David Douglas was born in 1799 in Scotland and died in 1834 in Hawaii. In between he traveled all over Canada and the Pacific Northwest; our majestic Douglas Fir tree, with its unique feathery cones, was named for him.
In author Jack Nisbet's book about David Douglas, The Collector, he described a "Stevens County" travel:
"Early the third morning, as the men crested the divide between the Colville and Spokane drainages, the woods opened up to offer 'one of the most sublime views that could possibly be, of rugged mountains, deep valleys, and mountain rills' The switch from mixed coniferous forest to the drier, more open habitats of bunchgrass and Ponderosa Pine appealed to Douglas. The trail wound down to the Spokane River (near present-day Tum Tum) then followed grassy benches upstream to its confluence with the Little Spokane. There, in the summer of 1810, Jaco Finlay, working as an emissary of David Thompson, had constructed the fur post known as Spokane House. ..... On the pleasant spring day that Douglas rode into Spokane House, the 58-year-old Finlay received his guest with a meal of camas, bitterrott, and cakes of black tree lichen....."
There is your spotlight on Eastern Washington history for today. Hope you enjoyed it!
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