100 years ago in Spokane: Talks swirled of ‘Lincoln,’ the state that might have been for Eastern Washington and North Idaho

The idea of a new state of Lincoln, formed out of Eastern Washington and North Idaho, was not entirely dead.

The idea had recently been floated by people in North Idaho. Some areas of Eastern Washington, namely Pullman, had already rejected the idea.

Yet now, the Spokane Chamber of Commerce was attempting to determine whether the rest of Eastern Washington, all the way out to Yakima and Wenatchee, were interested in being part of a new state.

The Spokane chamber said it merely wanted to gauge opinions in the wider region.

The president of the Spokane chamber said “apparently there is much favorable opinion now, but I am undetermined as to my personal attitude.”

In Olympia, a joint resolution had been proposed to form a commission to study the idea of a new state.

Some East Side legislators were in favor of the plan, but not their West Side counterparts.

“West Side legislators insist on considering the proposal for a new state as a joke,” a correspondent from Olympia said.

From the missing persons beat: Albert Smith, 12, and Louis Fields, 14, were missing from their Spokane homes, and their parents believed the two boys were off “to see the country.”

Apparently, they had expressed a desire to explore the wider world. They had not been seen for nearly three days.

Their parents guessed that they were on the way to the West Coast. The search was on.