Spokane

Sister cities

• Jecheon
• Lübeck
• Nishinomiya
• Limerick
• Jilin City

History

The first humans to live in the Spokane area were hunter-gatherers that lived off plentiful fish and game; early human remains have been dated to 8,000 to 13,000 years ago. The Spokane tribe, after which the city is named (the name meaning "children of the sun" or "sun people" in Salishan), are believed to be either their direct descendants, or descendants of people from the Great Plains. When asked by early white explorers, the Spokanes said their ancestors came from "up North." These were the first white men met by the Spokanes, who believed they were sacred, and set the trappers up in the Colville River valley for the winter. The explorer-geographer David Thompson, working as head of the North West Company's Columbia Department, became the first European to explore the Inland Empire (now called the Inland Northwest). Crossing what is now the Canada–US border from British Columbia, Thompson wanted to expand the North West Company further south in search of furs. After establishing the Kullyspell House and Saleesh House trading posts in what are now Idaho and Montana, Thompson then attempted to expand further west. He sent out two trappers, Jacques Raphael Finlay and Finan McDonald, to construct a fur trading post on the Spokane River, which flows west from Lake Coeur d'Alene to the Columbia River, and trade with the local Indians. This post was established in 1810, at the confluence of the Little Spokane and Spokane rivers, becoming the first enduring European settlement of significance in what later became Washington state. In 1836, Reverend Samuel Parker visited the area and reported that around 800 Native Americans were living in Spokane Falls. A medical mission was established by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman to cater for Cayuse Indians and hikers of the Oregon…

Geography

Spokane is located on the Spokane River in eastern Washington at an elevation of above sea level, about west of the Idaho border, south of the Canadian border, due east of Seattle, and southwest of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The lowest elevation in the city of Spokane is the northernmost point of the Spokane River within city limits (in Riverside State Park) at ; the highest elevation is on the northeast side, near the community of Hillyard (though closer to Beacon Hill and the North Hill Reservoir) at . Spokane is part of the Inland Northwest region, consisting of eastern Washington, north Idaho, northwestern Montana, and northeastern Oregon. The city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Spokane lies mostly within the Spokane Valley Outwash Plains at the periphery of the North Central Rockies forests ecoregion and partly within the eastern edge of the basaltic Channeled Scablands steppe of the Columbia Plateau ecoregion, a plain that eventually rises sharply to the east towards the rugged, timbered Selkirk Mountains. The highest peak in Spokane County is Mount Spokane, at an elevation of , on the eastern side of the Selkirk Mountains. The Spokane River is the area's most prominent water feature, a tributary of the Columbia River, originating from Lake Coeur d'Alene in northern Idaho. The river flows west across the Washington state line through downtown Spokane, meeting Latah Creek, then turns to the northwest, where it is joined by the Little Spokane River on its way to the Columbia River, north of Davenport. The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge south of Cheney is the closest natural reserve, the closest National Forest is the Colville National Forest, the closest National Recreation Area is the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and the…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  9,031
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  8,960
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  8,666
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  8,049
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,095
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,210
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,085
• Pygmy Nuthatch

  Sitta pygmaea Vigors, 1839 · Aves
  5,953

Largest nearby schools

• Mead Senior High School
  High · SPOKANE · 1,809 students · 20.1:1 ratio
• Lewis & Clark High School
  High · Spokane · 1,739 students · 18.5:1 ratio
• North Central High School
  High · Spokane · 1,674 students · 18.4:1 ratio
• Ferris High School
  High · Spokane · 1,631 students · 17.7:1 ratio
• Rogers High School
  High · Spokane · 1,536 students · 15.5:1 ratio
• Mt Spokane High School
  High · MEAD · 1,493 students · 21.3:1 ratio
• University High School
  High · Spokane Valley · 1,445 students · 18.1:1 ratio
• Shadle Park High School
  High · Spokane · 1,382 students · 17.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-02-13
  10 km SSW of East Hope, Idaho
• M 2.73 — 2023-09-12
  Washington
• M 2.93 — 2022-10-13
  8 km NNE of Airway Heights, Washington
• M 2.81 — 2020-05-15
  3 km NNE of Green Bluff, Washington
• M 2.51 — 2020-03-31
  12 km NE of Sprague, Washington
• M 2.5 — 2015-11-30
  8 km N of Onaway, Idaho