Editing Spokane County, Washington (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of Spokane, Washington}}

The first humans to arrive in what is now Spokane County arrived between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago and were [[hunter-gatherer]] societies who lived off the plentiful game in the area. Initially, the settlers hunted predominantly [[bison]] and [[antelope]], but after the game migrated out of the region, the native people became dependent on gathering various roots, berries, and nuts, and harvesting fish.<ref name="Ruby 5-6">Ruby et al. (2006) pp. 5–6</ref> The Spokane tribe, after which the county is named, means "Children of the Sun" or "sun people" in [[Salishan languages|Salishan]]<ref name=Phillips>Phillips (1971), pp. 134–135</ref> Explorer-geographer [[David Thompson (explorer)|David Thompson]], working as head of the [[North West Company]]'s [[Columbia Department]], became the first European to explore what is now the [[Inland Northwest (United States)|Inland Northwest]].<ref name="Stratton19">Stratton (2005), p. 19</ref> After establishing the [[Kullyspell House]] and [[Saleesh House]] fur trading posts in what are now Idaho and Montana, Thompson then attempted to expand further west. He sent out two trappers, [[Jacques Raphael Finlay]] and Finan McDonald, to construct a [[fur trade|fur-trading post]] on the Spokane River in Washington and trade with the local Indians.<ref name="SpokaneH">{{cite web |last=Oldham |first=Kit |title=The North West Company establishes Spokane House in 1810 |work=[[HistoryLink]] |date=January 23, 2003 |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5099 |accessdate=December 13, 2008}}</ref> This post was established in 1810, at the confluence of the [[Little Spokane River|Little Spokane]] and [[Spokane River]]s, becoming the first enduring European settlement of significance in Washington.<ref name="Stratton19"/> Known as the [[Spokane House]], or simply "Spokane", it was in operation from 1810 to 1826.<ref name="Phillips" />

Spokane County was established by the [[Washington Territorial Legislature]] effective January 29, 1858, from a portion of [[Walla Walla County, Washington|Walla Walla County]], which originally encompassed most of eastern [[Washington Territory]] between the [[Cascade Mountains|Cascades]] and [[Rocky Mountains|Rockies]]. The new county was bound to the west by the [[Columbia River|Columbia]] and [[Snake River|Snake]] rivers and to the east by the Rockies; it included portions of modern-day [[Idaho]] and [[Montana]].<ref name="Prosch">{{cite journal |last=Prosch |first=Thomas W. |date=March 1904 |title=The Evolution of Spokane and Stevens Counties |pages=25–33 |journal=[[The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society]] |location=Portland, Oregon |volume=5 |issue=1 |jstor=20609600}}</ref><ref name="HistoryLink">{{cite web |last=Colford |first=Ann M. |date=March 13, 2006 |title=Spokane County — Thumbnail History |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/7686 |work=HistoryLink |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> The territorial legislature designated the farm of Angus McLeod as the temporary [[county seat]] and appointed officials to several positions for Spokane County, but they never took office and did not organize a government. In late 1859, a group of settlers in the [[Bitterroot Valley]] petitioned to create their own county, which was not granted at that time; the territorial legislature reorganized Spokane County on January 17, 1860, with a seat on a land claim near [[Fort Colville]].<ref name="Prosch"/><ref name="HistoryLink-Stevens">{{cite web |last=Wilma |first=David |date=November 5, 2006 |title=Stevens County — Thumbnail History |url=https://www.historylink.org/file/7995 |work=HistoryLink |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref>

The first county government met on May 8, 1860, and began conducting business.<ref name="Prosch"/> The eastern and southern portions of Spokane County were partitioned several times as new counties were created, beginning with [[Missoula County, Montana|Missoula County]] in December 1860 and followed by [[Shoshone County, Idaho|Shoshone County]] and [[Nez Perce County, Idaho|Nez Perce County]] in 1861.<ref name="Newberry-Atlas">{{cite web |editor-last=Long |editor-first=John H. |year=2007 |title=Washington: Individual County Chronologies |url=https://digital.newberry.org/ahcb/documents/WA_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm |work=Atlas of Historical County Boundaries |publisher=[[Newberry Library]] |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Briggeman |first=Kim |date=December 19, 2010 |title=After 150 years, origin of Missoula's moniker still a mystery |url=https://missoulian.com/news/local/after-150-years-origin-of-missoula-s-moniker-still-a-mystery/article_c167d0ac-0b35-11e0-beeb-001cc4c03286.html |work=[[Missoulian]] |url-access=subscription |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> These areas became part of the new [[Idaho Territory]], which was organized by the U.S. Congress on March 3, 1863, and reduced the size of Spokane County even further.<ref>{{cite news |date=July 27, 1960 |title=This Area Has Been in Four Territories, Five Counties |page=14 |work=The Missoulian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-missoulian-this-area-has-been-in-fou/157721753/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> On January 19, 1864, the county was annexed into neighboring [[Stevens County, Washington|Stevens County]], which had been created a year earlier from the northern portions of Walla Walla County. The seat of Stevens County was Pinkney City (now [[Colville, Washington|Colville]]) until it was temporarily relocated to the town of [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane Falls]] (now Spokane) in 1875.<ref name="Prosch"/><ref name="Chronicle-Seat">{{cite news |last=Lemon |first=John J. |date=December 12, 1974 |title=Cheney vs. Spokane: Vote Theft Recalled |page=38 |work=[[Spokane Daily Chronicle]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/spokane-chronicle-vote-theft-recalled/157722863/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref>

Spokane County was re-established on October 30, 1879, from the portions of Stevens County south of the Columbia, Spokane, and [[Wenatchee River|Wenatchee]] rivers.<ref name="Prosch"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Spokane County, Washington: Historical Dates and Maps |url=http://www.spokanecounty.org/asp/vis_history.asp#dates |access-date=January 1, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214212533/http://www.spokanecounty.org/asp/vis_history.asp#dates |archive-date=December 14, 2007}}</ref> The western portion of the county was used to create [[Lincoln County, Washington|Lincoln County]], which was established on November 23, 1883.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Charles W. |date=July 1909 |title=The Naming of Counties in the State of Washington |page=83 |work=The Magazine of History With Notes and Queries |volume=X |issue=1 |publisher=William Abbatt |location=New York |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044090112079 |via=HathiTrust |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> The first post office in the county was located at [[Spokane Bridge, Washington|Spokane Bridge]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Kershner |first=Jim |date=May 25, 2012 |url=http://historylink.org/File/10119 |title=Spokane Valley — Thumbnail History |access-date=July 21, 2019 |work=HistoryLink}}</ref>

The selection of a permanent county seat was to be decided in an election in November 1880 between the growing cities of [[Cheney, Washington|Cheney]] and Spokane Falls, both candidates for a major [[Northern Pacific Railway]] hub. The unofficial returns showed a 14-vote margin in favor of Cheney, but the result was disputed by county officials from Spokane Falls based on "irregularities" in the ballots. The official result had a margin of two or three votes for Spokane Falls, but Cheney residents demanded a recount, which was granted by a court order that was ignored by county officials in Spokane Falls. On March 21, 1881, a group of armed Cheney residents forcibly took custody of the county auditor, recount ballots, and other county records during a nighttime raid. After declaring their own recount had been in favor of Cheney as county seat, the records and the county auditor were moved from Spokane Falls; other government officials also moved to Cheney after a court order upheld the Cheney recount.<ref name="Chronicle-Seat"/><ref name="HL-Seat">{{cite web |last=Kershner |first=Jim |date=August 11, 2007 |title=Armed Cheney citizens forcibly remove the county seat from Spokane Falls to Cheney on March 21, 1881 |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/8249 |work=HistoryLink |accessdate=December 7, 2014}}</ref> A new ballot question in 1886 resulted in Spokane becoming the permanent county seat.<ref name="HL-Seat"/>