By Marcus Widenor
Today, Seattle is a hub for the high-tech global economy. But at the turn of the 20th century, Spokane occupied a similar place in American capitalism. With seven freight and passenger lines converging there, it was the the busiest terminal west of Chicago. Spokane connected the fields of California, the forests of Oregon and Washington, and the mines of Idaho and Montana to the rest of the country. Workers mustered out for jobs and wintered there, creating a culture steeped in the radicalism of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which organized them without regard for their skin color or national origins, unlike the conservative American Federation of Labor.