Fort Spokane (Lincoln County, Washington)
Lincoln County · Washington · Indian Wars
History & Significance
As Indian resistance to settler encroachment sparked conflict elsewhere in the Northwest, settlers among the Spokane and Colville peoples feared similar warfare in Eastern Washington. President Chester A. Arthur formally established Fort Spokane in 1882 as the U.S. Army's last frontier outpost in the Northwest at the junction of the Spokane and Columbia rivers in Lincoln County.
The post was designed to confine the Colville and Spokane Indians on reservations and remove them from fertile farmland around the developing city of Spokane. The Indians did not forcibly resist, and troops stationed there over two decades never fired a shot in anger.
By 1884, approximately 25 buildings stood, including six barracks and a two-story administrative building with a glass-sided cupola; eventually some 50 structures occupied the post including officers' quarters, hospital, chapel, and warehouses. When the Spanish-American War erupted in 1898, troops deployed elsewhere and supplies moved to Fort George Wright, with the post turned over to the Colville Indian Agency.
The post served as an Indian boarding school and later as a tuberculosis sanatorium. The National Park Service assumed stewardship in 1960 with four original buildings remaining and now preserves the site as part of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Four restored 1880s military buildings at the confluence of Columbia and Spokane rivers
- Indian Wars-era frontier outpost architecture and layout
- Former boarding school and tuberculosis sanatorium site reflecting dual military-medical history
- Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area setting with river access
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Spokane
- https://www.historylink.org/File/5358
- https://www.loc.gov/item/wa0625/
- https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/354
- https://www.nps.gov/laro/learn/historyculture/fort-spokane.htm