Francis H. Cook, the Father of Manito Park – Part 5 – the story continues …

According to the book, “Manito Park: A Reflection of Spokane’s Past”:

Up to this point, we heard about the newspaper feud between Cook’s paper, “Spokan Times” and his rival, “The Chronicle” including physical violence between the owners.

By 1882, both newspapers had changed hands and Cook began his next major endeavor – the purchase of the land on the Manito plateau.  In May of 1884, he purchased 40 acres from the United States Government General Land Office.  This sale was authorized by an 1820 Act of Congress allowing provisions for the sale of public lands.  The property became Cook’s First and Second Additions, and took in the area now occupied by the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.  By 1885 Cook had established a farm on his property on the hill south of town.  For the next few years this would be the main focus of his attention.  The 1885 Polk Directory lists him, as a farmer, living at “Spokane Heights”.  True to Cook’s style, he met this new enterprise headlong; everything was going to be first class.  Several articles appearing in the July 14, 1883 edition of the Spokane Falls Review gave a rare glimpse of Cook’s farming operation:

Francis H. Cook received this week direct from New York City, a colony of Italian bees, the first of the kind ever imported into this country.  The little fellows came through by express order, and already have commenced operations.  Mr. Cook rakes great pride in securing for his place the best of everything, and at some future day he will possess the model farm of the northeast.

…F. H. Cook, living only a short distance south of this city, has growing on his place nineteen varieties of potatoes, the seed of which was procured from the East, and they are all doing splendidly.

Next time we’ll learn about the most significant real estate purchases in the history of Spokane’s South Hill – all by Mr. Cook.