100 years ago in Spokane: Voters approve merger of streetcar systems

Voters overwhelmingly approved Spokane’s historic streetcar merger by more than a two-to-one margin.

Work was set to begin immediately on consolidating operations of the two competing streetcar companies – the Washington Water Power Co. and the Spokane Traction Co. – into one citywide system.

The merged system was to be called Spokane United Railways, operated under the control of WWP.

The current 8-cent fare would be cut to seven cents on July 1, with the possibility of a further cut to 6 cents if financial conditions warranted .

The first tangible improvement would be the laying of new tracks on the Lidgerwood streetcar line. Those tracks were ripped out months ago, during an escalation of the dispute between the streetcar companies and the city.

The yes vote prevented the city’s streetcar system from an early demise.

As it turned out, it only delayed the inevitable. Spokane’s streetcar grid was dismantled by 1936, when it was replaced by buses.

From the court beat: Irving Whitehouse, head of a Spokane brokerage firm, was sentenced to five-to-15 years for grand larceny.

He had been charged with defrauding some of his customers and buying stock for his own use with their money.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1979: Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher was chosen to become Britain’s first female prime minister as the Tories ousted the incumbent Labour government in parliamentary elections.