USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume III > Part 49
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hundred aeres of the best wheat land, in the vieinity of Reardan, that he leases. In 1910 he withdrew from his agricultural pursuits and removed to town, becoming a stockholder of the Farmers' State Bank, of which he has ever since been eashier. He owns a fine residenee here in addition to his many other interests and is known as one of the affluent citizens of the town.
Mr. Noble completed his arrangements for a home by his marriage on the 28th of November. 1897, to Miss Bessie Sexson. a daughter of J. C. Sexson, who is mentioned at greater length elsewhere in this work. Of this union there have been born three children: Helen Lorinda, Ralph Sexson and Ernest Eugene.
The republican party is awarded Mr. Noble's politieal allegiance, but the development of his various interests has prevented him from any prominent partiei- pation in governmental affairs. He is a Mason, and an Odd Fellow and belongs to the Foresters of America and the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Noble's sueeess is but an illustration of the unlimited possibilities afforded to those who make an honest effort and earnest endeavor in striving to attain their ambition.
FREDERICK W. FITZE.
One of the substantial citizens of Coeur d'Alene and one whose business en- terprise has greatly contributed to the financial and material welfare of this rapidly rising town is Frederiek W. Fitze, a prosperous real-estate man also handling fire and life insurance. bonds and loans, and prominently connected with a large number of commercial interests in this vieinity. Born in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, March 5. 1872. he is the son of John and Mary Ann (James) Fitze. natives of England. who were married in Pennsylvania shortly after their arrival in this country. In 1879 they removed to Taylor county, Wisconsin, where they are still living being now past eighty years of age and in excellent health and good spirits. Frederick W. Fitze obtained his education in the public sehools of Wis- consin and began working at the age of seventeen years in the lumber eamps of northern Wiseonsin. He continued at this employment until the fall of 1895 when he went to Hurley. Wiseonsin, to live, being appointed to the position of deputy treasurer of Iron eounty. He served in this eapaeity for a year when a good open- ing was offered him by the Kimble & Clark Lumber Company at Hurley and he entered their employ as bookkeeper in the company's retail lumberyard. con- tinuing in this position for a year and a half, when he seeured employment as book- keeper with the Rust-Owen Lumber Company of Drummond, Wisconsin, and after one and one-half year was promoted to the cashiership. in which position he had entire charge of the office. He served in this eapaeity for nine years and then re- signed in order to seek a larger field for his aetivities in the newly settled por- tions of the west. Knowing that the step which he was about to take required careful consideration he was deliberate in his plans travelling through Alberta, southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in order to look over the ground thoroughly with a view to the best place for location. He coneluded at length that Coeur d'Alene was likely to be the most promising of the places he had seen and therefore remained here and engaged in business in 1906 under the firm name F. W. Fitze, beginning with the buying and selling of real estate and
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soliciting underwriters for the life and fire insurance companies which he repre- sented. Besides handling local real estate he buys and sells farm lands in Kootenai county, Idaho, and in Alberta and Saskatchewan counties. British Columbia. Ile is identified with all the irrigation projects of Kootenai county, Idaho, acting as purchasing agent for the Hayden Lake Irrigated Lands Company. for the Dalton Garden Lands Company and for the Post Falls Irrigation Lands Company, bear- ing the relation of stockholder and director to the last named company. In 1907 he acted for D. C. Corbin in securing the purchase of the right-of-way through Kootenai county for the Spokane & International Railroad Company, Mr. Fitze has just completed the building of a business block on the main business street of the city-Sherman avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets-and has also built three residences, selling two of them and keeping one at No. 801, Garden street, for his own use. His business equipment is entirely modern and he possesses the only independent safety deposit boxes outside of the banks in Coeur d'alene.
On September 14, 1896, Mr. Fitze was united in the bonds of matrimony to Miss Lumira Wais, a daughter of Joseph Wais, of Marathon City. Wisconsin. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Fitze taught school for a number of years in Taylor county. that state.
Mr. Fitze is a thirty-second degree Mason of the Scottish Rite, and is a mem- ber of El Katif Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .. of Spokane. He is also a member of the Commercial Club of Coeur d'Alene. When a resident of Wisconsin he took an active interest in politics, being an enthusiastie republican, and was elected to the school board and to the position of town clerk of Drummond. Wisconsin, in 1896. and in 1897 was elected town treasurer and treasurer of the school board continu- ing to hold these offices until he went west. During most of that period he was also justice of the peace and was sent as a delegate to the county conventions for several consecutive years. On coming to Coeur d'Alene, however. he resolved to refrain from active participation in politics, preferring to devote all his time to his rapidly multiplying business responsibilities. In the spring of 1911 he was urged by his friends to become a candidate on the citizen's ticket for the office of city treasurer. but he steadfastly declined in spite of the solicitations of the en- tire banking fraternity. He is recognized as a man of keen powers of discern- ment possessing the mental alertness and spirit of daring enterprise that are in keeping with the progressive business attitude of the growing west.
J. C. DRISCOLL ..
J. C. Driscoll, who has been engaged in the general mercantile business in Reardan for the past twelve years, is one of the town's most enterprising and progressive citizens. He was born in Binghamton, New York, on the 17th of May. 1867, and is a son of Michael and Johanna (O'Brien) Driscoll, also natives of the Empire state. Agricultural pursuits always engaged the attention of the father, who was a veteran of the Civil war. having served as a member of the Twenty-seventh Volunteer Infantry of New York.
Reared on his father's farm in New York, J. C. Driscoll obtained his carly education in the public schools, this being supplemented later by an academic
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course of one year. When he was twenty he left the parental roof and came west, believing that better opportunities were here afforded for advancement than could be found in the more populous sections of the cast. He first located in Cheney, Washington. where he joined a party of engineers engaged in surveying for the Washington Central Railroad. During the succeeding ten years he continued to be identified with railroad interests, but in 1899 he came to Reardan and engaged in the general mercantile business. He has met with a most gratifying measure of success in this undertaking and has extended the scope of his activities until he is financially interested in various thriving enterprises in this locality. He has a large and well selected stock of merchandise and offers his goods at reasonable prices. He enjoys an excellent patronage, his being one of the largest stores in Lincoln county. Mr. Driscoll is a man of progressive ideas and conducts his busi- ness in striet accordance with modern commercial methods. His patrons are ac- corded courteous treatment at all times, their wants being anticipated and satis- fied if possible, as he considers that the best mode of advertising is through well satisfied customers.
On the 11th of February, 1899, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Driscoll and Miss Mary Berriegan, a daughter of Thomas Berriegan, an agriculturist of New York. Three daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Driscoll. Mary, Katherine and Agnes.
Mr. and Mrs. Driscoll are communicants of the Roman Catholic church, and in his political views he is a democrat, but does not actively participate in municipal affairs. Public life and official honors have never attracted him, as being a lover of home life he prefers to devote such time as is not required in looking after his various business interests to his family. The success that has been awarded his en- deavors since locating in Reardan is entirely attributable to his unremitting energy and determination of purpose, as discouragements that would have stunned the am- bition of a man of less persistency have only served to inspire him to yet greater effort.
FRANCIS LEO QUIGLEY, M. D.
Dr. Francis Leo Quigley, who has been city physician and health officer in Wal- lace since 1909 and also secretary of the county board of health. is one of the very promising representatives of his profession in Shoshone county. He was born at Salina. Kansas, October 21. 1879. his parents being John B. and Maggie T. ( Murray) Quigley.
The boyhood and carly youth of Dr. Quigley were spent beneath the parental roof, his preliminary education being acquired in the public schools of his native state. He subsequently entered St. Mary's College, from which institution he was graduated in 1900 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Having decided to adopt the profession of medicine for his life vocation, he then matriculated in the medical de- partment of the Georgetown University at Washington, D. C., being awarded his degrec with the class of 1904. In order to acquire a broader knowledge of the prac- tical treatment of disease, he entered the Georgetown University Hospital, where he held an interneship for two months, after which he became resident physician at the
DR. F. LEO QUIGLEY
WAY
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St. Joseph's Hospital, in St. Joseph, Missouri. Three months later he was appointed to the United States Marine Hospital service, being stationed first as assistant sur- geon in the Marine Hospital at Portland. Maine, and later in the Marine Hospitals of New York and Boston. After spending about fifteen months in this service he resigned and came to Idaho, and on the Ist of Jannary, 1906, entered upon his duties as assistant to Dr. France of Wardner, chief surgeon of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Company. In the following December he withdrew from this connection and came to Wallace to become a member of the staff of Providence Hos- pital, in which capacity he is still serving.
Dr. Quigley's preparation for his profession has been most thorough in every re- spect and during the period of his practice here he has shown himself to be most efficient and capable both as a surgeon and a diagnostician. He is now and has been since 1909 surgeon for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company ; the Federal Mining & Smelting Company : the Hecla Mining Company : the Snowstorm. Hunter, and In- terstate Mining Companies: and the Coeur d'alene Iron Works. During the five years of his residence in the county he has held a number of public positions. having been appointed assistant county physician in 1907, while two years later he was made county physician and health officer, his term expiring in 1911. His various duties as surgeon for the different corporations with which he is professionally identified and the responsibilities of his public offices, together with his large private practice keep Dr. Quigley constantly occupied. He is very conscientious in his recognition and discharge of his duties to his patients. having but little consideration for his own comfort and wishes in his effort to alleviate the sufferings of those who appeal to him for relief.
Dr. Quigley has not married. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus of 1 Wallace, having been one of the organizers of the local lodge, and. in 1909 and 1910, he was grand knight of this order and at the same time he was district deputy grand knight of the state of Idaho and state treasurer of the order, while at the present time he is trustee of the Wallace Lodge, having held this office since 1910. He is also an Elk. being affiliated with Wallace Lodge. No. 331. B. P. O. E .; a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and the United Commercial Travelers of Kansas, while his connection for more purely social reasons is confined to his membership in the Spokane Club, of Spokane. Dr. Quigley is as popular socially as professionally, those qualities that so well adapt him to the duties as a physician, serving to enable him to win and retain the esteem of those of those with whom he comes in contact.
F. A. BLACKWELL.
In F. A. Blackwell the Inland Empire possesses a fine type of the independent organizer and builder of railroad systems. Mr. Blackwell came to the Spokane country twelve years ago and located in Coeur d'Alene City. where he engaged in the purchase of timber lands, preparatory to the development of large lumber manu- facturing plants. Two years later his family joined him at Coeur d'Alene City and soon thereafter he entered upon a career of railroad construction which for quiet but brilliant achievement has few parallels cast or west.
Before the Spokane public was aware of the significance of his preliminary
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moves, his surveyors had run lines between Coeur d'Alene City and Spokane; his agents had acquired the necessary right-of-way and construction work was well under progress, in 1903, on the Coeur d'Alene and Spokane Electric Railway. This road became the, nueleus of the Spokane and Inland Empire Electrie System, built by Mr. Blackwell and his associates south to Palonse and Colfax.
Applying these same quiet and unostentatious methods, Mr. Blackwell organ- ized and built the Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad in 1907. Even before the Spokane newspapers comprehended the magnitude of his operations he had acquired the right-of-way and had fifteen hundred men on construction work be- tween Grand Junction, in the Spokane Valley, and Newport, on the Pend d'Oreille River. Preliminary to this great undertaking, Mr. Blackwell had bought exten- sive tracts in the Spirit Lake country. Contemporaneonsly with the building of the railroad, he laid out and built the fine modern little city of Spirit Lake, which will ever stand as a monument to his good taste and thoroughgoing methods. Since 1907, Mr. Blackwell has extended the Idaho & Washington Northern down the picturesque and rich valley of the Pend d'Oreille river, to Metaline Falls, a few miles south of the Canadian boundary line. Incidentally he founded and built the new town of Ione.
To Mr. Blackwell belongs the credit of establishing the cement industry in the Inland Empire. He is vice president of the Inland Portland Cement Com- pany, which completed, in 1911. a large and modern plant at Metaline Falls. He organized the Panhandle Lumber Company in 1901 and built the large modern mills at Spirit Lake, Idaho, and Ione, Washington. He organized in 1909, the Blackwell Lumber Company in Coeur d'Alene and purchased the mill and prop- erty of the B. R. Lewis Lumber Company of that city. Mr. Blackwell is closely identified with the following institutions: president of the Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad; the Panhandle Lumber Company ; the Blackwell Lumber Com- pany ; the American Trust Company of Coeur d'Alene; the Bank of Spirit Lake, Idaho; First National Bank of Newport, Washington: the Calispel Valley Bank at Usk, Washington; Ione State Bank, at Ione, Washington, and he is a director of the Old National Bank and the Union Trust & Savings Bank of Spokane. He holds all the Masonic degrees and is a member of the Spokane, the Inland and Country Clubs of this city.
Mr. Blackwell is a self-made man and a well made one. He was born Decem- ber 23, 1852, at Fairfield, Maine, a son of Nathaniel Russell Blackwell and Sarah H. (Nye) Blackwell. His father was a blacksmith in that town and a native of Maine. Mr. Blackwell was educated in the district schools of Fairfield and as a boy found employment on a farm at twenty-five cents a day. At the age of seven- teen he went to Pennsylvania and worked in the lumber camps there from 1869 to 1872. From 1872 to 1880 he was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad as freight and ticket agent. In 1880 he began business for himself, contracting for lumber in Clearfield, Elk, Potter and Cameron counties, Pennsylvania.
He was married at Renova, Pennsylvania, August 11, 1871, to Isabella F. Bell, a daughter of Jonathan Bell of Holton, Maine. They have two children: Russell F. Blackwell, horn in 1878 at Driftwood, Pennsylvania, and who is now vice presi- dent and general manager of the Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad and lives at Spirit Lake, Idaho; and Helen Blanche Blackwell, born in 1883 at Driftwood, Pennsylvania, and now the wife of R. M. Hart, secretary of the Blackwell Lum-
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ber Company of Coeur d'Alene City. Mr. Blackwell's home address is 817 Sher- man avenue. Coeur d'Alene City.
In politics Mr. Blackwell has been a republican all his life. He has never held a public office. Mr. Blackwell's achievements are an unfailing index to the high character of the man. Whatever he undertakes, he must do thoroughly well. His railroad is concededly the best built, the best equipped and the best managed, in- dependent system in the west and probably in the United States. Ilis mills are modern in the last degree. Inevitably a man of this type must draw around him subordinates who possess a high degree of efficiency. Mr. Blackwell's employes are his friends and loyal admirers. He is democratic to a degree, though quiet and reserved and always avoiding publicity and personal discussion of his affairs. He enjoys in preeminent degree the respect and confidence of his friends and the public.
E. A. WALKER.
E. A. Walker, owner and publisher of the Reardan Gazette, is one of the well known newspaper men of Lincoln county. He was born in Kane county. Ilinois, on December 6. 1866, and is a son of Benjamin and Jennie ( Roberts) Walker, na- tives of the state of New York. They removed from there to Ilinois during the early years of their married life and afterward became residents of Indiana, lo- cating in White county in 1879. Agricultural pursuits always engaged the atten- tion of the father, who was a veteran of the Civil war.
When a lad of three years, E. A. Walker removed with his parents from Illi- nois to Indiana, in whose distriet schools he received his education. After one Year spent in the high school his text-books were laid aside, his time from that period until he was twenty-one being given to assisting his father with the work of the farm. Upon attaining his majority he went to South Dakota where he spent a year, then returned to Indiana. In 1899 he entered a printing office in White county, where he learned the trade, after which he went to Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, for three months. He subsequently returned to White county and soon thereafter established in Wolcott a paper and printing business which he successfully conducted for fifteen years. Disposing of his business at the end of that time he came west. locating in Lincoln county. In 1909 he purchased the Reardan Gazette and has ever since engaged in its publication. A man of high principles and noble purpose. Mr. Walker has used the columns of his paper to support every progressive movement or worthy enterprise inaugurated for the bet- terment of loend conditions or the advancement of municipal interests.
On the 22d of June. 1899. he was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Bessie Law, of Sullivan county. Missouri, and to them have been born three children, Everett Foster, Virginia Law and James Robert.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Walker hold membership in the Presbyterian church. while fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His political views accord with the principles of the republican party, to whose candidates his paper accords its unqualified support. He has al- ways taken an active interest in the municipal affairs wherever he has resided
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and when living in Wolcott served as a member of the town council and as city clerk. Mr. Walker is fearless in his demumciation of those practices, whether in public or private life, that do not conform to the highest conceptions of truth and honor, fully recognizing the power and appreciating the opportunities afforded the press in molding the ideals held in common by all mankind.
DEL CARY SMITH.
Del Cary Smith is entitled to threefold prominence. first. as a self-made man and lawyer. second. as a leading representative of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and third. as one of the influential members of the democratic party. who bases his political activity upon a belief in its principles and a patriotic devotion to the welfare of his country. He was born near Schenectady. New York, March 30, 1869, his parents being Joshua Tompkins and Helen Marr (Thompson) Smith. The ancestry in the paternal line can be traced back to Daniel D. Tompkins, who was one of the early governors of New York, and also vice president of the United States. Joshua Tompkins Smith followed stock-raising in the east and subsequently removed westward to Omaha. Nebraska, where he now makes his home. In the meantime, however, he had served for three years in the Civil war as a member of the Seventh New York Cavalry and lived for a time in Fulton county, Illinois, before he continued his journey to Omaha.
It was during the period of family residenee in Fulton county that Del Cary Smith began his early education in the public schools. When he was a lad of ten years he accompanied his parents to Tecumseh. Michigan, where they re- mained for a time. Later he became a pupil in Amity College. at College Springs, lowa, completing the scientific course as taught in that institution. Since 1888 he has been identified with the northwest, settling first at Dungeness. Washington, where he remained for a brief period, and then took up his abode at Port Town- send. Washington, where he was called to the office of city elerk. serving for two years. In the meantime he had devoted the hours which are usually termed leisure to the study of law and was admitted to practice by the United States district court at Seattle in 1890. He then opened an office at Port Townsend, where he followed his profession for seven years, gaining much valuable experience during that time and serving also for three years of that period as city attorney. The 4th of March, 1897, witnessed his arrival in Spokane, and he may well be proud of the record which he has since made, for when he came to this city he had practically nothing and by constant application to his profession alone has gained comfortable competence. As his financial resources have increased he has made judicious investment in property in Spokane and is also owner of a ranch of five hundred and twenty acres at Waverly, in the Palouse country. The suc- cess which he has attained in his profession is due to his own efforts and merits. Well versed in the law and with deep knowledge of human nature and the springs of human conduct, with shrewdness and sagacity and marked tact, he is in the courts an advocate of power and influence.
In 1900. Mr. Smith was married to Miss Luella Goff, a daughter of W. C. tent force for progress and improvement. He has been recognized as one of the
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prominent representatives of the Fraternal Order of Eagles since it was founded at Seattle in 1888. Four times he has been president of Spokane Arric. No. 2. and was twice grand worthy president of the order of the United States and Canada, having been first elected in 1901. At that time there were one hundred and twenty-five acries in the United States and some of these in bad standing. The grand aerie was in debt to the amount of five thousand dollars. At the expira- tion of his first term of office. the number of aeries had doubled and the grand lodge, with all debts paid, had still twenty-four thousand dollars in the treasury. Mr. Smith was unanimously reelected in the convention held in Minneapolis. In 1902. and when he retired from the position, there were five hundred aeries in the United States and Canada and the order had fifty-seven thousand dollars in the treasury, with no outstanding indebtedness. He is also identified with other fraternal societies, being a member of Port Townsend Lodge of Elks, No. 37: Samaritan Lodge, 1. O. O. F., of Spokane: the Foresters of America : Court Royal Lodge; and the Improved Order of Red Men. of which he is a past sachem. In democratic circles Mr. Smith is also a man of considerable influence, whose opin- ions carry weight in the councils of the party and while he has never been a can- didate for office since coming to Spokane, he has taken an active and helpful part in campaigns.
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