Society and culture
The Spokane's environment was rich with food sources. It was the home of deer, elk, antelope, and other game animals. There were also many plants to be gathered. But the Spokane are best known for fishing in rivers for migrating salmon. Trout and other fish were also caught.
In the spring and summer, the tribe broke into small groups to hunt, fish, and gather plants. In the autumn, they picked berries and dug up wild roots, particularly the onionlike bulb of the camas plant. In the winter, they lived in villages where they visited, traded, and performed ceremonies.
The Spokane lived mostly in cone-shaped pole frame houses which were covered with mats or skins. They also had more permanent lodges that were larger and built in a shallow pit.
The Spokane were divided into three bands. Each band had its own chief, who was chosen for his wisdom and bravery. Bands also had several secondary chiefs who led small groups of hunters or gatherers.
History
The American explorers of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–06) made note of the Spokane in their journals. American and English traders soon followed. The European disease of smallpox first struck the Spokane even before the time of Lewis and Clark. Outbreaks in the 1840s and 1850s killed many more people of the tribe.
The Spokane initially welcomed non-Indians. But increasingly, white settlers and miners tried to take over their land, angering the tribe. In 1858, the Spokane joined the Coeur d'Alene, Paiute, and other Indian neighbors in an unsuccessful uprising that is known as the Spokane War or Coeur d'Alene War.
For the next few decades, non-Indians continued to overrun the Spokane's lands. In 1881, the United States established a reservation near present-day Wellpinit, Washington. The Spokane tried to retain their old ways, but construction of the Little Falls Dam in 1908 destroyed one of their major fishing and trading centers. The Grand Coulee Dam, built in the 1930s, was an even greater catastrophe for the tribe because it put an end to the annual salmon run.
By the end of the 20th century, there were about 2,000 Spokane living in the United States. About half lived on the tribe's reservation.