50 years ago in Expo history: Editorials from around the Northwest praised Spokane for pulling off the fair, saying it ‘need never again fear to tackle a project just because it is difficult’

Spokane’s neighbors weighed in on Expo ’74, in the form of editorials in the Seattle Times and the Portland Oregonian.

“Now Spokane, the smallest city by far ever to stage a world’s fair, has also surprised the scoffers and doom-criers,” the Times editors wrote. “The Spokane fair survived the nerve-racking crisis of last winter’s gasoline shortage and a summer-long controversy over whether the exposition truly lived up to its environmental theme. … It seems to us that the exposition more than fulfilled its aim of furthering public awareness of environmental concerns.”

The Oregonian was equally impressed.

“While sophisticated showmen continued to argue that world’s fairs are passe, Spokane has settled the argument by producing a successful Expo ’74 that has now closed after 184 days and more than five million visitors,” the Oregonian’s editors wrote. “… Spokane has learned a lot about itself, its leaders and its people. The community need never again fear to tackle a project just because it is big and difficult. Few cities have had that kind of ego boost.”

From 100 years ago: One of Spokane’s early mayors, Daniel M. (Uncle Dan) Drumheller, 84, was clinging to life following a “paralytic attack.”

He was one of Spokane’s early residents, and had served as mayor from 1892 to 1893. Prior to that, he had been a “miner, Pony Express rider, cattleman, farmer, banker and investor.” He had been in Spokane since 1880.

He was being treated at Sacred Heart Hospital and was “showing improvement.”