Spokane House

In 1949 the Spokane County Pioneer Society cut first permanent white settlement into this granite, about a post that lasted sixteen years before the Hudson's Bay Company closed it in 1826. The stone's last line is the one with consequences. In October 1853 the new territorial governor, Isaac Stevens, surveying a railroad route west, met Spokane Garry, born about 1811 where the Little Spokane meets the Spokane and schooled at the Red River mission. Stevens wrote that he was surprised Garry spoke English and French, and frustrated that he would not speak frankly.

What the plaque says

Spokane House First permanent white settlement in present state of Washington Established by Northwest Fur Company - 1810 Located between this monument and confluence of Spokane and Little Spokane rivers Pacific Fur Company of John Jacob Astor an American concern, built rival trading post - 1812 Taken over by Northwest Company - 1813 By Hudson's Bay Company - 1821 Governor Stevens camped and conferred with Indians - 1853 Erected by Spokane County Pioneer Society - 1949

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spokane House — steps away
  The trading post Spokane guides led Jaco Finlay to in 1810, closed by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1826, and kept by the man who built it until he died there.
• Spokane Falls — 9.9 mi
  Where the Spokane fished under a salmon chief who shared out the catch, until a dam forty miles downstream ended the runs in 1911.

More markers nearby

• Indian Painted Rocks — 1.8 mi