USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume II > Part 13
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The father of our subject took no part in the Civil war, as it was necessary for him to remain at home because of his wife's physical condition, although he was through life a patriotic and a liberty-loving man. He began his work as a minister in the Primitive Baptist church at the age of twenty-four and occupied the pulpit from that time until his death, which took place during his eightieth year. He lived on a farm with his family and this was their direct means of sup- port. The mother is still living and has reached the age of sixty-nine. Ten chil- dren were born to this union, of which our subject was the oldest son.
Noah D. Showalter received his common-school education in the country, but came west in 1891, when he was yet a very young man. He subsequently attended school at the State Normal school, at Ellensburg, at the University of Moscow, and graduated from the Lewiston Normal school in 1899. Following this he at- tended the State College at Pullman, Washington, where he received his master's degree in the department of economics, science and history. His first teaching
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was in the country schools of Whitman county, from which place he went to serve as principal of the schools of Farmington, Washington. After being at this place for four years, he was elected as city superintendent of the Oakesdale schools, where he remained for two years. He was then elected county superintendent of the schools of Whitman county, an office which he filled for two terms. In 1909 he came to the Normal school at Cheney as head of the rural school department, and the year following was elected as principal, a position which he has since held.
Mr. Showalter has also been successful in business affairs, and believes that every teacher should be directly interested in the business world, as well as to keep in touch with the latest and best ideas in education. He owns two wheat farms, a twenty-acre apple orchard in the Columbia river valley, has considerable interest in the mining property in the Coeur d'Alenes, and owns five acres in the Northwood addition to Spokane. He has shown clearness of judgment and a dis- crimination as a business man, which gives bright promise of gratifying financial returns.
On the 12th day of March, 1891, at Kingman, Kansas, Mr. Showalter was married to Miss Arra Belle Thomas, a daughter of James M. and Nancy Thomas, whose home was in Green county, Pennsylvania. To this union five children have been born: Royce L .; Vera Kathleen; Carrol Adel, who is deceased; Virginia Belle; and Noah D., Jr.
In politics, Mr. Showalter supports the principles of the republican party. He was a member of the central republican committee for a number of years, and has many times acted as a delegate both to county and state conventions. He is an active worker in all progressive movements which aim to promote the general welfare, and at the present time is a member of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce and the Cheney Commercial Club. Fraternally he is identified with the Woodmen of the World.
Mr. Showalter is especially interested in the rural-school problem, and in all his work in the Normal school he emphasizes the great need of raising the rural school to a higher standard of efficiency. He is one of the pioneer workers in this line and his plans worked out in many country-school districts have proved to be most successful in setting higher standards for the community. Earnest, energetic, and progressive in his profession, he has devoted his best abilities to the instruc- tion of boys and girls, the preparation of young men and women for the active duties of life; and he takes a great pride in preparing teachers in the Normal school who will measure up to the highest requirements and carry forward the educational work of the state in the most effective manner. He is president of the Washington Educational Association and justly ranks among the leaders in educa- tional circles of the northwest.
FRANK R. CULBERTSON.
While Frank R. Culbertson is now identified with the commercial interests of Spokane as president of the Wonder Department Store, one of the large and at- tractive mercantile enterprises of the city, he is widely known throughout this sec- tion of the country because of his former activity in mining and his efforts in
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that direction constitute a valuable asset in the development and substantial im- provement of this section of the country. He has ever had firm faith in the future of this district and therefore has never hesitated to make investments and thus promote the business enterprise which is always the foundation of a country's growth. The course he has followed in all of his business life is such a one as will bear close investigation and scrutiny and is an object lesson of what may be accomplished when determination and energy lead the way.
Mr. Culbertson is a native of Lawrence county, Ohio, born April 2, 1858. His father, Cambridge C. Culbertson, was one of the pioneer manufacturers of pig iron in Ohio and was among the first to open up the Hanging Rock iron district of that state. His business interests were extensive and of an important character and he remained an active factor in connection with industrial and financial enter- prises of that region up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1898. In early manhood he had married Emily A. Rankin, who survived him for about thir- teen years, passing away in 1911, being eighty-eight years of age.
In his youthful days, Frank R. Culbertson was a pupil in the public schools of Ironton, Ohio, but the desire to enter the business world led him to put aside his text-books when fifteen years of age and accept a position with a surveying party. The business spirit was strong within him and his ability was manifest in the fact that when but sixteen years of age he took a contract from the county to build five miles of county road, which project he carried to successful comple- tion. He next engaged in the management of a company store for one of the iron blast furnace companies of that place, which he conducted successfully for three years. Ever ready to take a forward step as the way opened, he next engaged in the mining and contracting business, successfully executing a contract to mine five thousand tons of iron ore. He has ever seemed to know just when and where and how to put forth his efforts to produce the best results and at the same time to secure the best possible cooperation of those who have been in his employ. His next venture connected him with the wholesale grocery trade at Ironton, Ohio, where he remained for three years and then sought a still broader field of labor by opening a wholesale grocery house in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1881, under the name of the Glidden-Griggs Company. The business is still conducted under the name of the Griggs-Cooper Company and is the largest wholesale grocery house west of Chicago.
In the spring of 1885 he transferred the field of his operations to the north- west, still in connection with S. S. Glidden, his father-in-law. The latter purchased a controlling interest in the Tiger mine, situated in the Coeur d'Alene district, at Burke, Idaho, and Mr. Culbertson became general manager of the mine, which was the first quartz property to be discovered in the Coeur d'Alene district. Thus from the very outset Mr. Culbertson was closely associated with the development of mining interests in this section and the value of his work is inestimable. When the Coeur d'Alene excitement was at its height in 1884, Mr. Glidden was operating at Thompson's Falls, at that time the main gateway of the mining section. He secured an option on the Tiger mine and in the spring of 1885 he and Mr. Cul- bertson sold their joint interest at St. Paul for the purpose of locating permanently in this part of the country and devoting their undivided attention to the develop- ment of the Tiger minc, which, after a thorough investigation showed a big ton- uage of low-grade ore. The problem that confronted them was to devise some
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means of getting the ore out of the mine and to a convenient place for shipment. To this problem Mr. Culbertson and Mr. Glidden bent their attention and largely solved it by building a wagon road fifteen miles in length to connect with the Thompson's Falls road. The hauling, however, was all done by teams and the method was found to be impracticable on account of the great cost of transporta- tion in that way. They then attempted to secure other means of transportation from Coeur d'Alene city up the south fork of the lake. At that time a steamer was being operated on the lake between Coeur d'Alene and the Jesuit Mission. Messrs. Glidden and Culbertson succeeded in interesting some prominent business men of Spokane in making a survey of the route from the mines to Burke, Idaho, and this was really the initial step in the building of the railroads in the Coeur d'Alene district. The same fall D. C. Corbin began operations in the neighborhood in the building of the road to Wardner. The following year the Northern Pacific & Ore- gon Navigation Companies were attracted by the tonnage of the Coeur d'Alene mines and both started to build to Wardner, the Northern Pacific from Missoula on the east and the Oregon Navigation Company from Tekoa. Being assured that these railway lines would reach Wallace, Messrs. Culbertson and Glidden began the building of a railroad from their mines to Wallace, which they afterward sold to D. C. Corbin and he in turn to the Northern Pacific. The Tiger mine in which they had invested became one of the valuable properties of the Coeur d'Alene dis- trict and Mr. Culbertson acted as general manager from the development of the mine at grass roots until they had sunk a shaft to the depth of eighteen hundred feet. In 1889 the property was sold to Charles Sweeny.
The work which Mr. Culbertson and Mr. Glidden did for the development of the Coeur d'Alenes cannot be overestimated, for they were almost the first moneyed people to enter the district and use their capital in developing the country. At the same time Mr. Glidden was conducting a banking enterprise in Spokane and while Mr. Culbertson spent much of his time in Coeur d'Alene, he also made frequent visits to Spokane, coming at least once a month and has the right to claim that he is one of its pioneers. The sale of the Tiger did not conclude his activities in the field of mining, for in 1900 he became associated with Charles Sweeny in the development of mining properties in California, where he remained for three years. In 1904 he returned to Spokane and became connected with the commercial affairs of the city by purchasing a controlling interest in the Wonder Department Store, which is one of the most extensive and best equipped stores of this character in the Inland Empire. They have been located in their present quarters since 1905 and have a splendidly equipped establishment, while the large line of goods which they carry is attractive to the public as indicated in the large and growing trade which they now enjoy. Mr. Culbertson is also one of the directors of the Spokane Title Company. Energy has been the foundation of his advancement and intelli- gent direction of his labors and investments have brought him to the present cred- itable position which he occupies as a business man of Spokane.
At Chattanooga, Tennessee, on the 16th of February, 1881, Mr. Culbertson wedded Miss Jessie B. Glidden, a daughter of Steven S. and Sue M. Glidden, who were then living at Chattanooga, Tennessee, but came to St. Paul in 1882 with Mr. Culbertson and in 1885 they both came to the northwest, Mr. Glidden taking active part in the development of this region as indicated in the foregoing para- graphs. The only child of this marriage is a son, S. Glidden Culbertson, who is
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a student here. They reside at the Westminster Hotel. Mr. Culbertson has at- tained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Masonry and is also a member of El Katif Temple of the Mystic Shrine, of Spokane. He belongs to Wallace Lodge, B. P. O. E., and is popular among the membership of the Spokane, Spokane Country, Inland and Spokane Amateur Athletic Clubs.
His high standing in business circles of the city is indicated by the fact that he is now the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce. In his entire life he has looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the possibilities and opportuni- ties of the future and in his connection with the Chamber of Commerce is putting forth most earnest and effective effort, to advance Spokane's interests and give to the city all those requirements that will be demanded in its rapid growth. He has never sought nor desired office and the public work that he has done has largely been of a nature that has brought him no pecuniary reward, yet has made exten- sive demand upon his time, his thought and his energies. In the business world opportunities that others have passed by heedlessly, he has noted and improved and his record proves that success is ambition's answer.
SYDNEY S. BEGGS.
Sydney S. Beggs, engaged in the express and transfer business in Colville, has been a resident of Stevens county for twenty-one years, during a large portion of which time he has been more or less prominently identified with political activities. He was born in Hastings county, province of Ontario, Canada, May 8, 1858, a son of Andrew L. and Mary Ann (Gregory) Beggs. His father, who was a min- ister of the Methodist Episcopal church, was actively engaged in the preaching of the gospel until his death in 1897. The mother passed away in 1871. Although he is a native of Canada, Sydney S. Beggs' ancestors on his mother's side came from the United States, his grandfather having been born in New York in the year 1800; on his father's side he is of Scotch descent. The grandfather was a lumber merchant in New York but received the most of his stock from Canada, the timber being cut in the woods there and shipped to Montreal and Quebec to be sawed.
The early boyhood of Sydney S. Beggs was spent in his native country where he began his education, this being completed in the schools of Nebraska, which he attended until he was thirteen years of age. The energies of the youth were then turned to farming, in which occupation he was associated with his father until he was eighteen and from that time until he was thirty he engaged in farming for himself in Nebraska. He moved to Washington territory in 1888 and first located in the vicinity of Brents, now called Creston, and there worked in a saw- mill for three years; then went to Rathdrum, Idaho, for a year, following the same occupation. At the end of that period he came to Stevens county and filed on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres. He spent the succeeding six years there, during which time he worked in the sawmills and harvest fields, devoting such time as he could spare in clearing and improving his land. Disposing of his holding in 1902 he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land near Colville, that he cultivated until 1909. He met with good success in his agricultural pursuits
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during that time and added to his holdings another quarter section. In 1909 he withdrew from farming and coming to Colville has ever since resided here and has been engaged in the express and transfer business since July, 1910.
On the 8th of May, 1880, Mr. Beggs was united in marriage to Miss Edna T. Beedy, the event occurring at Wilbur, Nebraska. Mrs. Beggs is a daughter of Frederick E. Beedy and the niece of one of Minneapolis' first mill owners. She had four brothers, all of whom were in the Civil war and four sisters. Five chil- dren have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Beggs: Grace S., who married W. P. Townsend; Garland C., who chose for his wife Elva Twitchell; Mozelle and Stewart, who are deceased; and Leo F .; all of the living children residing in Ste- vens county.
In his political views, Mr. Beggs is a democrat and has always taken an active interest in county governmental affairs. He first served as county treasurer, being elected in 1896 and was reelected in 1898, and in 1906 he was elected county commissioner, filling this office for four years. While serving in the latter capac- ity he was a delegate to the commissioner convention in Tacoma in 1908; Olympia in 1909; and Yakima in 1910. In the latter year, in February, he was also a delegate to the State Good Roads Convention at Aberdeen, Washington, and in November of the same year was a delegate to the annual convention of the Good Roads Convention in Walla Walla. In addition to his various other public serv- ices, Mr. Beggs served two terms as field deputy county assessor, and has been state and congressional committee man for Stevens county at the democratic con- ventions since 1908. He is a member of the county central committee at the pres- ent and has occupied that position a number of times, acting as chairman on three or four occasions. He is an active member of the Independent Order of Foresters and the Odd Fellows fraternity, having filled all of the chairs in the latter organ- ization. At the present time he is chairman of the building committee of the new Odd Fellows temple, now under construction in this city. He has always been one of the popular members of his lodge and in 1902 was representative to the Grand Lodge at Bellingham, Washington. Mr. Beggs has always taken an earnest inter- est in all organizations for the promotion of the county's development and is now serving as one of the board of directors of the Stevens County Producers' Associa- tion. He has always taken an active part in the Colville Commercial Club and while not a member is affiliated with them and assists in boosting all public projects. He is one of the public-spirited, enterprising citizens of Colville whose personal interests are at all times identical with those of the community at large, in the promotion of which he seems tireless.
ROBERT W. COLLINS.
Engaged in the real-estate business and also handling insurance and loans, Robert W. Collins, of the firm of this name, has built up a flourishing commercial enterprise in Coeur d'Alene within the past seven years, meeting with unusual success in his ven- ture. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1848, and was a son of Jolin and Elizabeth P. (Johnson) Collins. The father died when Robert Collins was only a few years old and in 1852 the mother with her cight children removed to northeastern
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Missouri. In this locality Robert W. Collins acquired his education in the common schools, beginning farming at an early age. In 1879 he started a grocery and hard- ware business in Atlanta, Missouri, in which he continued for three years. 1882 saw his removal to Nelson county, North Dakota, where he became a builder and con- tractor and conducted a livery business, meeting with success in the seven years of his residence there. He then set out for the west continuing his building and con- tracting business in various places during the following years, in Helena, Montana, from 1889 to 1893; in Anaconda, Montana, from 1893 to 1899; and in Butte, Mon- tana, from 1899 to 1902. During his residence in Anaconda, from 1898 to 1897 he had charge of the building of bridges and buildings, in the construction of the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad, between Anaconda and Butte. In 1902 Mr. Collins came to Coeur d'Alene and here resumed his building and contracting business, but in 1904 discontinued it and engaged in the real-estate and insurance business exclu- sively, winning a large measure of success in this undertaking. The firm Robert W. Collins, Real Estate & Loans, is one of the largest firms of its kind in this section of the country and is conducted by Mr. Collins and his partner, John Christ, the latter being the present city clerk and police judge of Coeur d'Alene.
In 1871 Mr. Collins was married to Miss Johanna Snell, of Macon county, Mis- souri, who passed away a year and a half later. He was again married in 1873, this union being with Miss Martha R. Sprinkle, a daughter of Zeno and Elizabeth Sprinkle, of Macon county, Missouri, and by her had five children of whom three are living: Ada Elizabeth, the wife of Milton E. Spencer; Lola Rivers, the wife of Charles A. Reid of Spokane, Washington; and Ruby J., living with her parents in Coeur d'Alene.
Since his election to the office of tax collector in 1873, in Macon county, Missouri, Mr. Collins has been actively interested in politics and has served as public official in many varied capacities. During his residence in Nelson county, North Dakota, he was deputy United States marshal, county sheriff, and chairman of the county com- missioners. He was mayor of Coeur d'Alene from 1904 to 1905 and has filled other offices of honor and trust. Efficient in the administration of business affairs, Mr. Collins has a comprehensive grasp of details and is also thoroughly competent in handling large situations involving the solution of intricate problems. Among his business associates he is regarded as conscientious and trustworthy, never stooping to do anything not in accord with the highest standards of business ethics.
J. W. BINKLEY.
J. W. Binkley of Spokane has been associated with various interests which have constituted elements in the growth and progress of Spokane and the surround- ing country. He now occupies a prominent position in financial circles as president of the North Pacific Loan & Trust Company, in which connection he is a partner of Jacob R. Taylor. He was born in Ontario, Canada, July 10, 1856, his parents being George and Mary (Rymal) Binkley. He had the advantage of liberal educa- tional training, attending the Collegiate Institute of Ontario and afterward the To- ronto University, in which he took up the study of law, pursuing his course until qualified for practice. After leaving college he made his way direct to this state,
J. W. BINKLEY
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settling first in Seattle. He was admitted to the bar at Tacoma in 1883 and the same year came to Spokane, where he formed a partnership with his cousin, Jacob R. Taylor, which relation has since been maintained. They entered at once upon the active practice of law and made steady progress in that field but have gradu- ally withdrawn to concentrate their energies and attention upon other business in- terests. Mr. Binkley served as probate judge of the county in 1885 and 1886, having been elected on the democratic ticket, but for some years he has not taken an active part in politics aside from exercising his right of franchise. More and more largely his efforts and activities have been concentrated upon his business affairs and he is now president of the North Pacific Loan & Trust Company, which deals entirely in farm mortgages and handles foreign capital from Holland. The firm have now loaned on these mortgages over one million dollars. They first or- ganized the Northwestern & Pacific Mortgage Company in 1884, it having a con- tinuous existence until 1896, when it was taken over by the Northwestern Hypo- theek Bank, subsequent to which time they organized their present business under the name of the North Pacific Loan & Trust Company. In this way Mr. Binkley has contributed much toward the upbuilding, progress and improvement of this dis- trict and his progressive work has also been done as the president of the first and second fruit fairs which were ever held here.
In 1880 Mr. Binkley was married to Miss Josephine Clarkson, of Ontario, who died in Spokane. They had one daughter, Ethelyn, who is the wife of Aubrey L. White, of this city. Mr. Binkley belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and in more strictly social lines is connected with the Spokane Club, the Spokane Amateur Athletic Club and the Spokane Country Club.
WILLIAM HUNTER BROWNLOW.
William Hunter Brownlow, who founded the Chewelah Independent, which, together with his sons he edited for five years, was born in the vicinity of La Crosse, Wisconsin, his natal day being the 7th of September, 1860. His parents are Joseph and Frances L. (Kellow) Brownlow, formerly residents of Wisconsin, but now living in Yakima, the father having attained the venerable age of seventy-eight and the mother of sixty-eight years.
Reared on his father's farm, William Hunter Brownlow attended the common schools of Mindoro, Wisconsin, in the acquirement of a preliminary education, being supplemented by a two-years' course in the normal school at Genoa, Nebraska. He completed his education in 1879, at the age of nineteen, and turned his atten- tion to farming, devoting his energies to this occupation for two years in Nebraska. At the end of that time he came to Washington, becoming a resident of Ellensburg, where for twenty years hc engaged in operating a grist mill and also in mining. Owing to the state of his health he was forced to withdraw from active work in 1899, and believing that the climate of Alaska would prove beneficial he went to that northern country to spend a year. Upon his return he settled in Prosser, Washington, and engaged with his sons in the newspaper work for four years, be- fore coming to Chewelah, where he was associated with them in founding and pub- lishing the Independent until about a year ago, when he turned the management Vol. IT- 7
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