This day in history: Purchase planned to preserve land along Little Spokane River; Washington lawmakers considered 25 mph speed limit
State lawmakers in Olympia were considering a sweeping new set of traffic laws that would establish a speed limit of 25 mph outside of cities and create a “dead stop” rule for any vehicle approaching arterial highways and certain busy city streets, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on Jan. 28, 1925. (Spokesman-Review archives)
From 1975: The Spokane County Parks and Recreation Department was planning to purchase 236 acres along the Little Spokane River as the first step in “preserving the river from St. George’s School to its confluence with the Spokane River as a natural area.”
The acreage currently belonged to St. George’s School, which was in favor of the purchase. It would be funded almost entirely with $63,000 from a private donor. Total cost to the county would be only about $800.
At a public hearing, most people expressed support for the purchase.
From 1925: State lawmakers were attempting to establish some order on streets and highways in the midst of an automobile boom.
They had just proposed a new law – 105 pages in length, the longest bill ever introduced – which amounted to a “complete re-writing of the old motor laws.”
It would establish a speed limit of 25 mph outside of cities. It also proposed a new “dead stop” law for any vehicle approaching arterial highways and certain busy city streets.
This proposal did not meet the approval of Spokane’s commissioner of public works.
“I’m sure it would only cause confusion and hardship if every auto driver approaching Sprague Avenue, for instance, from either direction, had to stop at every intersection,” he said.
The proposed law also gave judges the power to take away the driver’s license of those convicted of serious infractions.