Stefanie Pettit

The Inland Casket Company factory building on Atlantic Street on Spokane’s near north side holds two distinctions. It was home to one of the longest operating casket companies in the area. And it is the only casket factory building still standing in Spokane. This building nearly went the way of the others, but then Marshall Clark of Clark Pacific Realty stepped in. “It was a mess, but I’m good at visualizing things and saw what, with a lot of work, this beautiful old brick building could be,” he said.

The Inland Casket Company factory building on Atlantic Street on Spokane’s near north side holds two distinctions. It was home to one of the longest operating casket companies in the area. And it is the only casket factory building still standing in Spokane. This building nearly went the way of the others, but then Marshall Clark of Clark Pacific Realty stepped in. “It was a mess, but I’m good at visualizing things and saw what, with a lot of work, this beautiful old brick building could be,” he said.

Three days before Christmas, I was returning home from some errands and, since the garage door was open, was about to pull in, when my husband came out and waved me off. There in the garage was a chicken. Now, there has been chicken in the garage before – skinless, boneless and in clear wrap in the freezer – but this was the first feathered, strutting, pecking, squawking one. Due to the timing of her arrival, though I’m pretty sure there was nothing miraculous about it, we consider her the Christmas chicken. And lacking cleverness, we have named her Chicken.

“He plants trees to benefit another generation.” – Caecilius Statius

As pieces of public art go, this one really moves. There is nothing static about Cataract, the 50-foot-long, 10-foot-wide water and bronze artwork that rises 20 feet between the escalators at the Spokane Transit Authority plaza in downtown Spokane. According to Karen Mobley, director of the Spokane Arts Commission, it is one of the most popular pieces of art within a public building in Spokane.

For a few days there, during the Nez Perce War of 1877, it looked like George Cowan would die at Yellowstone National Park – and that would be the end of his story. But as fate would have it, he lived and eventually found his way to Spokane. And when he did die, he and his wife, Emma, were laid to rest at Riverside Memorial Park along North Government Way in Spokane. Once again, a fascinating tale of Northwest history found its conclusion in the cemeteries of Spokane, where a number of history’s most intriguing people are buried.

For a few days there, during the Nez Perce War of 1877, it looked like George Cowan would die at Yellowstone National Park – and that would be the end of his story. But as fate would have it, he lived and eventually found his way to Spokane. And when he did die, he and his wife, Emma, were laid to rest at Riverside Memorial Park along North Government Way in Spokane. Once again, a fascinating tale of Northwest history found its conclusion in the cemeteries of Spokane, where a number of history’s most intriguing people are buried.

Sometimes you can create your own landmark. That’s what Suzanne Grainger decided to do in memory of her husband, Spokane orthopedic surgeon Dr. David William “Bill” Grainger, who was 76 when he died last May while on vacation in Hawaii. Even though his death was unexpected, as people of mature years, they had discussed what each might do for the other when one of them died.

It is customary for Jews to create a Jewish cemetery in the communities where they live. Mount Nebo, a small cemetery easy to overlook as you drive by, lies next to the much larger Greenwood Memorial Park along North Government Way on the west side of Spokane; it is the burial site for about 400 Jews. The approximately 4-acre cemetery can accommodate 1,400 bodies, “but it will probably take us more than 100 years to get to that number,” said Dick Rubens, chair of the cemetery committee at Spokane’s Temple Beth Shalom, which owns Mount Nebo.

It is customary for Jews to create a Jewish cemetery in the communities where they live. Mount Nebo, a small cemetery easy to overlook as you drive by, lies next to the much larger Greenwood Memorial Park along North Government Way on the west side of Spokane; it is the burial site for about 400 Jews. The approximately 4-acre cemetery can accommodate 1,400 bodies, “but it will probably take us more than 100 years to get to that number,” said Dick Rubens, chair of the cemetery committee at Spokane’s Temple Beth Shalom, which owns Mount Nebo.

Usually when you come across a geologic or historic marker along a highway, there’s something actually to see there – a field where a battle took place, a mountain peak in the distance, a structure of historic note. But where Trent Avenue becomes Washington Highway 290 and moves 100 yards or so over the border, becoming Idaho Highway 53, there is a marker erected by the Idaho Transportation Department, right behind which is a little gully paralleling some railroad tracks. Logic would indicate the sign had something to do with trains or railroading.

Usually when you come across a geologic or historic marker along a highway, there’s something actually to see there – a field where a battle took place, a mountain peak in the distance, a structure of historic note. But where Trent Avenue becomes Washington Highway 290 and moves 100 yards or so over the border, becoming Idaho Highway 53, there is a marker erected by the Idaho Transportation Department, right behind which is a little gully paralleling some railroad tracks. Logic would indicate the sign had something to do with trains or railroading.

On a pillar inside the Sprague Avenue entrance of the Davenport Hotel is a plaque honoring a man who resided at the hotel for a portion of the five years he lived in Spokane (1924-’29). The plaque is on a pillar opposite two other plaques declaring the hotel a National Historic Site. How fitting that these commemorations are in close proximity, for the man mentioned on the first plaque was a national treasure himself – Vachel Lindsay, an American poet whose genius was in transforming poetry into performance art, incorporating a theatricality into its recitation that was musical. The first American poet invited to lecture at Oxford, England, he was nationally known and gave poetry recitations to such luminaries as President Woodrow Wilson.

What many people consider one of the most brutal, inexplicable and traumatic acts in the mid-1800s war between the U.S. government and Native Americans of the Inland Northwest wasn’t about the loss of human life. It had to do with horses. On Sept. 8 and 9, 1858, approximately 800 horses belonging to tribes of the area were slaughtered by the soldiers of U.S. Army Col. George Wright along the banks of the Spokane River near what would become the border between Washington and Idaho.

What many people consider one of the most brutal, inexplicable and traumatic acts in the mid-1800s war between the U.S. government and Native Americans of the Inland Northwest wasn’t about the loss of human life. It had to do with horses. On Sept. 8 and 9, 1858, approximately 800 horses belonging to tribes of the area were slaughtered by the soldiers of U.S. Army Col. George Wright along the banks of the Spokane River near what would become the border between Washington and Idaho.