Fort Spokane was a frontier outpost in the

northwest United States The Northwestern United States, also known as the American Northwest or simply the Northwest, is an informal geographic region of the United States. The region consistently includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. ...

, located in Lincoln County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, approximately west-northwest of

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

. At the confluence of the Columbia and

rivers, the U.S. Army post was used to separate the Colville and

tribes on their reservations from the newly established city of Spokane. The fort was last used in 1929 and was later incorporated into the

Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area that encompasses the long Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake between Grand Coulee Dam and Northport, Washington, in eastern Washington state. The Grand Coulee Dam was built on the ...

and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

History

Background

The U.S. Army stationed troops at White Bluffs on the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

, at Foster Creek on the

Okanogan River The Okanogan River (known as the Okanagan River in Canada) is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 115 mi (185 km) long, in southern British Columbia and north central Washington. It drains a scenic plateau region called th ...

, and at

Spokane Falls Spokane Falls is the name of a waterfall and dam on the Spokane River, located in the central business district in downtown Spokane, Washington. The city of Spokane was also initially named "Spokane Falls". History The Native American name for ...

to manage potential unrest amongst the Colville, Spokane, and

Palouse people The Palouse are a Sahaptin tribe recognized in the Treaty of 1855 with the United States along with the Yakama. It was negotiated at the 1855 Walla Walla Council. A variant spelling is Palus. Today they are enrolled in the federally recognized ...

s. The troops at White Bluffs and Foster Creek were moved to a post south of

Lake Chelan Lake Chelan ( ) is a narrow, long lake in Chelan County, north-central Washington state, U.S. Before 1927, it was the largest natural lake in the state by any measure. Upon the completion of Lake Chelan Dam in 1927, the elevation of the lake was ...

in 1878, closer to

Chief Moses Chief Moses (born ''Kwiltalahun'', later called ''Sulk-stalk-scosum'' - "The Sun Chief") (c. 1829 – March 25, 1899) was a Native American chief of the Sinkiuse-Columbia, in what is now Washington state. The territory of his tribe extended a ...

. Difficult to supply, Camp Chelan was abandoned and the troops moved to a new site, Camp Spokane. After the

Colville Reservation The Colville Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the northwest United States, in north central Washington, inhabited and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is federally recognized. Established in ...

was established in 1872, and the

Spokane Reservation The Spokan or Spokane people are a Native American Plateau tribe who inhabit the eastern portion of present-day Washington state and parts of northern Idaho in the United States of America. The current Spokane Indian Reservation is located in ...

in 1881, the US Army assumed policing responsibilities until 1890.

Use as an outpost

Fort Spokane was founded in the fall of 1880 by Lt. Colonel Henry C. Merriam and Second Infantry Regiment as Camp Spokane. It was renamed Fort Spokane in 1882. The Fourth Infantry Regiment took over in 1886, and the Sixteenth Infantry Regiment in 1896. Fort Spokane was strategically located at the convergence of the

and the

Spokane River The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city of ...

about west-northwest of the city of

, it was the last army frontier post established in the Northwest. In 1884 there were about 25 buildings, including six barracks, a schoolroom, an ice house and a two-story administrative building topped with a glass-sided

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

. Eventually there were about 50 buildings built on the post which included officers' quarters, enlisted men's barracks, a hospital, chapel, post headquarters, morgue, quartermaster warehouses, shops, stables, and post trader store. The post served to consolidate older posts like

Fort Colville Fort Colville was a United States Army, U.S. Army post in the Washington Territory located north of current Colville, Washington. During its existence from 1859 to 1882, it was called "Harney's Depot" and "Colville Depot" during the first two y ...

closer to the population areas, and as a buffer between the

Indian reservations An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

and settlers in the area. When the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

broke out in 1898 the troops at Fort Spokane were moved elsewhere and the fort was turned over to the

Colville Indian Agency Colville may refer to: Places Canada *Colville Lake (Northwest Territories), a lake in Northwest Territories *Colville Lake, Northwest Territories, a settlement corporation * Colville Range, a small mountain range in southwestern British Colum ...

. In 1899 the post became a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for Indian children until 1914, when the post became a

tuberculosis sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

for the next 15 years. The site was abandoned by the government in 1929.

Preservation and restoration

The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

took over the site in 1960 with only four original buildings remaining from the fort. Four buildings and the site have been preserved and are now part of the Park Service's

. The restoration has saved the 1884 stable, the 1888 powder magazine, the 1889 reservoir and the 1892 guard house.

References

External links

Fur trade