SPOKANE (spo-kan'), a city of eastern Washington, U.S.A., at the falls of the Spokane river, 5o m. from its mouth in the Columbia river; a port of entry and the county seat of Spokane county. It has a municipal airport ; is on Federal highways io, 95, 195 and 395; and is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific, the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Spokane International, the Spokane, Portland and Seattle and the Union Pacific railways, and by numerous electric trolley and motor-coach lines. Pop. (1920) was (83% native white) ; 1930 Federal census 115,514. Spokane is the metropolis of the "Inland Empire" of 200,000 sq.m., lying between the Rocky mountains on the east and the Cascade or Coast range on the west, and embracing eastern Washington, north-eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, western Montana and southern British Columbia. The city has an area of 40.37 sq.m. and an altitude of 1,891 ft., and is surrounded by pine-clad mountains, rivers, cascades, water falls, lakes (76 within 5o m.), orchards and fertile fields of grain. It is protected by the mountain ranges from extremes of heat and cold and from the fogs of the coast. The average year has 208 days of sunshine, 16.5 in. of rainfall, and a "growing season" of 183 days between killing frosts. Through the city, in the heart of the business section, flows the Spokane river, tumbling over cata racts, from which 25,000 h.p. of electric energy is generated. The city is clean and well built, with substantial business buildings and commodious hotels ; well paved, well lighted, and well kept streets; and delightful views in every direction. Since 191i it has been under a commission form of government. The park system includes in all 2,200 acres. Mount Spokane (5,808 ft. high), 35 m. N.E., is maintained by the State as a public recreation ground. Three miles west of the city is Ft. George Wright, an important post of the U.S. army, in a reservation of 1,022 ac., presented to the Government by the city in 1894. The assessed valuation of property in 1926 was $85,981,102.
Schools.—The investment in public-school buildings and equip ment amounts to over $7,000,000, and the teaching staff in 1928 numbered 760. Gonzaga University (Roman Catholic ; opened
1887), Whitworth college (Presbyterian ; founded in Tacoma in 1890) and Spokane college (Lutheran) are in the city.
Resources and Commerce.—The Inland Empire is rich in natural resources (lumber, minerals, fertile soil and water power) and Spokane is its principal market, supply point, manufacturing and distributing centre and financial capital. The wholesale and jobbing business of the city is estimated at $225,000,000 annually. Spokane is fairly entitled to the sobriquet "the power city," for by 1928 the hydro-electric plants of the district developed 278, 943 h.p., of which 187,300 h.p. was generated by the seven plants on the Spokane river in and near the city. This electric power operates mines, maintains extensive irrigation projects, runs trans continental trains over the Rockies and the Cascades, and supplies current for industrial plants, street-cars and suburban trains, street lamps and domestic lighting. The product of the city's fac tories in 1927 was valued at $46,169,908. Spokane has a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank at San Francisco.
History.—The first permanent settlement on the site of Spokane was made in 1874 by James N. Glover, who bought a tract of land from two trappers. The town was incorporated in 1881, as Spokane Falls, received a city charter later in the year, and became the county seat in 1882. In 1890 "Falls" was dropped from the name. Spokan (said to mean "children of the sun") was the name of an Indian tribe of Salishan stock which had f or merly occupied the river valley. The Northern Pacific railroad reached the city in 1883, the Union Pacific in 1889, and the Great Northern in 1892. In 1889 (Aug. 4-6) a fire destroyed 3o blocks in the heart of the city, practically the entire business section, at a loss estimated at $5,000,000, but within two years the district was rebuilt, with great improvements. The population was 19,922 in 1890, 36,848 in 190o and 104,402 in 1910. The pioneer who laid out the town site lived to see a city of over 1 oo,000.