Book recommendation: “The Lion in the Shadows” by James Brickell and Chuck King

Watch the full episode on The Lion in the Shadows, with Chuck riding along with co-author, James Brickell, and their chauffeur, Jim Dormaier, to historically significant locations around Spokane relevant to E.J. Brickell, one of Spokane's forgotten founders. The episode is available on the King's Guide YouTube channel.

Who was E.J. Brickell, you might ask? From the back cover of the book:

A throng of people stood near the entrance of the Spokane Methodist Episcopal Tabernacle on Sunday, September 27, 1891. Inside, the church was packed, with standing room only, but it was not for the usual Sunday service. It was the largest funeral that Spokane had ever seen at that point in the city’s history; the funeral of its first millionaire, and wealthiest citizen. He whose body lay in the coffin had been:

President of the Traders National Bank

President of the Truckee Lumber Co.

President of the Donner Lumber and Boom Co.

President of the Verdi Flume Co. 

President of the Spokane Cracker Co.

President of the Spokane Bottling Co.

President of the Spokane Falls Water Power Co. 

President of the Spokane Falls Lumber & Manufacturing Co.

President of the Spokane Mill Co.

President of Holley, Mason, Marks & Co.

President of Baum & Co.

President of the Old Dominion Mining Co.

President of the Columbia Mining Co. 

President of the Security Loan and Trust Co.

It had been said that his investments and entrepreneurship came at a critical time when the first investors of Spokane Falls had exhausted their capital and almost lost their faith in the city. His was a material contribution to the maintenance of Spokane’s growth in the decade of the 1880s.

Although it was strongly proposed at the time of his death, his name today is not attached to any street, park, building or other public feature of the city to which he contributed so much. It is found only in the crevices of history by scholars who look hard enough, and on a cemetery monument sufficiently imposing that the few passersby will wonder who the fellow could have been to have put up such a chunk of stone.

The fellow in question was my great-great-grandfather, Edward John Brickell, and for several years, with the help of Chuck King and several others, I have been researching his life. No longer buried in newspapers and archives, the story of E.J. Brickell is now here, emerging from the shadows. ~ James E. Brickell

Buy “The Lion in the Shadows” online here soon.