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Fort Colvile: A Hidden Gem in the Columbia Basin
Two global fur trade companies became one through a forced merger, a deal that would have a lasting effect on the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest.
The Box: Sweat Box or Sewer?
What do you do with a drunken soldier? Park historians are unsure what this metal-lidded hole in the ground was used for, but some say “the box” was a punishment for soldiers who broke the rules.
Buried and Forgotten: St. Paul's Mission Cemetery
Beneath the pine needles that cover this historic cemetery lie generations of native and fur trade families.
The Late, Great Meyers Falls: The Annexation of Meyers Falls
How Meyers Falls became Kettle Falls.
Bertha Finley Brisbois: Bertha Finley Brisbois Brings Schools to the Reservation
From Boarding School to a University Scholarship
Coyote Stories: A Salishan Trickster
Salish creation stories
Tuberculosis at Fort Spokane
In the early 1900s, tuberculosis was known as the “great white plague,” and at the turn of the century it killed around 450 Americans every day. An infectious disease of the lungs, tuberculosis…
Helen W. Clark: Early Teacher and Patronizing Friend to the Spokanes: A lone woman and missionary-teacher on the Spokane Reservation
The career of Helen Clark typifies the efforts of the "Friends of the Indians" during this time period. She worked hard to educate and defend the Spokanes, but also to get them to abandon their…
Chief Skolaskin: Dreamer, Prophet and Political Prisoner
The famous Indian Chief and prophet was once jailed here at Fort Spokane for years without trial.
The Fort Spokane Boarding School: Forced Assimilation for Native American Youth
By the late 1800’s, the frontier was gone and the West was dealing with what they called the "Indian problem." One of their solutions was the Indian Boarding School.
The Fort Spokane Brewery: Beer for the Soldiers
Before the Spanish-American War, soldiers stationed at Fort Spokane relied on one man to lift their spirits; a German brewer who made the Fort his home.
The Ceremony of Tears: The rising waters of Lake Roosevelt ended a 10,000-year native tradition
As Kettle Falls, a popular Native American fishing and gathering spot slipped slipped below the surface of Lake Roosevelt, Indians gathered for one final ceremony.
Sanitarium Incinerator: Killing Germs and Destroying Culture
In 1915 tuberculosis struck the Spokane Indians hard. Four natives died and fifty more were suspected of having the disease. In response to the outbreak, the Indian Service used the site of the former…
Desertion at Fort Spokane
"Get Me Outta Here"
2011 MLK Parade Bomb Attempt: White Supremacist Brings Terror to Spokane
On a day of celebration and unity, tragedy in Spokane was narrowly averted.
A Soldier's Life at Fort Spokane
"Company Dismissed"
Weapons of War at Fort Spokane
This powder magazine once held the latest weapons of war, along with tons of gunpowder.
The Army Years at Fort Spokane: The Army years at Fort Spokane
Soldiers of Fort Spokane acted as a buffer between the Indian reservations and white settlers
Baseball at Fort Spokane
"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"
A Town No More: The Drowned Town of Gifford
Now submerged beneath Lake Roosevelt, Gifford was a small town founded by a man with a westering spirit.
The Sharpening Stone
Etches of Time
The Quartermaster Stable: Supplying the Fort
Feeding All Those Men Was No Easy Task
Carving the Columbia: The Ice Age Floods
These gently sloping hills beside the lake show the marks of a tumultuous process at work. This region of the Columbia Basin was carved over eons by the meander of the river, by slow erosion, and by…
Make Way for Rising Waters: The 1310 Line and the Flooding of Lake Roosevelt
How do you get two tribes, six counties, and nine federal agencies to agree on something? As work began on the Grand Coulee Dam, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was busy acquiring the land that would…
Risky Fun: Deadly Waters
While there was "never a shot fired in anger" at Fort Spokane, life on the fort was not without danger.
The City of Kettle Falls: Moving on Up
How do you move an entire town to a new location? Very carefully.
How the West was Watered: The Fruitland Company Irrigation System
If they’d known it would end up under a lake, they might not have worked so hard to bring water to this land.
The Orchard at Ft. Spokane
Today, most of Fort Spokane is bare foundations. But in the shade of the ponderosas on the western edge of the site, a few of the orchard’s original apple trees have held their ground for more than a…
Project Hope & William’s Market
The West Central neighborhood was platted in the 1880’s when William Pettet and William Nettleton invested heavily in the area. The neighborhood grew with new homes and businesses and hundreds of…
Batch Bakeshop
Local family owned businesses help create and define neighborhoods and in the early part of Spokane’s history small butcher shops, supply stores and dairies were a familiar sight. Built in 1905 and…