Spokane House: MAC 100 Stories: A Centennial Exhibition
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Spokane House was Washington state's first fur-trading post and home to Jaco Finlay, a clerk for the North West Company of Montreal. The son of a Scottish trader and an American Indian "country wife," Finlay prepared a trail across the Rockies in 1806 and spent more than 20 years in the region as a scout, interpreter and fur trader. When the company needed a Spokane-area base, he built Spokane House near an existing tribal fishing village. Even after the post moved north, Jaco stayed here with his wife, Teshwentichina, a member of the Spokane tribe.
MAC 100 Stories: A Centennial Exhibition is told on the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture campus in Spokane's Browne's Addition, with additional highlights at 15 sites in Spokane and eastern Washington. The exhibit experience (February 22, 2014 - January 2016) weaves stories and programs about Inland Northwest people, places and events by capitalizing on the MAC's extraordinary collection. www.northwestmuseum.org
Spokane Historical presents 15 regional and city tours in partnership with the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture and its 100 Stories exhibition.
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Visitors at the newly built Spokane House Interpretive Center, 1966.
Image L2008-9.56 courtesy of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture.
Excavation Site
An aerial view of early Spokane House foundations in Riverside State Park. Image L95-12.204 courtesy of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture
Fur Trade Trunk
This trunk housed personal belongings or trade goods at Spokane House. It was portable and could travel from post to post. Item courtesy of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture Collection 691.3
Fort Colville
In 1826, the Hudson's Bay Company packed up Spokane House contents and moved north to establish Fort Colville. After Jaco Finlay's death in 1828, Spokane House was abandoned. Image L2013-1.98 courtesy of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture
Visitors at Spokane House, 1966
Now a part of Riverside State Park, Spokane House attracts many annual visitors, prompting construction of an interpretive center in 1966. Image L2008-9.52 courtesy of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture.