This generously illustrated book offers a comprehensive history of the founding, development, destruction by fire, and subsequent rebuilding of Spokane, Washington, during its first 40 years (1871-1911). It describes the city's trials and tribulations, as well as its grand successes, as wealth from the nearby mining districts, vast forests, and rich agricultural lands poured into the city. In the beginning, as the first few settlers struggled to survive in suffocating isolation, they could hardly dream that within four decades a thriving metropolis and major railroad hub would emerge that boasted a population of nearly 100,000 and today is home to nearly half a million people. Its historic palatial mansions and impressive commercial buildings, many of which are featured in the book, rival those of cities many times its size. This book tells the story of how the infrastructure, the commercial enterprises, the city park system, and the neighborhoods developed. It tells of the town?s founders, developers, builders, architects, capitalists, and even some of the "characters," and includes brief biographies on a number of the most significant.