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History of Spokane

By Salar

Here is a little bit about the area CYAN calls home.

Turns out the town of Spokane has a fairly old and rather interesting history.

Prehistory

Spokane was the name of a Native American people who had settlements in the area. These people fished for salmon, and hunted deer (and other small game). They gathered fruits, nuts and various tubers, and edible bulbs (including something called a "camas" that supposedly keeps quite well).

It is believed that they actually traded preserved fish and other unknown valuables (perhaps objects d'art? :) with other tribes, most especially with an Oregon trading "cities" kept by the Wishram and Wasco. They seem to have traded a bit upriver, down river and toward what is now Coeur D'Alene (Idaho border town).

They had two basic building styles. Their winter quarters were sunken round houses (Riven schoolhouse? :) and their summer dwellings were huts made of mats (BoA Riven village?).

They were related to the Flatheads and the Okenagon peoples. Their dialect was within the same Salishan tongue.

Settlement

The state park near Mead (CYAN), holds "Spokane House" the official site of the earliest known trading post in the state of Washington (circa 1810). It didn't say whether this was supposed to be British or French (my guess would be the latter this far inland).

Note: According to an old history book I have (Vignettes of American History), the Brits had a bunch of trading posts along the coast of Canada, Alaska, and America. (it was written well before Alaska became a state...ahem..) This book claimed that although these ports were unofficial supplies centers, they were the basis for a later claim to the northern territories. The earliest of these were in the late 18thC. Yes, I know that conflicts with the other account. I don't know what the answer is either. Any input out there?

The mostly white settlement known as Spokane Falls built up slowly around an early mill on the Spokane River. By the 1870's a number of grain and lumber mills flourished, slowly displacing fur trading in the local economy. This was a natural trading post, as Spokane is roughly halfway between a passage in the Cascades and another in the Rockies (This is what Encarta claims. It doesn't look that way to me!) .They also supplied miners going toward Coeur D'Alene territory and settlers heading further west... and south (Old Patterns repeat! ;-)

By the 1880's the railways came through the area and Spokane boomed! The biggest of de wiggies was one Daniel Chase Corbin.. founder of Coeur D'Alene Railway and Navigation Company.. and also the head of the Spokane Falls & Northern railroads (The current Corbin Art Center is sited in his old mansion).

The town was incorporated as Spokane Falls in 1881 and shortened to Spokane in 1891.I guess they felt like keeping it simple by that time. Only one building remained after the rest of downtown burned to the ground in 1889! That lone survivor is called the Crescent building. *wonders what it looks like*

Two edifices of higher learning were built in this golden spike era. Gonzaga University and Whitworth College. Gonzaga boasts of having as an alumni Bing Crosby,Thomas Foley (was speaker of the House of Representatives), and some sport stars... Whitworth's opening didn't brag except about a forward looking computer programming curriculum and their joint engineering program that involves several other BIG Univerisities... *shrugs*

There was a boom spell during the early 20th C, "when most of the colonial revival and California mission style mansions were built" (Encarta) and then nada until the Grand Coulee Dam brought incredible amounts of hydroeletricity to the area in 1942. (an 80's flashback overcomes me ....really big dams ALWAYS make me think of Zork ;-)

Spokane got tapped to build aluminum plants for the gov't in WWII. Those industries are still there (also Fairchild Airforce Base). Spokane also produces electrical equipment, electronics, forest products, processed food, plastics, and COMPUTER SOFTWARE *huge grin!*

A development brochure notes that the economy of Spokane suddenly boomed again in the late eighties, and has shown "steady growth" through the nineties. (Well, yeah Smeggy, Og, Doug, and the Penners moved in! Nice of the suits to notice! LOL )

Class Is Dismissed! :-)