History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume III, Part 71

Author: Durham, Nelson Wayne, 1859-1938
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 778


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 71


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79


EDMUND R. WEEK.


Prominent among the leading and representative business men of Spokane is numbered Edmund R. Week, now the secretary and the largest stockholder of the Pacific Coast Pipe Company, with offices in Spokane. He also has other important business connections and the story of his life reads largely like a romanee in its account of difficulties met and overcome and of victories achieved in the face of ob- stacles which would utterly have discouraged men of less resolute and courageous spirit. He was born near Stevens Point, Wisconsin, September 30, 1819. His par- ents. John and Gunild Week, were both natives of Norway and the mother is still living at Stevens Point at the advanced age of eighty-six years. The father, how- ever, died in 1889. The geneological line can be traced back to a very remote period and he is descended from a family of bishops prominent in ceclesiastical circles. His brother and two sisters recently returned to Norway for the first time since coming to America and while there opened the vault of Bishop Weck who was buried four hundred years ago, finding the body still in a good state of preservation. John Week was a pioneer lumberman of Wisconsin, prominent in the northern part of


676


SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE


the state. On coming to America he made his way first to Chicago, at which time the city contained only between twelve and fifteen hundred people. Times were very hard and he had no capital. and in order to provide for his daily needs he engaged in sawing wood with a buck saw. It was subsequent to this that he removed to Wis- consin, becoming a lumberman of that state, and the lumber business which he es- tablished in 1848 is still being conducted under the name of the John Week Lumber Company. During his residence in Wisconsin he served as county commissioner. U'nto him and his wife were born seven children: Edmund R. : Nelson A. and A. R., who are residents of Stevents Point, Wisconsin: J. A., who is living in Los Angeles, . California ; Sarah. the wife of Theodore Gribie, of Chicago; Cora, of New York city ; and Martha G., of Stevens Point, Wisconsin.


Edmund R. Week after attending the public schools continned his education in the normal school of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and pursued a commercial course in Mil- waukee. He first engaged in the logging business on his own account, winning suc- cess in that undertaking. In 1882 he disposed of his interests and on the advice of a physician started for the west. . He went to St. Paul where he boarded the North- ern Pacific in company with Professors Burnham and Hemenway, both of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The three proceeded by train as far as Miles City, which was then the terminal of the passenger service. There they bought cayuses, fastened their bag- gage on behind their saddles and proceeded np the Yellowstone river, finally reach- ing Billings which was then the headquarters of the construction work for the Northern Pacific. There they obtained letters to the surveyors who were working in the Yellowstone Park, and finally reached Big Timber. After many adventures in fording the Yellowstone they followed Boulder creek up into the snow-capped mountains and found the air so rarefied that in trying to hunt out trails over the divide they could hardly hear one another calling back and forth. They spent two nights on the snow line, the first night getting little sleep on account of the big snow mosquitoes, and the next night sleeping little because of the intense cold. They fol- lowed dangerous trails down to Barnett's Bridge and it fell to the lot of Mr. Week to lead in fording the streams. They worked their way up the mountains to Yellow- stone falls and Tower Creek falls, thence to Sulphur mountain where they made camp. They used the water of two streams in preparing their dinner and found the bread so full of sulphur and the tea so full of acid that they went hungry. While following over a trackless wilderness they made their way to Yellowstone lake and there came upon a number of United States engineers laying out the roads. With out guides, compass or maps and lost most of the time they proceeded to the Upper Geyser Basin where they presented their letters to the Northern Pacific engineers whose guests they were for two days. Continuing on their journey they reached Mammoth Hot Springs where Mr. Hemenway's horse was choked to death by a picket rope. The United States troops and officers came in next day and located the per- manent corners and lines of the Yellowstone Park. The travelers placed their bag- gage on the freight wagons and took the remaining horses to Bozeman, Montana, then a town of one thousand inhabitants. From that point Professors Burnham and Hemenway returned with their horses to Miles City and thence to La Crosse, Wis- consin.


Mr. Weck, however, determined to continue on to the Pacific coast, starting by stage from Bozeman and at one sitting traveling one hundred and twelve miles to Helena, Montana, then a placer mining town. He thence proceeded to Deer Lodge


677


SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE


and on to Missoula, a town of seven hundred population. He was told that the road through the mountains was impassable and that the route down the Missoula river was equally so. However, he bought a twelve foot boat, pointed at both ends, and with an old miner started down the stream toward the ocean. He had many excit- ing experiences, shooting rapids, passing through canyons and guiding the boat over perpendicular falls. Many portages were necessary but at length they reached Thompson's Falls, where they met the Northern construction crew coming from the west. At that point they left the boat and went to Belknap where they remained for three days, and then obtained passage to Rock Island, from which point they started on a construction train to Sandpoint, Idaho, and thence came to Spokane, arriving in September, 1882.


The present eity was then a town of about three thousand inhabitants. It did not look very inviting as there was little but sage brush, dried grass and black rock in this vicinity, but Mr. Week was much interested in the falls. From Spokane they proceeded to The Dalles, Oregon, and thence to Portland by boat. There was no railroad to the latter city at that time and he made the trip from Portland to San Francisco and thence returned to Wisconsin with health restored. He had made this roughing trip because of a severe cough which he had when he left La Crosse, and it was feared that his tendencies were consumptive. Three days after leaving home his cough disappeared and he has never been troubled with one since.


On his return to Wisconsin Mr. Week was given charge of the timber cruising, logging and log driving for the John Werk Lumber Company, a corporation con- trolled wholly by the family. He continued the work until 1892 and during that period invented a road-making machine which was an innovation in logging and was later adopted and generally used. He called it the "road jointer ;" it trued up the track and the road was made uniform merely by having this machine pulled over it. Teams could haul larger loads and therefore it made the hauling of logs cheaper. In driving logs Mr. Weck conducted the business on a different system from others and was very successful. He was put in complete charge of the work, hiring men, direct- ing and buying. when only twenty-two years old. In 1892 he went to Indiana where he engaged in the real-estate, gas and oil business, spending ten years there. On selling out he removed to Spokane, coming to this city in 1901 to look over luum- bering interests, but decided not to embark in that business here. He finally turned his attention to the wood pipe business and invested with the Pacific Coast Pipe Com- pany of which he is now the largest stockholder. The pipe is built in Seattle but the company has its headquarters at Spokane, It is a million dollar corporation with T. B. Garretson as president and manager : J. C. Ralston, director; E. R. Week, secretary; and W. J. C. Wakefield, treasurer. Mr. Week has served as secretary for a number of years. The company makes a steel-banded Oregon tir wood pipe which is largely used in irrigation projects, municipal waterworks systems, pen- stocks and in water power development. It is economical in construction and is very effective in its uses. It is put in use in the eastern states as well as in the west in competition with steel. The company has introduced this pipe in New York, Con- nectieut. Vermont and Michigan and is making more pipes than any other company of its kind, its output being from two hundred and fifty to three hundred miles of pipe each year, and the demand is constantly increasing. Mr. Week is also inter- ested in the water power plant at Trent, a ten thousand horse power proposition lo- cated only a short distance from Spokane, which promises to play a large part in


678


SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE


the future development of the city and surrounding country, including the Coeur d'Alenes.


In August, 1882, Mr. Week was married to Miss Franees H. Finch, a danghter of John Finch, of Wisconsin, and they now have three children: E. R., Jr., meehan- ieal and civil engineer of Spokane; Anna, at home; and Earling F., who will be graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1912. Mr. Week is independent in polities. His activities are limited to voting although at one time he was a candidate upon the demoeratie tieket for the office of state senator from the seventh distriet. He is a man of high social as well as business standing and his life has been one of well directed activity. bringing him into important business relations. He is ener- getie, prompt and notably reliable, has a genius for executing the right thing at the right time and these qualities joined to everyday common sense constitute his chief characteristies.


SYLVIAS VAN BUREN MEEK.


One of the prominent farmers engaged in wheat-raising in the Palouse country who is widely known both personally and by reputation, is Sylvias Van Buren Meek, living near Johnson in Whitman county, Washington. He was born in Dodd- ridge county. West Virginia, October 7. 1861, a son of Hezekiah and Mary (Pepper) Meek, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of West Virginia. The boyhood days of the son were spent in the latter state, where he secured a common-school education and assisted his father until 1884, when he removed to Kansas where he obtained employment on a eattle raneh. He followed this business until 1887, when, responding to the calling of the prosperous far west he removed to the state of Washington and settled nine miles south of Pullman, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty aeres of land upon which he began farming. He was diligent in business and eondueted his agricultural activities with success so that from time to time he added to his holdings of land until he brought them up to four hundred aeres. He has brought his farm under a good state of tilth, adding suitable improvements and making of it one of the really good farms of the community. Am- bitious, however, and desirous to inerease his holdings he has continued to extend his operations until he is at present cultivating twelve hundred acres, making him one of the large raisers of wheat of which he makes a specialty. He is also inter- ested to a considerable extent in the breeding of mules and in his business has met with most enviable suceess.


Mr. Meek was married in Moscow. Idaho, in December, 1890, to Miss Lora May Taylor, of Washington, a daughter of James S. and Anna ( Billups) Taylor, both natives of Iowa. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Meek have been born eight children, Winnie, Ray. Laura, Hazel, Wayne, Thora, Lulu and Harry, all yet at home. Mr. Meek is connected with the Farmers Union, where his voiee has weight in matters coneern- ing the policy and purpose of the society. Being greatly interested in educational matters he has been particularly active in school work and has been a member of the local school board for sixteen years. Politically his affiliation is with the republi- ean party but he has never taken a conspicuous part in polities, preferring to give the best of his endeavors to his business, the education of his children and his home


679


SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE


life. It will be noted in reviewing the history of Mr. Meck that he started on his career with no financial advantages but with a commendable ambition to succeed, and undaunted perseverance in gaining his object. His present success is attribut- able alone to his own efforts which have always been well directed and to the in- dustry which has always characterized him. He is vitally interested in the affairs of the great northwest and his faith in his community is unbounded. To the many friends and acquaintances of Mr. Meck few men appeal as being of better citizen- ship or more worthy in the communities in which they live.


THEODORE GENTSCH.


Theodore Gentsch, whose business covers the field of real estate, investments, fire insurance and mortgage loans, was born at Salt Lake City, Utah. March 1. 1881. The father, Frederick Christian Gentsch, was born January 16, 1852, at Schloss Rheinfels. St. Goar, Prussia. but in 1853 was taken to Burlington, lowa. where he remained until September 15, 1871, when he left that city for Omaha, Nebraska. He first secured employment with the Union Pacific Railroad Company in the ex- press department at Omaha, where he continued until December 27, 1871, when he was transferred by the same company to Ogden, Utah, to take the agency at that place. After about six years he went from Ogden to Salt Lake City, Utah, in February, 1877. as general agent for the same company. On the 22d of October of that year he married Augusta Elizabeth Lalk, at Burlington, Iowa, and took his bride to Salt Lake City, where he resided until October 1, 1898, during which time he was advanced from the position of general agent of the Union Pacific Express Company to that of assistant superintendent, superintendent and general superin- tendent of the Pacific Express Company, successors to the Union Pacific Railroad Company's Express, with jurisdiction over the states of Wyoming, Utah, Idaho. Oregon. Montana and Washington, In October. 1898, he removed from Salt Lake City to Omaha, Nebraska, to become general superintendent of The Pacitic Express Company's lines throughout the United States, and about 1902 be- came a resident of St. Louis, Missouri, where he still makes his home, occupying the position of general superintendent of the Pacific Express Company. He installed the express service on the lines of what are now the Oregon Short Line railroad and the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company and the connecting stage lines as the railroads were built.


In the Gentsch family were four sons and four daughters: Fred William, who is superintendent of the dining cars and hotels of the Oregon Short Line Company at Ogden, Utah : Herman Lalk, who is with Wells Fargo & Company at Reno, Nevada ; Walter, who is with the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company at Ogden, Utah ; and Augusta Elizabeth, Marion, Gertrude and Helen, all living with their parents in St. Louis.


The other member of the family. Theodore Gentsch began his education in the public schools of his native city and continued in the schools of Omaha, Nebraska. In May, 1899, he entered the employ of the Pacific Express Company as clerk and stenographer and was advanced from the position of chief clerk to the superintendent, from which he resigned in June. 1900. In July of the same year, however, he re-


680


SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE


entered the service in the superintendent's office at Salt Lake City, and was ap- pointed cashier at that place in January, 1901. In September, 1901, he was made traveling auditor, with headquarters at Salt Lake, his territory covering the states of Wyoming. Idaho, Utah and southern Montana. He was transferred in the same capacity to Spokane. Washington, with jurisdiction over the lines of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, acting in that capacity until March, 1905, when he went to Salt Lake City as cashier of the Salt Lake Security & Trust Company. His residence there covered about a year and a half and in October, 1906, he resigned his position and returned to Spokane, becoming cashier of the Union Trust Company in January, 1907. For about a year and a half he acted in that capacity, resigning in June, 1908, since which time he has engaged in the real-estate, investment, fire insurance and mortgage loan business, with offices in the Paulsen building. He confines his operations to city property and has secured a good elientage in the conduct of his business. He is now secretary of the Spokane Association of Local Fire Insurance Agents and also secretary of the Spokane Realty Association.


Mr. Gentsch married Miss Luvera Snow, who was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is a daughter of George Albert Snow, who in addition to other business interests, is identified with various industries in Utah and in Chicago, Illinois. At the present time he is handling large reclamation projeets in Utah, Idaho and Oregon. He has resided for the past ten years in Chicago, although temporarily making his home in Salt Lake City.


WILLIAM LEROY LA FOLLETTE.


One of the many enterprising and public-spirited citizens of Whitman county, who have greatly contributed toward promoting its agricultural development is Wil- liam Leroy La Follette of Pullman, congressman from this district. His birth oc- curred in Boone county, Indiana, on the 30th of November, 1860. his parents being Harvey M. and Susan ( Fullenweider) La Follette, also natives of Indiana.


William Leroy La Follette attended the common schools in the acquirement of his education, his student days being terminated before he had attained the age of seventeen years. Unusually ambitious and enterprising. he was anxious to begin his business eareer and feeling convinced that in the less congested districts of the far west greater opportunities and better advantages were afforded the industrious young man, in 1877 he came to Washington, first loeating in Walla Walla. Later he became a resident of Whitman county, but having recognized the benefits to be gained from a better knowledge of business methods he returned in October, 1879. to his native state and pursued a commercial course in the Indiana Central Normal College. Feeling that he was now equipped to pursue his career, he again located in August of the following year in this county, settling in the vicinity of Penawawa where he turned his attention to general farming and stock-raising. He applied himself energetically to the development of his interests, meeting with such sub- stantial returns that in 1883 he had sufficient capital to buy three hundred and twenty acres of most desirable land at the head of Almota creek. For ten years thereafter he concentrated his entire time and attention upon the further develop-


6=1


SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE


ment of his ranch, making a specialty of stock-raising. Although he was only twenty-three years of age when he acquired the title to this property, Mr. La Fol- lette was a well developed and capable business man, generally spoken of as one of the very promising young ranchmen of the county. During the ten years he resided upon this place he directed his undertakings with intelligence, his good judgment and sagacity being manifested in the development of his ranch and his constantly increasing success. He rented his holdings here in 1893 and removed to Albion. where he bought one hundred and seventy acres. continuing to follow stock-raising. He met with lucrative returns, his affairs prospering in a most gratifying manner, and as he possessed much foresight and had the utmost confidence in the agricultural future of this section he extended the boundaries of his ranch from time to time until his holdings aggregated thirty-six hundred acres. In 1895, he removed to a fruit farm of thirteen hundred acres he owned on the Snake river making his home there until 1905. when he brought his family to Pullman, in order to give his children bet- ter educational advantages. His time was still devoted to the operation of his or chard, however, until 1908 when he sold it, realizing thereon a handsome profit on the investment. Mr. La Follette has also disposed of his holdings at Albion. but he still owns twenty-three hundred acres of land in Whitman county, which is now rated at many times its original cost and is constantly increasing in value. He is still en- gaged in the horse business and is one of its foremost representatives in the county.


At Ewartsville, this county, in 1886. Mr. La Follette was united in marriage to Miss Mary Tabor, a native of Oregon and a daughter of John B. and Melcena Tabor, the father a native of Tennessee and the mother of Missouri. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. La Follette, as follows: John Tabor, a resident of Pullman, who married Miss Edith Largent ; and William Leroy. Jr., Mary Melcena, Clara Katherine. Warren Jasper, Robert Chester and Alice Eva, all of whom are still at home.


The family affiliate with the Presbyterian church, and fraternally Mr. La Fol- lette has attained the rank of a thirty-second degree member of the Scottish Rite in the Masonic order and belongs to the chapter and the shrine, and he is also identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a strong believer in the benefits to be derived through organization and has always been an active member of the Grange and of every other association of the agriculturists of this vicinity for the past thirty years. For some years he was a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of this city and he also belongs to the local Chamber of Commerce, the efforts of which he loyally champions on every possible occasion, having implicit confidence in the wonderful possibilities of this great state.


In matters politie, Mr. La Follette has always given his unqualified support to the men and measures of the republican party. Despite the exactions made upon him by his extensive personal affairs he has at all times found opportunity to fulfill the requirements of citizenship and has always taken a deep interest in political ac- tivities. He was a member of the legislature in 1899 and he also served for a time on local school boards, while in 1910 he was elected as a progressive republican to represent the third district of this state in congress. As his residence in this county covers a period of more than thiry-five years, he is thoroughly familiar with the needs and requirements of this section and is thus well qualified for the duties of his present office.


682


SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE


Well known throughout this portion of the state, he is held in high regard being recognized as a man who has made his own way, such success as he has achieved be- ing the reward of earnest and tireless effort sustained by a determination of pur- pose that refused to recognize defeat. In the pursuit of his career he has met with the misfortunes and obstacles that every enterprising man encounters, but expe- riences have never been lost on him, his failures being utilized as stepping stones to higher attainment. That he stands high in the confidence and regard of all who know him is substantially evidenced by his election to his present office, where his constituency and those who know him personally feel assured he will exercise his prerogatives for the best interests of the majority and faithfully discharge his duties as he sees them.


PETER COSTELLO.


Among Spokane's pioncers Peter Costello was numbered, and for a long period he was one of the leading contractors of the city. The place which he occupied in industrial circles and in the regard of his fellow townsmen makes it imperative that mention be made of him in the history of this section. He was born in L'Original, Ontario, in 1859, and died in Spokane on the 1st of November, 1906. His parents were Martin and Anna J. (Fulton) Costello, who came from Ireland to the new world in early life and were married at L'Original, Ontario. The father was for twenty-four years sheriff of Prescott and Russell counties and was a very prominent, influential and representative citizen of his community. He died there in 1896 and is survived by his widow, who is living at Alexandria, Ontario, with her son, Frank T.


In the public and high chools of L'Original Peter Costello pursued his education. In early life he learned telegraphy and spent a few years as operator in the Russell House, then the leading hotel of Ottawa, Ontario. He afterward became clerk of the hotel and subsequently went to Chicago, where he engaged in the hotel business for about two years. In 1884 he located in Winnipeg, where he was connected with hotel interests for a short period and then accepted a position with the Canadian Pacific Railway as train dispatcher at Revelstoke, British Columbia, during the con- struction period of that road. While there he became associated with a railroad con- tractor, Frank Malone. with whom he formed a partnership and entered into con- tracting work. From Revelstoke they removed to Butte, Montana, in 1886, remain- ing at that point for a year, after which they went to Oregon, where they aided in the construction of the Oregon Pacific Railroad, which has since been absorbed by the Southern Pacific. In 1887 they came to Spokane and continued their partner- ship here until 1889, when the business relations between them were dissolved. Mr. Costello continued as a contractor of this city in partnership with his brother John F. and occupied a prominent position in that field. constructing many of the prin- cipal streets and sewers of the city.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.