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Shamrock Tour®: Spokane, Washington
High Plains Drifting in the Evergreen State
With the licence perhaps only a realtor (as was his profession) would dare employ, Seattle pioneer C. T. Conover is responsible for Washington state's nickname, The Evergreen State. It might look that way from the Emerald City, but as Christian and I raced along the Snake River Canyon west of Lewiston, there wasn't any green anywhere – just baked, brown, barren cliffs separating the churning white water from the indigo sky above.
From the Selkirks to the Snake
I'd always thought of Spokane as something of a hick town, a sprawling, strip-mall community, not much more than a motel stop on I-90. Then I read that it's the biggest city between Seattle and Minneapolis, which implies either that there's not much between Puget Sound and the Twin Cities, or that Spokane is more of a metropolis than I'd appreciated.
Founded in 1810 as a fur trading post under supervision of the North West Trading Company's David Thompson, "Spokan House" (the "e" was added in 1883) enjoyed early success because of its access to the Columbia River (via the Spokane River), and thus the Pacific. When the North West and Hudson Bay companies merged in 1821, the trading post was dismantled and moved to Kettle Falls.
In 1873, one James Glover, enchanted by the beauty of Spokane Falls, bought 158 acres that became downtown Spokane. The Falls tumble on in the heart of the city, providing a delightful environment for what is now Riverfront Park....
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