The Automobile Age Comes to Spokane!

According to the book, “Manito Park: A Reflection of Spokane’s Past”, by Tony Bamonte and Suzanne Schaeffer Bamonte of www.tornadocreekpublications.com:

Between 1898 and 1899, Spokane residents saw their first automobiles.  According to the February 11. 1926 issue of The Spokane Woman magazine, the earliest photograph of an auto appearing in Spokane was dated 1898.  The open car belonged to F. O. Berg.  [Berg was hired by a Portland man in 1898 to travel to New York and buy a car for him.  Berg chose a Locomobile Steamer, but when he returned with the car, the businessman was not able to figure out how it worked, so he sold it to Berg.]  In 1899 the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported the arrival of two gas-powered vehicles.  The Tull & Gibbs Company bought a large delivery truck.  Roy Boulter, owner of the other vehicle, apparently did not have much luck with his – the few times it was seen, it was being towed by a horse.  He soon replaced the gas engine with a steam motor, and later converted it into a steam saw

Berg’s recollection of his arrival in Spokane with his new car was quoted in the magazine, as follows:  “I started from the old O.W.R. & N.  [Oregon-Washington Railway & Navigation] depot on Cataldo Street, and before I got uptown I had succeeded in starting five runaways.  They didn’t have any arrest laws in those days, but I got plenty of abuse.”  On May 26, 1902, the absence of automobile traffic laws became an immediate problem.  Chief of Police William W. Witherspoon issued a citation to one of Spokane’s leading citizens for speeding down Riverside Avenue.  The Chief was on the streetcar at the time and caught up to the offender as he reached his destination.  Estimating the driver to be going at least 12 to 15 miles per hour, the Chief issued him a citation. [There was a 6 Miles Per Hour speed limit for horses in Spokane Municipal Code of 1892, but no speed limit for cars.]   However, the charge was later dropped because there was no law to support it.  Chief Witherspoon was on hand at the next city corporate council meeting to initiate Spokane’s first automobile traffic code.