8/22/16 - Fort Spokane

I had made no plans at all to go to Fort Spokane.   I didn’t even know where it was or what it was.  But sometimes serendipity takes over and gets you where you want to go, even if you didn't know it.

Summer in the northwest  means forest fires—there was a big one going over by Lake Chelan, and a couple of days ago a smaller one started north of Davenport they called the Cayuse Mountain/Hart Road fire.  Staying at George's daughter's on Wild Rose Prairie, and wheat harvest was in full swing, with lots of dust blowing.  

We’d been cooped up a bit, and George wanted to take a drive.  We just sort of meandered west on Highway 2, then headed north from Davenport, past the road closure for the firefighters.  We were east of the fire with the smoke blowing away from us.

Just before we got to the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers, I noticed a sign for Fort Spokane, so I talked George into stopping.  Fort Spokane is in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. George could get another passport stamp.

George said when he was a kid, they used to come out to the river and hunt for arrow heads. Can’t do that on national park land anymore.

I didn’t bring the camera with me.  I also managed to leave my phone at home.  George had his so I borrowed it, although that’s not my favorite way to take pictures.

We went to the Visitor Center (which is in the old guardhouse), got the stamp, talked to the volunteer, looked at the museum.  Fort Spokane had an interesting, although short history.  Established in 1880, it was one of the last frontier forts in the West.  Less than 20 years later, the fort was decommissioned, and turned into an Indian boarding school for about 8 years.  Later it served on and off as a TB sanatorium then an Indian hospital until it was finally closed in 1929.  

After checking out the museum, we  wandered around outside a little bit. Actually, not very much because all the buildings had been torn down and just a few rebuilt.  But...we got the stamp! 

Here's the link to the pictures on Flickr:  Fort Spokane