ortion of the city. Four hundred and fifty houses of
brick, stone, and wood were destroyed, entailing a loss, according to the
computation of the local agent of R.G. Dun & Co., of about $4,500,000.

The insurance in the burned district amounted to $2,600,000.

No people were ever in better condition to meet disaster, and none ever
met it with braver hearts or with quicker and more resolute determination
to survive the blow.

The city was in the midst of a period of marvelous prosperity. Its
population was increasing rapidly, many fine buildings were in process of
construction, its trade was extending over a vast region of country which
was being penetrated by new railroads centering within its limits, and
there were flowing to it the rich fruits of half a dozen prosperous
mining districts.

[Illustration: ONEONTA GORGE, COLUMBIA RIVER, ORE. On the Union Pacific
Ry.]

Its working people were all employed at good wages, and money was
abundant with all classes.

Hardly had the sun of the day following the fire risen upon the scene of
smoking desolation, when preparations began for rebuilding. It was felt
at once that the city would be rebuilt more substantially and more
handsomely than before.

The rebuilding of Spokane commenced on a very extensive scale; the city
will be entirely restored within twelve months, and far more attractively
than ever before. The class of buildings erected are of a very superior
character. The new Opera House has been modeled after the Broadway
Theatre, New York; the new Hotel Spokane, a structure creditable not only
to the city, but to the entire Pacific Northwest; five National Bank
buildings, at a cost of $100,000 each; upon the burned district have
arisen buildings solid in substance, and beautiful architecturally,
varying from five to seven stories in height, and costing all the way
from $60,000 to $300,000. This sturdy young giant of the North arises
from her ashes stronger, more attractive, more substantial, than before.
And there is abundant reason for solid faith in the future of Spokane
Falls.

It is the metropolis of a region 200,000 square miles in extent,
including 50,000 square miles of Washington, or all that portion east of
the Cascade Mountains, more than half of Idaho, the northern and eastern
portions of Oregon, a large part of Montana, and as much of British
Columbia as would make a State as large as New York.

It is the distributing point for the Coeur d'Alene,