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Show denly acquired in Spokane Falls are related. re-lated. One man went to the place as a sewing machine agent, and is now rated as worth several millions realized on real estate advances. A clergyman who went to the f routier post as a missionary bought a few acres of land for a home, and is now worth a million dollars. Bnt the days for such phenomenal fortunes bo speedily acquired are past, and the process of gain is now confined to the ordinary profits of bivsiness. Socially Spokane is a surprise. The tone of the people is indeed as high a in the most conservative eastern city of equal population. After the great fire, when it was a city of tents, gamblers and adventurers flocked there from every quarter like a shower of locusts on Kansas wheathVlds; but their career was cut short by a raid of the better classes of business men, who arose as an army of extermination, and literally swept the town of disreputable elements ele-ments as fire hud swept the town of bnildinjjs. Tho gamblers' places were raided, their paraphernalia chopped to pieces, and they were given a reasonable reasona-ble time to get out of the town. They went, tending not on the order of their going. SPOKANE FALLS. W. G. Itenlon Wiitri of the Town Oaee Deetroyi-d by Fire. Special Correspondence. Pan Francisco, Oct. 25. -A little more than a year ago, newspaper readers were apprised that Spokane Falls, Wash., had j been swept by a disastrous fire. Com- pared with the population and capital j invested in the two cities, Spokane's lire was as disastrous as the great Chicago Chi-cago fire. That is to say, about every business house of any importance was j swept out of existence by a single dash. ' But judging from the upper: ranee of Spokane today, tho plae has a vitality which fire cannot burn tip. Where lie-fore lie-fore ordinary frontier blocks stood, now iiumen.se granite, nt."uKtd brick struct- ures are standing sis and seven stories i high. Tho streets fur inontha have been in a state of blockade to ordinary traf-tic traf-tic becausB of the b.iildiug material piled for mil-s along tho principal thor- : M'ghfares. Pedestrians ava forced to pick their way between lumber piles and loaded trucks in the middle ol the streets. A conservative estimate of the building operations for the lir.t year after the fire places the sum ef money put into business buildings at .i,(iu(),O0i. Many buildings seem to be larger than the needs of the young city would justify. jus-tify. Bat when I was there I was told that the floors above the fifth inmost all the buildings were usd as resi- Spokane is becoming, or now is, the greatest railroad center west of Milwaukee Milwau-kee and Chicago. Surrounded by a conn-try conn-try rich in agricultural, mineral and timber resources, it is marked as a natural nat-ural point of supply for a largo territory, and will rank high us a manufacturing j and jobbing city. The falls afford ample i water power for running machinery, j and the people have the energy and re- I sources which are needed to push the ! fame of the town. Fonr prosperous daily papers keep the people posted, and the merchant appear , to appreciate the use of printer's ink as a helper in building up their business. Some splendidly conducted clubs afford af-ford to young men a substitute for the comfortable homes they have left iu the cast. Schools and churches are abundant abun-dant and well supported. W. G. Benton. denees for the heavy bachelor population, popula-tion, being fitted up as sleeping apartments, apart-ments, and many families even are housed over the largo palaces of trade. Residences have not kept p;u with the influx of people, and canvas tents and , temporary shanties are seen by the hun- drods. ! The greatest danger from the tall ' . buildings appears to be the inadequacy : of the fire department system to cojw with fires successfully. The water re-nources re-nources are said to be deficient, and the jiipes are not strong or large enough to meet any unusual demand upon them. Theiiia-h hills on the outskirts of the city afford an opportunity for handsome arcliitct-tural elects in residences. Cone shaped piles of volcanic etone are incorporated incor-porated in house plans, und fireplaces ire ohitseled out in tho faces of these needles, aud the effect is striking and ariy Btoriee f fabulous wealth sud- |