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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: Sisters among those winning lottery for Colville Reservation land

The Spokesman-Review continued its coverage on July 29, 1916 of a land drawing for parts of the Colville Reservation by publishing all the names drawn and a cartoon of a disappointed man losing the lottery. (The Spokesman-Review)

From our archives, 100 years ago

The Spokesman-Review’s front page cartoon showed a man labeled “Mr. Nearly Every Man,” perusing the list of Colville Reservation land drawing winners. He had a disgruntled look on his face. He was saying, “Oh, well, I didn’t want a claim anyway.”

The land drawing was continuing for the second day. A total of 5,500 names would be selected from 90,000 applicants, and the newspaper was publishing all the names picked. Nina and Thyrza Burch, sisters whose names were each drawn, were featured in the listings.

From the mining beat: The Spokesman-Review’s editorial page extolled the Coeur d’Alene mining district as “the El Dorado of Idaho.”

The 1916 valuation for Shoshone County showed an increase of $5 million over 1915, most of it due to the mines.

“It is doubtful in the extreme whether any other community in the Pacific Northwest can show the same percentage of gain in valuation as Shoshone County,” wrote the editors. “… Not to be overlooked is the fact that this wealth was extracted from the mines by men paid wages, nor the further fact that their wages are as high as any miners in the world receive in silver-lead workings, if indeed, they are not higher.”

The editorial went on to optimistically predict that there was “every reason to believe this marvelous exhibit to continue.” This prediction was largely correct – the mining bounty would continue for decades.