Hill near Cheney site of Battle of Four Lakes

Drivers heading west along Interstate 90 from Spokane to Cheney pass by a famous historic battle site. It isn’t all that famous looking today; it looks like a plain old hill, much like any other in the area.

The hill looms in the distance as drivers approach Exit 270, where the road crosses back over the freeway and through the community of Four Lakes.

In the spring, the meadow on the hill is pale green, darker green toward June, golden by late summer and snow-covered in winter. It’s a barometer of the seasons.

But on Sept. 1, 1858, it was the site of a fierce battle when Col. George Wright led a group of 700 soldiers over that hill to defeat a group of Indians.

Although historical documents note that 5,000 Indians were routed, many historians find that number highly exaggerated (more likely 500).

It was a punitive action. Earlier that year, on May 17, Col. Edward J. Steptoe “and his force of 157 men received one of the worst defeats ever experienced by the regular army from the Indians,” according to accounts in “Exploring Spokane’s Past” by Barbara Fleischman Cochran.

“The site of the battlefield is in the area of Rosalia.”

Reprisals were ordered, and Col. Wright was dispatched from Fort Walla Walla, this time bringing with him the latest in weaponry, including long rifles which fired the newly developed minié balls.

Wright and his troops and scouts came over and around the hill and engaged the Yakama, Palouse, Spokan, Coeur d’Alene and other tribal members, under the leadership of Kamiakin, chief of the Yakamas, in a four-hour campaign known as the Battle of Four Lakes, in which, according to historical records, the Indians took heavy losses and the army lost not a man.

This was one battle among many that resulted from Gov. Isaac Stevens’ vigorous campaign to force Indians to sign treaties and retreat to reservations and to further facilitate development of the area by white settlers.

A monument to the Battle of Four Lakes was erected in 1935 on what is now a dusty bare lot at the intersection of First and Electric streets in Four Lakes by the Spokane County Pioneer Society, Medical Lake Commercial Club and Four Lakes Grange.

Granite and workmanship came from the Morris Quarry.