In splendid stale
served down In the banquet room, were
some of the features he psuvltled for the
entertainment of his foster nieces and
nephews and the grandmothers, und In
return, at the close of liie party, his health
was sung by the little folks, as a surprise,
snd he was presented a diamond stuild-l
charm "in token of their love." '
Mr. Meyer has long Ween identified with
the wesvj and was for many years a
familiar figure on the frontier. The Indians
knew htm- as well as the whites in those
days, and bis fund of reminiscence is
always drawn oa by hU nephews and
biece
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mous. In addition to the S2.000 horsepower
which He in the heart of Spokane, there
are several million available horsepower In
the river above and below the city. The
Spokane has a big volume and It flows
for a distance of ninety miles above and
below here, through a gorge of such a
naturo, that factories can be built all along
It. In this ninety miles the river falls
1.200 feet, or more than twice the height
of the Washington monument; and the fall
Is such that it is estimated a horsepower
greater than that of Niagara can be gen
erated from it. The power Is so situated
that turbines can be put in every three
or four miles along the whole ninety-mile
gorge and each set of turbines will have
a fall of forty feet.
The fall of Niagara from Lake Erie to
Lake Ontario is 326 feet, and from Goat
Island, to the rapids only 212 feet. The act.
uol drop of the water at the American falls
Is 167 feet and the Horseshoe falls have a
vertical height of 158 feet. The normal flow
of water pouring over the Nlugara cataract
is about 600,(O0 tons a minute, a large part
of which has already boon used for the
turbines.
The Spokane river power has, as I have
said, a fall of 1,200 feet, and It Is so sit
uated that it might form the basis of an
enormous Industrial region extending thirty
miles above Spokane and sixty miles be
low. It should be as valuable or more valu
able than mines of coal and Iron and it
will hold a large place In the transporta
tion of this region in the future. Spokane
has no navigable river connecting it wth
the sea, but these water falls will give it
the cheap railroad freight and passenger
rates which ought to develop it more surely
than a waterway.
The city today profits directly from the
waterpower. It owns its own water works
and is getting a revenue of $200,000 a year
Recent Happenings in the
Wireless MciMf in tho Arctic
.AX WELL J. SMITH, the wireless
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telegraph operator who will ac
company Walter Wellman on his
attempt to reach the north pole
In his airship this summer, and
C. J. Morley, another wrc-;s telegraph
man, who will have charge of the wireless
station to be established on tbe little arc
tic steamship Frithjof, which will be an
chored at Spltzbergen while the airship Is
away, have sailed for Europe.. A second
wireless telegraph station is to be estab
lished at Hammerfest, In Norway, which
is a cable station. G. A. Robinson, who
Is now In London and who has been mak
ing a number of experiments abroad with
Lee De Forest, will have charge of this
station. "I shall send as many messages
as possible to the Spltzbergen station Just
as soon as I can after starting." Mr.
Smith said: "Each of these messages will
give our exact latitude and longitude, so
that should no message be received after a
certain time it would be fair to assume
that some accident had befallen the ship.
Provided a relief party left Spltzbergen It
should have a very, fair idea where the
airship might be found. A special rode
will be used, only intelligible to the three
operators, including myself. This Is done
to prevent the acceptance of spurious mes
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bomb op tho Matrons
HARVESTING A WHEAT FIELD IN WASHINGTON.
from them. It ought to have the entire
rights to the river and all its power, but
tliis is uv.'ued by private parties.
Municipal Spirit.
One thing 1 like about these western,
cities is the enterprise of the citizens. If
Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Wash
ington had the same municipal push they
would double in size within two decade..
Here everyone is willing to do anything
that will help the town. Everyone thinks
there Is no other city equal to his, and the
men of rival cities strive to outvie each
other in boasting about their respective nu
niclpalltlcs. There is some little competi
tion Just now between Spokane and Seattle.
Seattle Is by far the larger and It grows
the faster, but the Spokane man will not
acknowledge that the Seattleite has any
advantage over him. As an illustration of
this spirit I have Just heard the following:
A Seattleite and a Spokaner were talking
of their towns. The Spokaner told of new
banks, new factories and new buildings,
ss-ylng: "Why, man, you have no Idea how
we are progressing. We have the best little
city In the United States. Our real eslale
has doubled In value within the past ten
years and JIQ.OOO.OOO worth of It changed
hands In 1905. We have the best school
buildings' In the west. We have twenty
two in our town of 80,000, and they cost 'us
altogether more than $1,000,000. You ought
to see our high school. The building alone
cost $176,000. Our new Masonic temple cost
$100,000 and we have an athletic club which
cost $25,000 more than that.' Spokane is
now building a conyentlon hall, which will
attract people from alt parts of the United
States and make It greater convention
city than Washlnfton. We are raising;, a
fund of $50,000 to advertise us, and If we
keep on in this way it won't be long before
Seattle will have to take, a back seat."
"Yes," said the Seattle man. "I have
sages that might be sent from other
sources and picked up either by the sta
tions at Spltzbergen or Hammerfest. There
will be no difficulty In picking up messages
sent to us. Whether our messages will be
as readily received Is another matter. Per
sonally I believe they will. The reason
the wireless system on tbe ship Is going
to be so much of an experiment is due
to the fact that we shall have to use the
steel frame of the airship as an artificial
ground. We shall be up In the air and we
shall have to work downward. Instead of
having a solid mast or anything of that
sort we shall have to drop our wires from
the frame of the ship. ' Four long wires
will be suspended, each 250 feet long. I
am taking an alternating generator along
and this will be connected with the fifty
five horsepower motor, the larger of the
two motors on tbe airship. All of these
appliances I shall attach to the frame
of the ship in Paris, and It will then be
shipped with the big balloon itself to
Tromsoe, Norway, where the entire party
will meet early in June.
: Test Poeket Telephone.
Charles E. Alden of New York, who has
been pursuing experiments at Cottage
City, Mass., since last fall In wireless
telephoning, has, he says, solved the prob-
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who assisted -uncle julius" at
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heard that you were doing somethlnj. We
have clubs and schools, too, and we ate
putting VP single business blocks which
would hold all your business men and leuve
some to spare. You ought to see our
Alaska building. It is fourteen stories hlxh
and it cost $4,000,000. 1 wonder if you have
ever been to Seattle?"
"Yes," said the somewhat subdued Spo
kaner. "I have been there."
"But when, but when," asked the Seattle
ite. "I was there two weeks ago," was the
reply!
"Two weeks! Why, man, you ought to
see Seattle now!"
Spokane and the President.
This deBire to advertise the city was
brought out prominently last year when
the Spokane board of trade sent out Its
famous picture of President Roosevelt, en
titled "Stop off at Spokane." Roosevelt
had made a speech in wnich he had said,
"I never saw two such cities anywhere as
Spokane and Seattle.' If my eldest "boy was
large enough to be choosing a place, I
would advise him to locate In one or the
other of those cities and It is a shake-up
between them." This statement was too
good to be. lost, and the result was tho
spectacular advertisement to which the
President objected. He wrote to the secre
tary of the. board of trade here and re
quired tho city to stop using It.
Another advertisement that Spokane has
secured recently at small cost Is from a
big" liquid washing powder firm. The city
factories, as already described, are run by
electricltyf and -as the most common fuel
hero is wood the town Is kept exceedingly
clean. It prides Itself on its streets, and it
has acquired quite a reputation for them.
Not long ago the board pf trade thought it
might be able to advertise1 this feature at
the expense of the above mentioned firm.
lem of wireless telephoning and the result
is so simple that it is likely to create a
sensation In the business world as well
as In scientific circles. '
Mr. Alden, While studying the problem,
constructed an Instrument so small that It
can be put into a vest pocket, which, at
tached to a wireless battery, such as is
used by the Marconi system, at once be
gins' catching conversations carried along
ordinary telephone wires, the distance de
pending only upon the energy behind the
telephones that are sending the messages.
It was one stormy night a tew weeks
ago, when Mr. Alden had perfected his
little receiver and set it up In his studio on
Martha's Vineyard island, that he sat
smoking his after-dinner pipe and wonder
ing where he had better set up his sending
apparatus, that he was startled by the
sound of a voice in the' room, of which he
was the only occupant. Outside the storm
howled along the coast and beat the waves
against the rocks of the island.
"Hello! Hello! Is that Mrs. Smith? YesT
Come over this evening if you can."
"All right. Good-bye!"
Mr. Alden sat bolt upright. Then he got
up and went to the door. There was no
one th-re. The little "Instrument on the
table began to buzz again and then jcame
another voice, a different one this time,
asking the price of eggs and ordering a
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WATER
So a letter was sent, raying that If the
liquid washing powder men would send
a hogshead of their stuff to Spokane It
would bo umd In sprinkling the streets and
that a photograph of tho sprinkler in ac
tion might be labeled. "What keeps Spo
kane clean." This was done and the pic
ture will be used as an advertisement in
all the magazines. The town paid nothing
but the expense of photographing ar . as a
result the Silver Dope Twins, or the
Smyle's Smerllne Company will probably
spend $00,0(0 or more during the coming
year In advertising itself In Spokane.
Homes of Spokane.
There is no doubt, however, but that
Spokane is a good town. It Is growing
like a green bay tree and It will continue
to grow In the future. It Is' remarkably
well built and It has some of the pretttrst
and most artistic homes In the United
States. All the houses have their own
lawns and gardens. There are trees, flow
ers and green grass everywhere, and I am
surprised at the numerous small houses In
which one could live well at moderate cast.
The architecture is of all sorts. There are
Swiss chalets, Spanish mission homes
Queen Ann cottages and many other con
ceits. Indeed, the suburban and seaside
architects who are planning homes for
the east could learn much at Spokane.
There are also costly houses. One man,
who Is said to be worth $30,000,000, has a
mansion with a great park about It, and
there are other dwellings whose cost must
have run high into the thousands.
Metropolis of the Inland Empire.
Spokane Is the Denver of the British Co
lumbia and Washington mining regions,
which annually produce $23,000,000 worth of
gold, silver, copper and lead. It is the home
of lumber millionaires, having a country
Field of
grocery man to send up some potatoes
first thing In the morning.
Like a flash Mr. Alden realized the situa
tion. His little Instrument was not wait
ing for his sending instrument to be set
up, but was pilfering messages from tlje
New England Telephone company's wire,
which ran along a road three miles away.
Wild with delight, Mr. Alden rushed across
lots and got soma of his friends to come
in and witness the success of his dis
covery. When they arrived this little ap
paratus was still biiBy disclosing neigh
borhood gossip and all sorts of messages
thut were buzzing over the wires of the
Island.
The basis of the system Is like that of
the wireless telegraph. But a small in
vention, the details of which he does not
make public, completes it. This Is called
the "new detector." It Is this machine,
attached to the wireless batteries, which
Ih rcFpunslb.e for the results.
No wire was attached to the receiving
Instrument, the latter simply being placed
on a table In a room. At present Mr. Alden
Is working on the sending parts of the ap
paratus. Trial of an Klectrlo Omnlbos.
A demonstration of the workings of a self
propelled omnibus for publlo service was
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POWER THAT MAKES SPOKANE GREAT.
tributary to It which cuts enough timber
ever year to make a board walk two feet
wide clear around tho world, and more than
anything else it Is important as being tho
metropolis of the nland empire, a country
which a few years ago was considered com
paratively worthless, but which is now one
of the best agricultural regions on this
continent
Take the lands rf the Spokane valley.
They were not supposed to be worth any
thing, and quite recently 50,000 acres were
offered to the United States government as
a perpetual military park to be used as a
field for maneuvers. Tbe Idea then was to
get Uncle Sam to pay $5 or $10 an acre for
It. Now It Is found that this land can be
Irrigated and that it will raise excellent
wheat. Some of It near Spokane Is selling
for $1C0 and upwanT an acre, and for
lands which a few years ago could be
bought from 60 cents to $1 an acre are, now
producing from twenty to thirty bushels of
wheat. Indeed the total wheat crop raised
In this state of Washington last year was
about 35,000,000 bushels, whloh at a barrel
of flour to the head Is enough to fur
nish the annual supply of bread for 8,000,000
souls., or one-tenth of the population of
the United States.
Land of Volcanoes.
The whole country about Spokane is vol
canic and this Is so of a large part of
the region known as the Inland empire.
Just back of the city, within a short walk
of the business section, the crater of an
extinct volcano Is to be seen. Some of the
fences about the lawns of these mlnlnjf
kings are built of black lava and boulders
of lava lie here and there.
In traveling through this country I
have seen regions which would make me
think of the bed of the Teoger volcano.
Electricity
given in London recently by the London
Electrobus company, Limited, 17 Cockspur
street, S. W. The vehicle is arranged to
carry thirty-four passengers, and weighs
6,400 pounds. It is propelled by an
electric motor arranged underneath the
driver's footboard, the motion being trans
mitted by chain gearing to a longitudinal
shaft, which In turn operates a live axle
through the usual bevel wheels and C'Siar
entlal gear. The motor is said to be capa
ble of developing 14-horse power for a pro
longed period and Its speed is regulated by
means of a controller. Current is derived
from a battery of forty-four Oppermann
cells slung underneath the frame of the
omnibus, which are said to have a capa
city of 300 ampere-hours, and can be read
ily removed and 'replaced by a fresh set.
The batteries weigh about twenty-three
hundredweight, or rather more than one
third the weight of the vehicle. If worked
to their maximum output, it is said that
theso cells would provide suffclent energy
to propel the omnibus about fifty miles;
but the Introducers do not Intend to run
them more than half this distance on -one
charge. As far as we can see no proof is
given that the company is much in ad
vance of raat methods, and its financial
prospects, we noticed, are being rather
severely canvassed.
gO ME OF THE YOUNG FOLKS WHO CELEBRATED WITH "TTItCUB JTJI..
In eastern Java. That Is the biggest
crater of the world and tho soil within
Is Just like that of the Big Bend plutnt.
The geologists say this whole country
was once covered with volcanoes and that
the soil is largely made up of volcanie
ash. Java, which has some of the richest
land known to man, is made of such ash.
It came about, so I am told, somewhat
like this: There was first a great erup
tion of lava covering the whole of this
country. It may have been a molten lake
of lava which rose and fell under the
wind. This hardened and the ashes set
tled upon it, making a volcanlo deposit
of ashes several feet deep. After this
the waters fell and under them the ashes
hardened and solidified. Then the waters
broke their way out through the mou re
tains in the Columbia river system, leav
ing this mighty bed of ashes, from one
to eight feet In thickness, lying on
stratum of clay upon a bed of lava.
For a long time the great trouble about
the country was the apparent lack ot
water. The land looked thirsty and dry
and both geologists and the farmers said
it would never be good for anything.
Then, as one man expressed to me, some
fool tried to raise wheat on it and suc
ceeded. It was found to produce at the
rate of thirty bushels and upward per
acre, and it is now considered some of
the best wheat land of the west. One
'theorist says that the lava bed, upon
whloh the soil lies, acts like the bottom
of a great pan. The water drops upon
the earth and sinks down to this bed,
and is held there until drawn up by the
plants, whereas in other formations It
sinks farther down and is lost.
However that may be, thqre is no doubt
but that the land will raise the very best
wheat, and that It Is now growing It by
the millions of bushels a year.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
Too Much "Funny Business"
A well known Kentucklan tells of a mar
riage ceremony that a Justice of the peace
In the Blue Grass state was hurriedly
called upon one day to perform.
It appears that the bridegroom, a blar'
mountaineer, very roughly dressed, had
brought his prospective bride with him to
the office of the clerk of the court, think
ing to secure his license and have tho
ceremony performed at one visit. When
his . license had been duly granted the
mountaineer asked If there was a Justice
of the peace then In the court house who
could tie the kpot. Upon being advised
by the clerk that he himself was a Justice
of the peace and that he was willing to
Join the two lovers, the bridegroom said:
"Waal, then, we're ready; go ahead!"
"But you'll have to secure two wit
nesses," smilingly observed the clerk and
Justice, "before I can proceed."
At this the mountaineer demurred, say
ing that he did noli care for witnesses.
Nevertheless, he was convlned in a mo
ment that this formality was an indis
pensable one, and accordingly the neces
sary wltnessses were procured and the
ceremony began. , When the couple had
promised to love, obey, etc., together with
the rest of the service, the Justice of the
peace quite Innocently observed that the
bridegroom should "kiss tho bride."
Thereupon the mountaineer exhibited
fresh impatience at the exactions of the
official. "Look here!" he exclaimed, an
grily, "It seems to me thst you're drafrgln'
in a lot of funny business in this wedding.
Why, I kissed her before we came In!"
Bachelor