The History of Transportation Through Spokane

SPOTLIGHT ON THE SPOKANE REGION

By Kris Krell

History of Transportation Through Spokane

In the early days of Spokane, the only transportation available to the settlers 

were horses, wagons, or foot to travel around the region.

From 1851 to 1864, in the Spokane Valley, a new mode of transportation was available. Antoine Plante, a French- Canadian man and a Hudson Bay Company trapper, built a ferry across the Spokane River just east of where Millwood is today.  The ferry was named Plante’s ferry, was 40 feet long and was pulled across the river by pulleys and cables.  At the time, the ferry was the only way across the river; it transported people, wagons, and animals.  The military were frequent users of the ferry.  The ferry quit  operations when the Spokane Bridge was built in 1866 just upstream from the ferry.

Between 1859 and 1862, the 611 mile trail--Mullan Military Road--was built and was the most important road through Spokane.  The road travelled between Fort Benton in Montana and Fort Walla Wall southwest of Spokane.  The US Government commissioned Captain John Mullan to build the road.  The road crossed the Palouse and nearby scablands, crossed Plante’s Ferry, and into present-day North Idaho.

Wells Fargo and other stagecoach lines were introduced to the Spokane area is 1866. The stagecoaches brought in passengers, as well as mail from the east and the west. One of the main routes was between Spokane Falls to Colfax.  This main route quit running with the arrival of the railroads but most of the shorter routes ran through the 1920s.  

On June 25, 1881, Spokan Falls saw its first train—the Northern Pacific Railroad.  This line travelled over the Rockies from the east and then down to the Columbia River gorge. 

Another line--the Transcontinental Railroad, connected the Eastern United States lines with California.  This line was completed in Montana in 1883.  This railroad line created a nationwide network that transformed the population and the economy of the Western United States.  Spokane Falls saw its first Transcontinental Railroad train in September 1883.  The train made it possible for the region to ship their lumber, grains, goods, and ore to the rest of the country.  

TheNorthern Pacific Railroad (1881), the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Co. (1889), and the Great Northern Railway (1892) relied on Spokane’s railroad terminal.

There were also shorter or feeder lines.  These linked with other transcontinental lines. Some connected Spokane to mining towns throughout the Pacific Northwest. In 1887, Daniel Chase Corbin built the Spokane International Railway; this line ran between Spokane and Kingsgate, British Columbia.  The Union Pacific Railroad bought out this line in the 1950s and was renamed the Spokane International Railroad, and is still in business—an important connection between southern British Columbia and the Northwestern States.

The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway was another railroad line through Spokane. It was built in 1905 by James Jerome Hill, a Canadian, who also built the Great Northern Railroad. Hill was nicknamed, the “Empire Builder.”  This line was a joint venture between the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway.  It ran along the north bank of the Columbia River.  

By 1970, the Northern Pacific Railway merged with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and the Great Northern Railway to become Burlington Northern Railroad.   

Source: Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, Wikipedia