100 years ago in Spokane: Police ban shimmie dance; war declared on ground squirrels

Spokane police made an announcement at the city’s dance halls: The shimmie dance was banned.

The dance, which was apparently deemed too suggestive, had been banned in most large cities, but this was the first notice that it would not be tolerated in Spokane, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported.

From the squirrel beat: Spokane County was once again declaring war on ground squirrels.

The commissioners announced a tax of 10 cents per acre for all Spokane County landowners.

Each landowner was going to be supplied with “sufficient poison” to clear their land of ground squirrels. If they could prove that they had eradicated the squirrels, they would get a rebate of five cents per acre.

From the power and transit beats: The city of Spokane was proposing to purchase one of the city’s two transit systems, the bankrupt Spokane & Inland system, but there was no certainty that the city could pull it off.

The bankrupt system would have to be sold at auction, and the Spokane Daily Chronicle said that private financial interests would attempt to drive up the price. “There are interests which will endeavor to see to it that the city does not get the power plants and streetcar system at a price which the people would pay,” said a Chronicle analysis.

The deal would include the company’s big power plant on the Spokane River at Nine Mile.