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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: To ‘great applause,’ President Warren G. Harding backs Columbia Basin project in visit

On this day 100 years ago, President Warren G. Harding gave his approval for the Columbia Basin irrigation project during a visit to Spokane.  (S-R archives)
By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

Spokane got exactly what it wanted from President Warren G. Harding’s visit.

In Harding’s speech at the Spokane Armory, he gave a ringing endorsement of the proposed Columbia Basin irrigation project.

“The Columbia River basin alone, under the program of development on which your Inland Empire is bent, will be made the seat of an incomparably more rich and varied empire of industry and agriculture, than was the Egypt which served the granary for imperial Rome,” said Harding. “Not once, but a hundred times over, will we reproduce in the plains and and valleys of our West, the wealth and productivity which enabled the pharaohs to build moments for the wonder of all times.”

The audience exploded in “great applause.” The Chronicle reported that “his enunciation was clear, his voice carried to all sections of the Armory.”

The presidential party left by train for Oregon the next day. This was the fourth presidential visit in Spokane’s history.

From the boxing beat: The big Jack Dempsey-Tom Gibbons heavyweight title fight scheduled for July 4 in Shelby, Montana, was called off – and then called on again.

At midnight two days before the fight, Dempsey’s manager canceled the fight because the Montana boosters had failed to deliver on the final $100,000 installment of his $300,000 fee. Yet after some angry confrontations between Dempsey’s management and the Montana promoters, Dempsey agreed to proceed with the fight on the guarantee that the money would be forthcoming. The mayors of Shelby and Lewistown, along with the other Montana backers, were attempting to untangle the “muddled finances.”

The event was to take place in a newly constructed pine arena in the small town near the Canadian border.