Featured Stories: 68
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The River Pigs of Logging: Logging on the River
Logging Companies used rivers and lakes to move logs from the logging camps to the mills. The brave men that guided the logs on the journey were called the River Pigs.
Morton School - Memories of a One-Room Schoolhouse
A typical day for a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse was not easy to define. They were challenged to teach grades 1 - 8 in the same class room. Teachers taught all subjects and learned quickly about…
Captain Mullan: The Bombastic Little Lieutenant
From an early age, John Mullan had big visions for his future. Born in 1830 in Maryland, Mullan graduated from St John’s College in 1847, and from West Point where he studied engineering. Soon his…
Spokane Valley Heritage Museum/Opportunity Township Hall
You are looking at one of the last physical remnants of the now defunct "Township" form of government in Washington. A state vote in 1908 granted the formation of County Townships as semi-autonomous,…
The Corbin Ditch
The main challenge for farming in the Spokane Valley was supplementing the meager local rain fall with manmade irrigation systems. Gravity ditches, such as the Corbin Ditch, formed the core of early…
The Arrival of the Paper Mill at Woodard
Originally called Woodard, or Woodard Station, after the family who owned the land on either side of the tracks, the district that is now Millwood was a little railroad town. The arrival of the Inland…
The Cheney Lynchings: Mob violence or ethnic cleansing?
In the early 1880s two men were hanged without trial, one Chinese and the other a Spokane Indian.
Spokane University
During the boom years of early Spokane, colleges and academic institutions began to pop up around the city. Spokane University was among the first universities in Spokane and the first in the valley,…
Working Women of the Silver Valley
Not all the wealth of Wallace came from the mines. Some came from bedrooms of the working women of the brothels like the Oasis or the Bi-Metallic. As the miners extracted the ore from the ground, the…
The Ghost Town of Burke
Nestled in a cramped canyon seven miles from historic Wallace, are the decaying remnants of the once-booming mining town that was built to house the miners of the Hecla, Hercules, Tiger-Poorman, and…
Indian Congress
After hundreds of years of American oppression, American Indians gained the right to vote in the land they called home since time immemorial with the passing of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. …
Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House
[Note: This location is a private residence, not open to the public.]
This Spokane home has a Hollywood pedigree. It was built to promote the 1948 film, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.…
Spokane's Trolley Cars
The steel rails that still peek through the pavement here and there in Spokane remind us of the days of trolley cars. At one time, the tracks that lay before you carried Spokanites to work, shops,…
Camas on the Plateau
Every spring, many of the meadows of the eastern Washington and northern Idaho are dotted with the blue flowers of the camas plant, cammasia quamash. To the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau…
Violet Noble, Resident Since the 1940s
"We didn't like the things they did and they didn't like the things we did."
Born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1927, Violet Noble came to the East Central neighborhood during the growth period of…
Taft: The Wickedest City in America
By the early 1900s, the rough and tumble frontier towns of America were dying off, slowly becoming gentrified and developed into respectable settlements. Taft, Montana was one town that wasn't going…
"The Big Blowup:" The 1910 Fires and their Aftermath
The summer of 1910 was hot and dry in the northwestern United States. And on August 20-21 the nation would feel the fury and reach of nature's wrath.
Fires on the scale of 1910's were not unheard of…
The Great Fire of 1889
When the territory of Washington became a state in 1889, the city of Spokane Falls was one of its largest and most successful cities. Attracting wealthy businessmen who had stakes in the nearby Idaho…
The Washington Cracker Company: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
The Washington Cracker Company building, which still stands at the corner of Bernard and Pacific Streets, is one of the most visible reminders of Spokane's foray into the industrial world. Its high…
Hutton Building
When Levi and May Arkwright Hutton struck silver ore in 1901 at the Hercules Mine, the couple's lives dramatically changed. Both from humble beginnings, the pair met while working on railroad in…
Hutton Settlement
Life as an orphan out on the western frontier was full of hardships. Without parents, orphans bounced around from distant relative to distant relative. It was a lonely life for most, who were often…
Felts Field
Felts Field is not only the oldest airport in the Spokane area but is also one of the oldest federally designated airstrips in the country.
Located near Rutter and Fancher and along the banks of…
The Fox Theater: MAC 100 Stories: A Centennial Exhibition
The Great Crash in December 1929 left a lasting impact on the American economy--and on Spokane. Plans by Fox West Coast Studios to build a theater had been part of Spokane gossip since 1927. The…
The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist
In the 1920s, Episcopal Bishop Edward Makin Cross endeavored to create a successor to the All Saints Cathedral, which stood Downtown. He contracted the services of congregation member Harold C.…
Cheney Historical Museum
The Cheney Historical Museum traces its roots to the Tilicum Club. This women's social and service club was organized in Cheney in 1903. In 1935, during the club's annual Pioneer Tea, a group of early…
Sex Work in Early Spokane: Sex work was an important economic driver in the growth of the Lilac City.
Though first-hand accounts from prostitutes in this era are rare, a set of letters from a Spokane sex worker shed light on "the world's oldest profession."
The Formidable May Hutton
In 1883, orphan May Arkwright moved to Idaho from Ohio where she worked as a saloon cook and opened up her own boarding house, where she quickly gained a reputation as the "best cook in the Coeur…
Frontier Justice at Fort George Wright: Fort George Wright Tour
It was the night of August 14th 1916 and Edward F. Mayberry was on the run. Three witnesses had seen Mayberry murder 35 year old Native American woman Alice Vivian on the Colville Reservation near…
Barracks and Buffaloes: Fort George Wright Tour
The 24th Infantry regiment contained the famous all-black "Buffalo Soldiers" who had fought bravely in the capture of San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War. The regiment had endured many…
snyamncut: EWU's New Residence Hall
On this spot, bordered by Eleventh and Cedar Streets, stands Eastern Washington University's newest residence hall, snyamncut. This location used to serve as a parking lot for residents of Streeter,…