Fort Spokane

For thousands of years, the area was a gathering place for native tribes fishing the rapids of the Spokane River.

Fort Spokane was one of the last forts built in the West in 1880. By 1898 it was abandoned by the US Army. The fort was then used as an Indian boarding school and then a tuberculosis hospital. During the Depression and WW2, all but 4 of the buildings were dismantled and sold off as scrap to the highest bidder. Many of the buildings around the Fort are built from those very scraps.

The massive boredom of it’s soldiers is what Fort Spokane is known for. The soldiers saw little to no action other than drills and parades. If they were lucky they were called out to settle disputes between trappers, or enforce the Indian Reservation land from homesteaders.