Transition and Development of the Northwest

The essays in Stratton’s anthology, written by Wayne Ramussen and Carlos Schwantes explain two sides of growth and development of the city of Spokane. Ramussen’s essay, A Century of Farming in the Inland Empire, explores the West Plains’ evolution and settlement through agriculture. He links the economic success of the city with the progression of farming on the Palouse, demonstrating how “Spokane is so closely tied to the fortunes of agriculture” (136). He links the Inland Empire to the rest of the nation by showing how the recessions of the 1890’s and 1930’s affected the farmers and settlers of the Palouse and therefore the city of Spokane.

            Schwantes’ essay, A Labor History to World War I, explores the development of Spokane through labor trends, showing how this “economic colony” (145) was different then the rest of the west. The biggest adjustment in the growth of industry was the transition from subsistence settlers and wageworkers and Spokane’s isolation from the rest of the country created a sense of community united in their resistance to exploitation from outsiders. Though Spokane experiences the same challenges as the rest of the country in the fifty years prior to WWI, “Spokane’s local and regional circumstances uniquely shaped worker’s responses to those experiences” (156).

            Also in Stratton’s anthology is Ruth Moynihan’s essay, Let Women Vote: Abigail Scott Duniway in Washington Territory, discussing the unique impact of women’s suffrage on the Northwest, especially in Washington which because of her efforts and following passed women’s suffrage ten years earlier than the rest of the nation. This essay and the two previously discussed will come in particularly handy When studying “ghost signs” around Spokane because many of the buildings and major industries were being built around the time of some of our “ghost signs.” We know have a background of the economic and social development happening during this time period.

Birds eye view of Seattle 1908 (courtesy of wiki images)

     Coll Thrush, in Native Seattle, gives us another example of a developing and changing society in the west. The next three chapters discuss the same time period as the essays in Stratton’s anthology, the fifty years around the turn of the century. He shows the evolution of the city from urban and indigenous populations living side by side to the eventual incorporation of the native population who start functioning as important parts of the urban society. Eventually the native population, who are not absorbed into the growing urban society of Seattle, disappears, making room for the white urban leaders to use this as evidence of superiority. They also start to take advantage of esoteric native traditions and culture involving natives into the urban framework, but only in places designated by the urban whites. It is ironic how white elites used their collection of native artifacts as a status symbol and natives used material goods they would by in the city as a status symbol.

            The use of unpublished documents and oral history discussed in Nearby History, will become pertinent in our research of Spokane’s "ghost signs." In our research on the buildings, neighborhoods and people we will use the census records to discover a context for our signs. I though it was important that the authors pointed out how the vital records could contain errors. Oral history might be used in our research when we interview business owners and people who used to live in the neighborhood.