(Nonfiction, 2024)
Ty Brown’s “Along the Little Spokane River: A Sense of Place” is his third book examining Inland Northwest history. “Along the Little Spokane” tells the stories of the families, farms, mills, camps, and resorts that populated the waterway.
The book is broken into three sections: The Headwaters, the Heart of the River, and Meeting the Spokane. The Headwaters follows the river and its stories as it flows from the West Fork headwaters of Sacheen Lake and the main fork near Penrith and Newport to Colbert Road. The Heart of the River flows from Colbert to Dartford with Meeting the Spokane winding to the confluence with the “Big” Spokane at Spokane House.
Brown provides the history behind many of the names in the region, from the namesakes of the Aubrey White and Rutter Parkways and the Herbert Dart family of “Dart’s Ford,” now Dartford, to Glen Tana, Wandermere, and Montvale. The stories behind the Colbert Saloon and more than a few train wrecks are sure to engage readers.
Accentuating these tales are scores of pictures that bring to life the region’s history in a way that words alone cannot. Readers will see hockey teams and recreational skaters at Silas Cook’s ice rink, company picnics, throngs of cyclists in front of the Wandermere Lake bathhouse, and many of the grand houses situated along the river. My favorite shows hundreds of cars parked at the base of a ski jump, watching a 1933 ski jumping tournament near what is now the Kalispel Golf and Country Club.
One thing I would have liked to have seen more of is stories involving the local tribes. While there are some images and mentions, the native story is secondary to that of the White settlers and deserves a closer look. Perhaps Brown will go there next.
