Editing Spokane, Washington (section)

===American settlement===
[[File:SpokaneMap1890GiesAndCompanyofBuffaloNew York.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Spokane Falls in 1890|Spokane Falls, 1890]]
Joint American–British occupation of [[Oregon Country]], in effect since the [[Treaty of 1818]], eventually led to the [[Oregon Boundary Dispute]] after a large influx of American settlers along the [[Oregon Trail]]. Great Britain ceded its claims to lands in [[Puget Sound]] and the central and lower Columbia Basin by the [[Oregon Treaty]] of 1846. The Hudson's Bay Company wound up its operations in the area over the next few years.

In what is now Spokane, the first American settlers were J.J. Downing and S.R. Scranton, cattle ranchers who [[squatters|squatted]] and established a claim at Spokane Falls in 1871.<ref name="p. 19">{{harvp|Kensel|1971|p=19}}</ref> Together they built a small sawmill on a claim near the south bank of the falls.<ref name="p. 19"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Wilma |first=David |title=J. J. Downing and S. R. Scranton file claims and build a sawmill at Spokane Falls in May 1871 |work=Essay 5132 |publisher=HistoryLink |date=January 27, 2003 |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5132| access-date = December 7, 2014}}</ref> [[James N. Glover]] and Jasper Matheney, Oregonians passing through the region in 1873, recognized the value of the Spokane River and its falls for the purpose of water power.<ref name="p. 19"/> They realized the investment potential and bought the claims of {{convert|160|acre|ha}} and the sawmill from Downing and Scranton for a total of $4,000.<ref>{{harvp|Schmeltzer|1988|p=39}}</ref> Glover and Matheney knew that the [[Northern Pacific Railroad Company]] had received a government charter to build a main line across this [[Northern Transcon|northern route]].<ref name="p. 19"/> Amid many delays in construction and uncertainty over the completion of the railroad and its exact course, Matheney sold his interest in the claim to Glover.<ref name="p. 20">{{harvp|Kensel|1971|p=20}}</ref>{{ref|Glover|[b]}} Glover confidently held on to his claim and became a successful Spokane business owner and the city's second mayor.<ref>Durham (1912), p. 362–363</ref> He later came to be known as the "Father of Spokane".<ref>Schmeltzer (1988), p. 40</ref>

In 1880, [[Fort Spokane]] was established by U.S. Army troops under Lt. Col. [[Henry C. Merriam]] {{convert|56|mi|km}} northwest of Spokane, at the junction of the [[Columbia River|Columbia]] and Spokane Rivers, to protect the construction of the Northern Pacific Railway and secure a place for U.S. settlement.<ref>{{cite web |last=Oldham |first=Kit |title=U.S. Army establishes Fort Spokane at the junction of the Spokane and Columbia rivers in 1882 |work=Essay 5358 |publisher=HistoryLink |date=March 4, 2003 |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5358| access-date = December 7, 2014}}</ref> By June 30, 1881, the railway reached the city, bringing major European settlement to the area.<ref>{{harvp|Kensel|1971|p=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Wilma |first=David |title=First train arrives at Spokane Falls on June 25, 1881 |work=Essay 5137 |publisher=HistoryLink |date=January 28, 2003 |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5137}}</ref> The city was officially incorporated with a population of about 1,000 residents on November 29, 1881.<ref name="Durham p. 362">Durham (1912), p. 362</ref><ref name="Incorporation">{{cite web |last=Arksey |first=Laura |title=Spokane Falls (later renamed Spokane) is incorporated as a first-class city on November 29, 1881 |work=Essay 9176 |publisher=HistoryLink |date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9176| access-date = December 7, 2014}}</ref>{{Ref|incorp|[c]}} When Spokane was officially incorporated in 1881, [[Robert W. Forrest]] was elected as the first mayor of the city, with a Council of seven, S.G. Havermale, A.M. Cannon, Dr. L.H. Whitehouse, L.W. Rima, F.R. Moore, George A. Davis, and W.C. Gray, all serving without pay.<ref name="Durham p. 362"/> The marketing campaigns of transportation companies with affordable fertile land to sell along their trade routes lured many settlers into the region they dubbed "Spokane Country".<ref>{{harvp|Kensel|1971|pp=22–23}}</ref><ref name="Railroads">{{harvp|Stratton|2005|p=33}}</ref>

[[File:Spokane-chronicle-great-fire-1889.jpg|thumb|left|alt=The makeshift Daily Chronicle office after The Great Fire|The makeshift Daily Chronicle office after The Great Fire]]

The 1883 discovery of gold, silver, and lead in the Coeur d'Alene region of northern Idaho lured prospectors.<ref name="p. 28"/> The Inland Empire erupted with numerous mining rushes from 1883 to 1892.<ref>Kensel (1969), pp. 88–89</ref> Mining and [[smelting]] emerged as a major stimulus to Spokane. At the onset of the initial 1883 [[gold rush]] in the nearby [[Silver Valley, Idaho|Coeur d'Alene mining district]], Spokane became popular with prospectors, offering low prices on everything "from a horse to a frying pan".<ref>Kensel (1969), p. 85. According to the ''Spokane Falls Review'' December 1, 1883, edition.</ref> It would keep this status for subsequent [[Silver rush|rushes]] in the region due to its trade center status and accessibility to railroad infrastructure.<ref>Kensel (1969), pp. 85–89</ref>{{ref|Transport|[d]}}

Spokane's growth continued unabated until August 4, 1889, when a fire, now known as [[Great Spokane Fire|The Great Fire]] (not to be confused with the [[Great Fire of 1910]], which happened nearby), began just after 6:00&nbsp;p.m., and destroyed the city's downtown commercial district.<ref name="GreatSpokaneFire">{{cite web |last=Arksey |first=Laura |title=Great Spokane Fire destroys downtown Spokane Falls on August 4, 1889 |work=Essay 7696 |publisher=HistoryLink |date=March 20, 2006 |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=7696| access-date = December 7, 2014}}</ref> Due to technical problems with a pump station, there was no water pressure in the city when the fire started.<ref>Schmeltzer (1988), pp. 42–43</ref> In a desperate bid to starve the fire, firefighters began razing buildings with dynamite. Eventually, the winds and the fire died down; 32 blocks of Spokane's downtown core had been destroyed and one person was killed.<ref name="GreatSpokaneFire" />
[[File:SpokaneFalls1895.jpg|thumb|right|alt=The city of Spokane Falls circa 1895|Spokane ca. 1895]]

Despite this catastrophe, and in part because of it, Spokane experienced a building boom.<ref name="Schmeltzer 44" />{{ref|investment|[e]}} The downtown was rebuilt, and the city was reincorporated under the present name of "Spokane" in 1891.<ref name="Incorporation" /> According to historian David H. Stratton, "From the late 1890s to about 1912, a great flurry of construction created a modern urban profile of office buildings, banks, department stores, hotels and other commercial institutions" which stretched from the Spokane River to the site of the Northern Pacific railroad tracks below the South Hill.<ref name="Creighton7">Creighton (2013), p. 7</ref> Yet the rebuilding and development of the city was far from smooth: between 1889 and 1896 alone, all six bridges over the Spokane River were destroyed by floods before their completion.<ref name="Creighton7"/> In the 1890s the city was subject to intrastate migration by African-Americans from [[Roslyn, Washington|Roslyn]], looking for work after the closure of the area's mines. Two African-American churches, Calvary Baptist and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal, were founded in 1890.<ref>Williamson (2010), p. 7</ref> Just three years after the fire, in 1892, [[James J. Hill]]'s [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] arrived in the chosen site for Hill's [[classification yard|rail yard]]s, the newly created township of [[Hillyard, Spokane, Washington|Hillyard]] (annexed by Spokane in 1924).<ref name="Hillyard">{{cite web |last=Kershner |first=Jim |title=Spokane Neighborhoods: Hillyard – Thumbnail History |work=Essay 8406 |publisher=HistoryLink |date=December 15, 2007 |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8406| access-date = December 7, 2014}}</ref> Spokane became an important rail shipping and transportation hub for the Inland Empire, connecting mines in the [[Silver Valley, Idaho|Silver Valley]] with agricultural areas around the [[Palouse]] region.<ref name="Railroads"/><ref name="Schmeltzerp.41">Schmeltzer (1988), p. 41</ref> The city's population ballooned to 19,922 in 1890, and to 36,848 in 1900 with the arrival of additional railroads.<ref name="Schmeltzer 44">Schmeltzer (1988), p. 44</ref> By 1910 the population had hit 104,000, and Spokane eclipsed [[Walla Walla, Washington|Walla Walla]] as the commercial center of the Inland Empire.<ref>Stratton (2005), pp. 29–30, 32–33</ref> In time the city came to be known as the "capital" of the Inland Empire and the heart of a vast tributary region.<ref name="p. 28">{{harvp|Stratton|2005|p=28}}</ref><ref name="Malone">Malone (1996), p. 201</ref> After the arrival of the Northern Pacific, [[Union Pacific Railroad|Union Pacific]], Great Northern, and [[Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific]] railroads, Spokane became one of the most important rail centers in the western U.S.<ref name="Schmeltzer 44" /><ref name="Malone"/><ref>{{harvp|Stratton|2005|p=32}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Spokane, Gateway City: Metropolis of the Inland Empire |journal=Railway Employees Magazine and Journal |volume=6 |issue=1 |publisher=Stanford University |location=San Francisco, California |date=October 1911 |pages=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AINOAQAAIAAJ&q=spokane+gateway+city&pg=RA5-PA2}}</ref>