
The Spokane people shared their culture and Salishan language with several other tribes, including the Coeur d' Alenes, Kalispels, Pend Oreilles, Flatheads, Kootenays, and Colvilles among others. The Spokane consisted of three bands that lived along the Spokane River. The Spokane Falls were the tribe's center of trade and fishing. When asked about their origins by early white explorers, the tribe said their ancestors came from "Up North". The Spokane tribe, after which the city is named (which means "Children of the Sun" or "sun people" in Salishan ), are believed to be either direct descendants of the original hunter-gatherers who settled in the region, or descendants of tribes that migrated to the area from the Great Plains. 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. The first humans to arrive in the Spokane area arrived between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago and were hunter-gatherer societies who lived off the plentiful game in the area.

The Spokane Falls and its surroundings were a gathering place and focus for settlement for the area's indigenous people for thousands of years, due to the fertile hunting grounds and abundance of salmon in the Spokane River. The opening of the River Park Square Mall in 1999 sparked a downtown rebirth that included the building of the Spokane Arena and expansion of the Spokane Convention Center. Spokane is still trying to make the transition to a more service-oriented economy. With falling silver, timber, and farm prices, the city economy began a decline that would last into the 1990s. Spokane hosted the first environmentally themed World's Fair in Expo '74, becoming the then-smallest city to ever host a World's Fair. It was one of the most important rail centers in the western United States. Paul and Pacific railroads, Spokane became the commercial center of the Inland Northwest. With the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the later additions to the city's railroad infrastructure by the arrival of the Union Pacific, Great Northern, and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. By 1881, the Northern Pacific Railway was completed, bringing major European settlement to the area. Glover and Matheney knew that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company had received a government charter to build a main line across this northern route. They realized the development potential and bought the claims of 160 acres (0.65 km 2) and the sawmill from Downing and Scranton for $4,000 total. Glover and Jasper Matheney, two Oregonians passing through the region in 1873, recognized the value of the Spokane River and its falls. Scranton, built a cabin and established a claim at Spokane Falls in 1871.

Downing, with his wife, stepdaughter, and S.R. The first American settlers, squatters J.J. At the nexus of the Little Spokane and the Spokane, Thompson's men built a new fur trading post, which is the first long-term European settlement in Washington state. The first European to explore the Inland Northwest was Canadian explorer-geographer David Thompson, working as head of the North West Company's Columbia Department. The area's indigenous people settled there due to the fertile hunting grounds and abundance of salmon in the Spokane River. The history of Spokane, Washington in the northwestern United States developed because Spokane Falls and its surroundings were a gathering place for numerous cultures for thousands of years.
