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 77
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" 'East of the Mississippi,' he said, 'there are more than twenty million horse power of water, and only four millions of it have been developed. The total horse power of water in the United States is sixty-six million, five hundred and eighteen thousand, five hundred, of which one-third is located in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and western Montana. In other words, the Columbia river and its tributaries contain a third of all the water power in the United States; and, as may be imagined, we who live in those states are deeply interested in legislation that may affect the title to this power or the lands where it is found. Nearly all the remaining public lands, and therefore nearly all the water power upon public lands, are located in . the Pacific and Rocky Mountain states and territories in Alaska. Whatever legis- lation therefore, congress enacts affecting public lands, or relating to conservation of natural resources within federal jurisdiction, applies almost wholly to the states I have named. If such legislation is good, the people of these states will be bene- fited, but if not good, they will be the chief sufferers. We are in favor of con- servation and we are also in favor of progress and development. The lands should be used for purposes for which they are best suited, but should not be abused. The mines should be developed, but not destroyed. The timber should be used so as not to destroy the forests. These resources in time will all be exhausted but not so with the water powers, which are inexhaustible. The water power developed a century ago is as good today as then and it will be as good a century hence. We need that power for a hundred civilizing purposes in our country-for manufactur- ing, for operating railways of all kinds, for lighting houses and streets, and for a multitude of other purposes. In the Columbia river valley we have enough water for all purposes of the present day and for generations to come; including the operation of all the railroads we shall ever need, all the manufacturing we shall ever do, and all the cities we shall ever build. That water power is so great that if ten thousand horse power of it on the average should be developed every year, it would take two thousand, four hundred years before all of it would be in use, and when once in use, it would be in use forever. It we were to develop one hundred thousand horse power a year, it would take more than two hundred and forty-one years before all of it would be developed. Water powers are local and confined in their operation to comparatively small areas. Each community needs power to manufacture its raw materials. If the land upon which these powers are located is restored to entry under existing laws, the titles for the most part will go to bona fide settlers living in the several communities, and will largely be developed by local capital. Water powers on public lands are not located in cities but in the wilderness or in sparsely settled districts, and if the power should be a large one, it will take many years for its full development. No man can afford to put in his time and money developing such a power upon a leasehold. He needs the title in fee simple. He is not building for himself alone but for posterity. The govern- ment should cancel the withdrawal of those lands and dispose of them to the people who need them and will use them. In the very nature of the case there can be no monopoly in this matter. The states respectively own the waters in the rivers within their boundaries, subject only to the right of navigation, which is controlled by the federal government. This principle is so generally recognized that every good lawyer is familiar with the decisions of the courts justifying it. Each state has full power to regulate the water powers within its boundaries and the federal government should either give the settler the title in fee to these lands, or turn
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the lands containing water powers, coal minerals, etc. over to the states. The present policy is retarding development, and progress must soon cease unless it can be changed. The people should be given every opportunity to develop the country in which they live. As the state already owns the water, why should it not own the land also? All this land, with its coal and other deposits, should be turned over to the states, which alone have the power to take and to regulate the industries that may result from these natural resources. In the east all of this power is in private hands and has been from the beginning. If congress should now pass a law to fix and control the price of power on government land, it would not give the man who now wants to develop that power the same chance that people had who have for generations been developing the power east of the Mississippi. Recently a large number of water powers have been withdrawn by the government in our territory. Practically all these powers along the Snake river have been thus with- drawn, and there are more along that river than along any other river in the country. Washington, Idaho and Montana will develop much more rapidly than at present if given an opportunity. Men who are from New England and the east generally, where water power is plentiful, are almost daily looking our country over with a view to establishing manufacturing plants, if given the opportunity. Under existing regulations, which I hold are unlawful, these men cannot secure the land they must have if they are to develop power. Yet under the old law, which gave any person the right to select land and develop power, the water power of the east has been developed. Of the twenty-four millions horse power in the Columbia valley, only four hundred and fifty thousand is thus far developed. I have read magazine articles about the grabbing of this power. What we want is opportunity for any man in the United States to go to our country and get water. We do not want the country standing idle and the water running to the ocean, as it has been doing for countless thousands of years. The way to get wealth and revenue and cities and churches and schools into our country is to develop these water powers. Spokane, now a city of one hundred and twenty-five thousand people, has grown because it is built on a water power. There are many other water powers in that vicinity equally valuable, if they can be taken hold of. We ought to have cities of from fifty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand people all over the territory, just as at Minneapolis there are three hundred thou- sand people largely due to the water power at St. Anthony's Falls.' "
On various occasions Mr. Browne has been heard by the public on the discussion of this vital question and in 1880 was honored by election to the presidency of the newly organized Western Conservation League.
With all of his manifold interests and duties, Mr. Browne is spoken of by his friends as an ideal home man. He was married in Iola, Kansas, June 16, 1874, to Miss Anna W. Stratton, a daughter of the Rev. H. W. Stratton, of that place. They are the parents of two sons and threc daughters, as follows: Guy C., who wedded Caroline Mayer and has three children, Karl M., Marguerite and John J .; Earle P., who wedded Florence Littlefield, of Wenatchee, and has two daughters, Helen and Anne; Alta, the wife of Boyd Hamilton, by whom she has one child, Dale B., the family home being at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Irma S., the wife of G. M. Ross, of Coeur d'Alene, and the mother of one child, Alta Frances; and Hazel, the wife of E. M. Sweeley, of Twin Falls, Idaho.
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In a review of the history of the northwest it will readily be. seen that it is in no inconsiderable measure to the progressive spirit and effective labor of John J. Browne that Spokane county figures as one of the most attractive, progressive and prosperous districts of the state of Washington, justly claiming a high order of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to conserve consecutive development and marked advancement in the material upbuilding of the section. He has never concentrated his attention upon his individual interests to the execu- tion of public affairs. The subjective and objective forces of life are in him well balanced, making him cognizant of his own capabilities and powers, while at the same time he thoroughly understands his opportunities and his obligations. To make his native talents subserve the demands. which conditions of society impose at the present time is the purpose of his life, and by reason of mature judgment which characterizes his efforts at all times, he stands today as a splendid repre- sentative of the business man and capitalist to whom business is but one phase of life and does not exclude his active participation in support of other important in- terests which go to make up human existence.
Since this sketch was written Mr. Browne died, March 25, 1912.
OTTO SCHERINI.
Otto Scherini, who is a director of gymnastics with headquarters in the Peyton building, Spokane, was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on the 4th of June, 1859. His parents were P. H. and Lotten (Wihlborg) Scherini. The father served for many years as royal chaplain to the king of Sweden. His death occurred in 1894.
In his youth Otto Scherini was trained in the Imperial Naval Academy of Sweden, and served there in the capacity of midshipman. After a few years he was, however, forced to discontinue on account of being color blind. Some time after this he received the college degree of B. A., when he was nineteen years of age. At the Royal Central Gymnastic Institute he went through several courses in gymnastics (medical and educational) and fencing. Later he followed his profes- sion, as a director of gymnastics, in Stockholm; London, England; and came to New York in the early '80s. In 1892-93 he was instructor in fencing and massage at the Posse Gymnasium in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1893 he was awarded a prize at the World's Columbian Exposition, in Chicago, for excellency in free- standing gymnastics (Ling's system). In 1894 Mr. Scherini was appointed teacher . of educational gymnastics in the English schools of the Bermuda islands. During the years 1896-97 he belonged to the medical staff of the Metropolitan and Hahne- mann Hospitals in New York city, giving lectures for the benefit of the training schools for nurses, attached to those hospitals. He also at that time wrote several articles on orthopedics for the "Medical Times," and other medical journals. In 1905 he came west, and located in Spokane, where he has since practiced.
The Ling Swedish system of gymnastics (medical, educational and military) has gained great vogue all over the civilized world, and as Mr. Scherini acquired his training at the Royal Central Gymnastic Institute of Stockholm, recognized as the leading gymnastic school in the world, his work in this country has been suc- cessful. His methods are along scientific and ethical lines, and he works in con-
DR. OTTO SCHERINI
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nection with the leading physicians, and makes a specialty of chronic diseases and orthopedic work.
Director Scherini was married in Stockholm to Miss Elizabeth Lokrantz, on the 4th of November, 1905, Mrs. Scherini being the daughter of Axel and Eliza- beth (Baroness von Düben) Lokrantz. They have two children, Rose and Otto, Jr.
In politics Mr. Scherini is a republican, and fraternally he is connected with the Masons, having joined their order twenty-four years ago in Sweden. After over thirty years of work as fencing master, instructor in educational gymnastics and practitioner of mechano-therapy, massage and orthopedics, he contemplates to retire soon from actual practice. He is now president of the Sargent Medical Company, incorporated in Spokane in December. 1911.
THOMAS J. PEDICORD.
Thomas J. Pedicord, proprietor of the Pedicord Hotel, which is justly a popu- lar hostelry of Spokane, essentially modern and conducted on the European plan, has in this connection built up a substantial business. He was born in Morgan county, Ohio, January 23, 1859, a son of Henry D. and Elizabeth (Brabham) Pedicord. The father was also a native of Morgan county and was of English descent. He served through the Civil war, being pressed into service and be- coming mate on a war vessel. He died in 1897, having long survived his wife, who was also a native of Ohio and passed away in 1870. In addition to one son their family numbered three daughters: Mrs. Mary A. O'Neill, of Seattle; and Mrs. Susan A. Keane and Mrs. Edna Dunmore, both of Spokane.
With the removal of the family to Iowa during his childhood days, Thomas J. Pedicord pursued his education in the common schools of that state and tol- lowed farming to the age of twenty-six years, after which he entered the office of the county clerk, by whom he was employed for two years in Pottawattamie county, serving as a deputy. In the meantime he had engaged in teaching school for five terms and from his various experiences he learned valuable lessons of life that qualified him for advancement at a later period. After leaving the position of deputy county clerk he devoted a year and a half to merchandising and in 1889 came to Spokane. Since that time he has been closely associated with the develop- ment of the northwest and is widely known in this city as one of its progressive residents. He was engaged in merchandising here from 1889 until the spring of 1895, when he took charge of the Gillette Hotel, which was built by F. Lewis Clark two years previously, and up to that time had been run by Mr. Gillette. He renamed it the Pedicord Hotel in the spring of 1895 on taking charge. For three and a half years he was proprietor of this hotel, at the end of which time he disposed of his interest to William Watson and spent the succeeding two years in the Coeur d'Alene mines. All during that period the business had been continued under the name of the Pedicord Hotel. He returned in the spring of 1901 and in 1902 purchased the property of William Watson and has continued to conduct the hotel with gratifying success. He has added greatly to the building since he purchased it, increasing the original number of rooms from seventy-eight to one hundred and sixty-five. It is a five-story structure, one
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hundred and one by one hundred and eighty feet, extending from Riverside to Sprague avenue. It is essentially modern and is conducted on the European plan. The property is valued at from two hundred and fifty to three hun- dred thousand dollars and the Pedicord Hotel is known all over the country as a most popular hostelry. Mr. Pedicord puts forth every effort to insure the comfort of his guests, pays special attention to the cuisine and has many regular patrons among those who periodically visit Spokane. He has every reason to be proud of his hotel and the reputation which it bears. Aside from this Mr. Pedicord is interested in irrigation projects on the Columbia river and in the Spokane valley, owning property in both places.
On the 10th of October, 1888, occurred the marriage of Mr. Pedicord and Miss Minnie M. True, of Iowa, a daughter of Josiah True, a farmer of that state. Her father was of English descent and at the time of the Civil war espoused the cause of the Union. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pedicord have been born three children, Lucille, Joseph and George. Mr. Pedicord holds membership with Spokane Lodge No. 228, B. P. O. E., and in Masonry his connections are with Spokane Lodge, No. 34, F. & A. M., and with the Eastern Star. He gives his political support to the republican party and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, which indi -. cates his active interest in various plans and projects for the development and improvement of Spokane and for the exploitation of its resources and opportuni- ties. He is recognized as a typical citizen of the northwest, alert, progressive and determined, ever ready to lend his aid and cooperation to any movement that tends to advance the welfare and upbuilding of this great empire of the northwest.
JEROME L. DRUMHELLER.
Jerome L. Drumheller, engaged in the investment business at Spokane, has financed many important business projects and has thus contributed largely to the upbuilding and development of this section of the country, the history of which is yet in the making. The spirit of enterprise and progress which has been the dominant factor in bringing about the marvelous development of the northwest finds exemplification in his life, for he was reared in this locality and early became imbued with the desire for advancement that is manifest by almost every individual in the Pacific coast country. His birth occurred in Uma- tilla county, Oregon, in the Walla Walla valley, October 25, 1869, and while spending his youthful days in the home of his parents, Daniel M. and Susan (Warren) Drumheller, he attended the district schools near Milton, Oregon. He also prosecuted his studies in the Walla Walla Academy and in 1880 came to Spokane to enter the Rodney Morris Episcopal school, wherein he continued as a pupil until 1882. He was next matriculated in Spokane College, a Methodist institution, which has since passed out of existence. His more advanced train- ing was received in the University of Washington, where he attended three years. He also graduated from the Healds Business College at San Francisco and in 1888 returned to Spokane, feeling that his educational training had given him the foundation for a successful business career. Such has proven the case, for every step that he has made has been a forward one. On his return to Spokane .
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he entered the real-estate business, being its youngest representative in this city. He was successful, however, and promoted the development of many additions the most important of which was the Forest Park addition. He readily saw op- portunities for promoting the city's growth and adding to its commercial activi- ties and, therefore, became interested in many other development projects and enterprises, particularly the street railway system. There are few men of the northwest who do not at some time or other become interested in mining and Mr. Drumheller has been no exception to the rule. In 1892 he became interested in mining in the British Columbia territory, operating in the Slocan and Ross- land camps, his labors being attended with a substantial degree of success. In 1901 he went to New York city and for a period of five years made that city his headquarters, maintaining branch offices here and in various parts of the country. He operated very extensively in the oil fields of West Virginia and Ohio and he was also largely interested in mining in Missouri, but believing the west to be the country of largest opportunity and wishing to be near the many business enter- prises with which he and his father were connected, he returned to Spokane in 1906. Since that time his efforts have been an effective element in the gradual business development and growth of this section of the country, many projects having been promoted and stimulated by him. He organized the Sandpoint Water Company, at Sandpoint, Idaho, and afterward purchased the Pend d'Oreille Elec- tric Company at that place, acting as president of both for a time but later selling the electric plant. The water company furnishes the water supply for Sandpoint, Kootenai, and Ponderay. In addition to acting as president of the Sandpoint Water Company he occupies the same office in connection with the Copper World Gold Mining and Smelting Company. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Drumheller Land Company, owning immense tracts of farm lands and town-site property in Alberta, together with the town of Drumheller, situated on the Cana- dian Northern Railroad. He likewise derives substantial profit from his large ranch holdings in Idaho and Alberta, and has realty interests in Spokane which include the Pioneer block, at the corner of Howard and Front streets, which is on the site of J. N. Glover's first store. In financing various enterprises he has not only promoted the individual success and prosperity of those connected with him but has also contributed in substantial measure to the welfare and progress of the sections in which he has labored. All things else being equal, the man of capital has the best opportunity of proving his worth as a factor in the world's progress, for he has at his command resources which enable him to put into prac- tical and tangible form his ideas and plans concerning business development.
In 1897 Mr. Drumheller erected the residence at No. 2506 Pacific avenue, which is now the home of himself and his wife. He was married January 22, 1896, to Miss Grace Child, a daughter of Sidney E. and Susan E. (Van Sickle) Child, of this city. He has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Masonry and is a member of El Katif Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also has membership relations with the Spokane Lodge of Elks, the Spokane Country Club, the Spokane Club, and the New York Southern Club, of New York city. He is regarded as one of the leaders of the democratic party in Washington and was a delegate to the national convention at Denver and has served as treasurer of the last county, city and national convention fund in the state of Washington. Although frequently urged to become a candidate for high political office he has
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eschewed this entirely, but probably there is not a man of large private interests in Spokane that has felt more deeply concerned for the public welfare. It is true that his attention has been largely directed to the field of investment yet the range of his activities and the scope of his influence have reached far beyond his spe- cial field. He belongs to the class of men who wield a power which is all the more potent from the fact that it is moral rather than political and is exercised for the public weal rather than for personal ends. His aptitude and ability in achieving results, however, have made his cooperation constantly sought no less in political than in other circles.
JOHN B. SWEATT.
John B. Sweatt, identified with the building interests of Spokane since 1904, at which time he began contracting in this city, was born in Attala county, Mis- sissippi, April 1, 1846. His father, James Sweatt, was a native of South Caro- lina. His ancestors came over with an old Dutch colony which settled in that state and built the dikes on the South Carolina coast to hold the water back and to irrigate the district. They were the first to raise rice on the American con- tinent and the old dikes there built are yet in use. In the Indian wars in Georgia, James Sweatt did duty, serving as a captain of the state militia. Among his an- cestors were those who participated in the Revolutionary war. He was quite prominent in the home district, holding office in both church and state. His death occurred in 1865, his wife surviving him for twelve years. She bore the maiden name of Melissa Sims and was born in Georgia, representing one of the old pioneer families of Irish-Scotch descent, members of which figured in the war for independence. Her death occurred in 1875. In the family were eight sons and eight daughters, the only surviving brother of John B. Sweatt being Turpen P. Sweatt, who is now living on the old homestead in Attala county, Mississippi, where his father settled sixty-five years ago. The three sisters living are: Mrs. M. E. Crow, of Attala county; Mrs. Cynthia Pierce, of Ranger, Texas; and Mrs. Julia Raney, also of Ranger.
In the common schools of his native county John B. Sweatt pursued his edu- cation and was reared as a farm boy, having the usual experiences of those who are reared amid rural surroundings. He turned his attention to the building busi- ness in his home county at the age of twenty years and after following that pur- suit for two years removed to Chicago, where he remained for twenty years. Dur- ing that time he engaged prominently in contracting and erected the Union depot at Canal and Adams streets, at that time the finest building in Chicago. He also erected several of the finest school buildings of the city and many of the best busi- ness blocks and residences. Later he removed to the upper peninsula of Mich- igan, where he continued in the contracting business until 1904 and during that period he built the Houghton courthouse, the Baraga county courthouse, three large hotels in Marquette, also the high school at Ishpeming and many of the finest hotels, school buildings and business blocks throughout that county. In January, 1904, he arrived in Spokane, where he has engaged in contracting to the present time. He has been connected with the construction of the better class
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