100 years ago in Coeur d’Alene: Passenger yacht disparaged in court

Miss Spokane was described in court as a “failure” and “worthless,” but the subject under discussion was not Spokane’s “Favorite Daughter.” It was Miss Spokane the passenger yacht.

The Miss Spokane was christened in 1917 with elaborate ceremonies on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Unfortunately, the vessel immediately proved disappointing “because it did not develop the speed necessary to compete with the railroads and was unmanageable in the St. Joe River,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported.

Miss Spokane was currently standing in dry dock in Coeur d’Alene, a “worthless hulk.”

The boat’s architects and Red Collar Steamship Line were suing each other in federal court in Coeur d’Alene.

From the parks beat: A member of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce proposed that the chamber purchase Mount Spokane as “a public park and tourist attraction,” the Chronicle said.

The request was prompted by the fact that Francis Cook, who had significant land holdings on the mountaintop, was in ill health and “extremely anxious that they fall into public, not private, hands.”

Cook was willing to sell for $35,000, S.E. Hege said.

From the rescue beat: Rescuers heard more tapping sounds from deep within the Hunter (or Gold Hunter) Mine near Mullan, Idaho.

This indicated that at least one of the two trapped men was still alive, but rescuers had still not reached them after six days.