E.E. Garberg

Emory E. Garberg

Like many others who came to the west, Mr. Garberg’s capital did not consist of money – he came with empty pockets – but he had a good supply of something more useful, namely, intelligence and determination.These have placed him where he is at present – one of our leading and successful merchants.

Mr. Garberg was born in Trondheim, Norway on July 20, 1873, and is therefore still a young man. He came to this country with is parents when he was ten years old, and they settled down on a farm in Dodge County, Minnesota.

In 1893, Mr. Garberg determined to get out of the ordinary rut and make a way for himself and struck out for Washington, arriving in Cheney that year when the hard times were holding sway here. He did not have enough capital to buy a controlling interest in the Northern Pacific Railway, nor in anything else, so he secured a job clerking. He continued this occupation for seven years, and finally started a small 2x4 grocery for himself. His business kept on increasing rapidly, his customers always came back, and last year [1903] the building he occupied became wholly inadequate to accommodate his trade. So, in partnership with F.W. Rost, he purchased the hardware and grocery business owned by Fulton Bros., to which place they moved their stock and goods. Mr. Rost continued in business with him for a year, when Mr. Garberg bought out his interest in the firm and is now the sole owner of one the largest and best country stores in the west. His business is steadily growing and he is constantly adding to and increasing his stock of goods, giving his customers a fine assortment to select from.

[AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY, STATE OF WASHINGTON by Rev. Jonathan Edwards, W.H. Lever, Publisher 1900 ]

E.E. Garberg 1904

E.E. Garberg 1920