In April 2023, I was blessed to take a deep dive into the history, geography, geology and culture of the far northeast corner of America,  the Canadian Maritimes and the St. Lawrence River and Seaway. Con su permisio, as they say in Spanish, I would like to share with you some of what I learned in these blog posts over the next couple of months. Hope you benefit and enjoy!

Miscellaneous Factoids About Maine

* Maine “beaches” are more like shown above (in Acadia National Park) and not long flat sandy beaches like we have here in the Northwest. Maine beaches are lovely granite, white and pink granite. 

*Folks born, raised and live in Maine refer to themselves as Maine-iacs. 

* Maine had more soldiers in the Civil War than any other state.

* Cities have subways; islands have ferries.

* Maine has 3470 miles of coastline, the longest in the lower 48 states.

*Maine because a state due to the Missouri Compromise; Maine did not wish to separate from Massachusetts but Congress needed a free state to balance the slave state of Missouri. 

* Dandelions seem to be the unofficial state flower of Maine and the Maritimes; a “no mow or spray zone” protects these yellow flowers and leaves them for the honey bees. 

* The Bar Harbor-Acadia National Park area during the 1870-1905 era for the summer “cottages” of the wealthy….. mansions of 100 rooms or more. 

* Bar Harbor was first named Eden by an Englishman who named it after himself; changed to Bar Harbor when mariners realized there was a sand bar between the two islands visible only at low tide. 

* Only 15% of Maple Syrup comes from Maine/New England; 85% comes from the Canadian Maritimes….. hence the Sugar Maple leaf on Canada’s flag. 

 “Spokane Flour Mills once shipped its wares all over the world” began an article in the Spokesman Review, 22 Jul 1972 by Jan Chrisman. “It closed shop last week after 80 years of operation.” The 3-column article detailed the long and convoluted history of the mill. A shorter summary was found on the Spokane Historical website, an article by Jesse Roberts: (Photo from 1928)

The city of Spokane began as a small cluster of buildings on the south side of the falls, focused around saw mills and and later flour mills. This is why the city was originally named Spokane Falls. After the 1889 fire had burned much of the city it was decided to build a new mill on the north side of the falls.

The mill was finished in 1895 but it wasn’t put into operation until 1900. The reason for the delay was lawsuit over ownership of the mill. The previous owner, Simon Oppenheimer, went bankrupt and went off the grid. The ownership of this mill passed to James Glover and a series of complex lawsuits between him, the city of Spokane and a Dutch financial firm named Kantoor soon ensued. Eventually Kantoor won the suits and the mill was able to enter operation. This was one of the most spectacular and complex lawsuits in Spokane history.

The mill worked regularly until 1972 when it, after many years of service, closed its doors. This was not the end of the Flour Mill though. Soon, in 1973 the mill was converted into a shopping center in preparation for EXPO ‘74. This was one of the first examples in Spokane of a historic building being preserved and reused for a new function. Its location was directly next to the north entrance to the EXPO, which got it much publicity during the EXPO. It contains many interesting little shops including Tobacco World and Olde Joe Clark’s Photography Studio which have been there since it was converted. At first, much of the original equipment was left in place, but was later removed.

DONNA:  Also Clinkerdagger’s  restaurant is there now!

The Flour Mill serves as a reminder of the industrial origins of Spokane and of the importance of water power throughout the history of Spokane. Its conversion to a shopping center has maintained the location’s viability while allowing it to continue to serve as a reminder of the city’s history.