Spokane, WA news and local guide

Human remains in the Spokane area date back 8,000 to 13,000 years. The city is named for the Spokane tribe, whose name is usually translated "children of the sun" or "sun people." In 1810 Jacques Raphael Finlay and Finan McDonald, sent by David Thompson of the North West Company, built Spokane House where the Little Spokane meets the Spokane River. It was the first lasting European settlement of significance in what became Washington and the center of the fur trade between the Rockies and the Cascades until 1826. In 1836 the Rev. Samuel Parker counted about 800 Native people at Spokane Falls. Governor Isaac Stevens tried to make a treaty with Chief Garry in 1853, and Colonel George Wright's victories at Four Lakes and Spokane Plains in 1858 ended the Coeur d'Alene War and opened the region to settlers.

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The cattlemen J.J. Downing and S.R. Scranton claimed land at Spokane Falls in 1871 and built a small sawmill. In 1873 James N. Glover and Jasper Matheney, two Oregonians who saw the falls' potential for water power, bought the 160-acre claim and the mill for $4,000, expecting the Northern Pacific to build through. Matheney sold out, but Glover held on, became the city's second mayor and is called the Father of Spokane. After the 1883 gold rush in the Coeur d'Alene district, Spokane became the supply town for prospectors. On August 4, 1889, a fire broke out just after 6 p.m. A pump station had failed, so there was no water pressure, and the Great Fire destroyed the downtown business district. Sources Wikipedia: Spokane, Washington