This day in history: Proposal to turn Riverfront Park into amusement park based on one in Copenhagen stalls

From 1975: Two developments involving the future of two Spokane area parks made the news.

A proposal to turn Riverfront Park into the “Tivoli Gardens” of the Northwest appeared to be stalled. Tivoli is an amusement park in Copenhagen, Denmark.

A Spokane advertising man, Thomas Main, was scheduled to present his full plan to the city council, but he was granted a delay until March 10 to prepare.

When he first presented the idea a few weeks earlier, the council’s reaction was decidedly mixed. The plan lacked specifics, but it appeared to “place greater emphasis on commercial development over open space.”

Mount Spokane was the subject of the second news item. State Rep. Margaret Hurley had convinced the State Parks and Recreation Commission to scrap a plan to trade 2,667 acres of surplus Mount Spokane state land for 1,225 acres on Blakely Island in the San Juan islands.

She said she had reached an agreement with the commission to swap the Mount Spokane land only for land in the Spokane area, including land adjacent to Mount Spokane State Park and Riverside State Park.

From 1925: Seven tribes on the Colville Reservation said they planned to file suit for $7.5 million in compensation for being deprived of 5 million acres of land.

The U.S. Senate had just passed a bill “permitting the action.” For 75 years, the tribes had been seeking such compensation.

“In addition for the compensation for the 5 million acres of land, the Indians will present claims for their abandoned fisheries, hunting grounds, camas root prairies, and for buffalo hunting grounds east of the Rocky Mountains, which, they claim, have been ruined by the advent of white settlers,” said the Chronicle.