Lilac City Wanderers of Spokane

Lilac City Wanderers of Spokane Exploring Greater Spokane's historic places, waterfalls, cemeteries, ghost towns, back roads, monuments, and any other cool stuff we find wandering around
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07/28/2026

Peaceful Valley Brush fire Spokane Washington
Looking SE from Riverside Cemetery

07/28/2026

Peaceful Valley Brush fire Spokane Washington
Looking SE from Riverside Cemetery

🥾Same two 225-foot smokestacks, 85+ years apart. Northeast corner of 2nd Avenue and Monroe Street, Spokane, Washington, ...
07/08/2026

🥾Same two 225-foot smokestacks, 85+ years apart. Northeast corner of 2nd Avenue and Monroe Street, Spokane, Washington, 1940s and present day
When this historic shot was taken, the brick building on the left was still the Spokane Dry Goods Co. Warehouse, and that big rooftop billboard was advertising American-LaFrance Foamite fire extinguishers. Check out the cars, the traffic light, and the smoke pouring from the stacks — the plant was in full operation.
Built in 1916, the Central Steam Heat Plant provided heat for most of downtown Spokane for 70 years, eventually serving over 300 buildings from Deaconess Hospital to the river. It ran until 1986 and was saved and reborn as Steam Plant Square in 1999.
đź“Ť Steam Plant Square, 815 W Railroad Ave
Historic image: Northwest Room archives / Current:

🥾Somewhere in Cheney Washington-
07/06/2026

🥾Somewhere in Cheney Washington-

07/05/2026

🥾We wandered around the historic Mill Pond Trail foot bridge over the old dam canyon near Sullivan Lake in Metaline Falls WA.

07/05/2026

🥾We wandered around the historic Mill Pond Trail foot bridge over the old dam canyon near Sullivan Lake in Metaline Falls WA. What a cool place!
👉Mill Pond at Sullivan Lake will mess with your map because there is no pond left, and that is exactly the point. For about a hundred years Sullivan Creek was pinned behind a dam here, first a log crib the Inland Portland Cement Company built in 1909, then a 134-foot-long, 55-foot-high concrete wall in 1921 that shoved water down a three-mile wooden flume to keep the lights on in Metaline Falls. It had not made power in almost 50 years, it just blocked fish, so Seattle City Light pulled it out in 2017 as part of their Boundary Dam mitigation, let a century of trapped sediment move downstream and rebuilt the channel with engineered log jams. By November 2019 the work was done, reconnecting 46 miles of stream for the first time in 111 years, and the Forest Service reopened the Historic Site in July 2020. Now we get what we love to wander, an easy 1.6-mile loop with two new bridges over the old dam canyon, a picnic shelter, the historic cabin and interpretive signs, and wildflower meadows growing right where the reservoir used to be. Come walk a place your grandparents fished that is a creek again for the next generation.

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🇺🇸🎆Lilac City Wanderers of Spokane wishes you all a happy 4th of July… Happy 250th birthday America!Spokane’s First Four...
07/04/2026

🇺🇸🎆Lilac City Wanderers of Spokane wishes you all a happy 4th of July… Happy 250th birthday America!
Spokane’s First Fourth of July — 1876
On July 4, 1876, James Glover’s settlement at Spokane Falls marked the nation’s centennial with a gathering that lasted three or four days. Families came 50 to 100 miles by wagon — from Colfax, Spangle, Hangman Creek, and north toward Canada — many crossing the Spokane River in dugout canoes paddled by local Spokane tribal members.
From cloth in Glover’s store they sewed and raised the first American flag to fly over Spokane. A long table was spread under pines near present-day Howard and Trent; after the settlers ate, the remainder was shared in a potluck with their indigenous neighbors.
A pine floor was laid in front of the store. Settlers danced by day; at night Spokane people took the floor, including a war dance for the 100th birthday. Miner Peter Lefevre recalled the parade as “about a dozen people” — just enough for two sets of square dancers.

The Legend of “Fiddlin’ Ferd”
Later local histories add color not found in the 1870s reminiscences. They name J.T. Lockhart reading the Declaration, followed by songs and speeches, and describe an evening parade led by Professor Roos — “Fiddlin’ Ferd” — on violin, with two assistants keeping time on a coffee grinder and a nail keg. The little band marched around a town of “eight or ten buildings.” The story continues with a pit-roasted steer, a dance on the store’s second floor, and families sleeping on blankets outside before riding home.

SOURCES — Spokane’s First Fourth, 1876
• Youngs, J. William T. The Fair and the Falls: Spokane’s Expo ’74. Eastern Washington University Press, 1996 (ISBN 9780910055338). Chapter 2 pulls together the Lefevre, Masterson, Glover, and Cowley quotes.
• Durham, N.W. History of the City of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington. S.J. Clarke, 1912. Free scan on Internet Archive.
• Edwards, Jonathan. An Illustrated History of Spokane County. W.H. Lever, 1900.
• Archives: Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (MAC), Spokane – Spokane County Pioneer Association Papers; Washington State University MASC – Spokane pioneer interviews.

🦬Where the Bison Roam: Glenrose Prairie, Spokane Washington ゚
06/30/2026

🦬Where the Bison Roam: Glenrose Prairie, Spokane Washington
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