100 years ago in Spokane: Curly Jim, prominent member of Spokane Tribe who lived in teepee near Hangman Creek, dies at 75

From our archive, 100 years ago

Curly Jim, a prominent figure of the Spokane Tribe, died at Sacred Heart Hospital, not far from where he was born 75 years earlier.

He was born near the Upper Falls of the Spokane River and never left, despite the tremendous changes to the area. The Spokane Daily Chronicle, in a front page story, put it this way:

“He saw the passing of the big pines that have now given way to tall buildings; he hunted the wild denizens in a forest now replaced by homes of the white men; he manned his canoe through the swift rapids of the river, the power from which is now moving cars over paved streets and lighting thousands of houses.”

Spokane pioneer James Glover, who knew Curly Jim as a young man, said, “Jim was by far the best athlete of any of the Indians in this country and was well respected by all …”

Glover noted that Curly Jim never went to a reservation, but chose to stay where he was born. He “chose to put up his teepee with a few other Indians just across Hangman Creek.” Just before his death, he was still living “with a few of his people in a little Indian village on a knoll overlooking Indian Canyon.”

The Chronicle said “it was his custom to sit for hours on the steps of the old Trader’s National Bank … looking indifferently at passerby.”

As he lay dying, he told hospital attendants that “he was ready for the long sleep and his only regret was the parting from his old friends.”