From our archives,

100 years ago

Spokane escaped the worst of the record Northwest blizzard, but Seattle was still taking the brunt.

The old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Seattle completely collapsed under the weight of the snow. Nobody was hurt. That brought to three the number of Seattle churches seriously damaged. The dome of St. James Catholic Cathedral collapsed, as did the dome of the West Seattle Christian Church.

Portland also was paralyzed. Nearly the entire city was in darkness because of power outages, and fuel oil was in short supply. In any case, fuel oil could not be distributed because the streets were impassable.

Spokane was spared a direct hit from the latest blizzard, yet it was still feeling the effects of an exceptionally cold and snowy winter.

A total of 821 residents had reported frozen water pipes and meters in Spokane, far surpassing the previous record of 659. On the previous day alone, 68 new cases of frozen water pipes and 20 new frozen meters were reported. Hundreds of families were without water, and city crews were “doing everything in their power to give relief.”

Spokane theater owners reported another, less serious problem. Their movie deliveries were snowbound, and they were worried they would have no new movies for at least a week.