100 years ago: Spokane mired in sub-zero cold snap

Spokane was in the midst of a brutal cold snap, with a low of 1 below zero. It was the earliest subzero reading in 40 years.

Plenty of snow was on the ground, too. A front-page photo showed the football players in the Spokane University-Whitworth College game, with the caption, “Snowshoes would have been a big help.”

Pipes froze and burst all over the city. One plumbing firm reported 25 calls before 9 a.m.

The high temperature at 2:30 p.m. was only 15 degrees . But the forecast called for a warming trend.

From the Chinatown beat: Spokane’s Chinese community was gradually growing smaller, to the point where Chinese-owned hotels and restaurants were having trouble obtaining help.

The region’s immigration inspector described the situation like this: “The old men are gradually passing away or returning to their native land and in time the colony will be almost a thing of the past.”

He said the Chinese community had dwindled to “not more than 150.”

Over the preceding decades, the Trent Alley neighborhood – Spokane’s early Chinatown – had gradually lost Chinese residents and gained Japanese residents as Japanese railroad workers poured into the region.

However, Trent Alley was destined to lose more residents in the next few years as Japanese immigration was curtailed.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1969: Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean made the second manned landing on the moon.