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Spokane| City in eastern Washington, USA, on the Spokane River, 370 km/230 mi east of Seattle; population (2000) 195,600. It is a commercial, processing, and distribution centre for the mining and timber-producing mountain areas and rich agricultural plains of the Columbia basin. Aluminium smelting plants were developed during World War II. |
| A fur-traders' post was established in 1810, and a sawmill in 1871. The original settlement was named Spokane Falls after the waterfall at the site, a former fishing ground of the American Indian Spokanee people. It was incorporated in 1881, and grew rapidly with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the 1880s. |
| By 1900 Spokane had become the largest city between Minneapolis and the Pacific coast, and was served by four transcontinental railways. It is the seat of Gonzaga University (1887) and Whitworth College. |
| It was the site of Expo '74 (International Exposition of Environment). |
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