The Spokane River

From Lake Coeur d’Alene to its confluence with the Columbia, the Spokane River travels 111 miles of varied and often spectacular terrain—rural, urban, in places wild. The river has been a trading and gathering place for Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. With bountiful trout, accessible swimming holes, and challenging rapids, it is a recreational magnet for residents and tourists alike. The Spokane also bears the legacy of industrial growth and remains caught amid interests competing over natural resources.

The contributors to this collection profile this living river through personal reflection, history, science, and poetry. They bring a keen environmental awareness of resource scarcity, climate change, and cultural survival tied to the river’s fate.

Paul Lindholdt is professor of English at Eastern Washington University. He is the author of Explorations in Ecocriticism: Advocacy, Bioregionalism, and Visual Design and In Earshot of the Water: Notes from the Columbia Plateau, which won the 2012 Washington State Book Award for Biography/Memoir.

The contributors are Sherman Alexie, Bob Bartlett, Tim Connor, Rick Eichstaedt, Don Fels, Guadalupe Flores, Jerry R. Galm, Greg Gordon, Stan Gough, Margo Hill, Chris Kopczynski, Becky Kramer, Beatrice Lackaff, Tod Marshall, Camille McNeely, Bart Mihailovich, Stan Miller, Barry G. Moses (Sulustu), Carmen A. Nezat, Jack Nisbet, Rachael Paschal Osborn, John Roskelley, Allan T. Scholz, Bishop William S. Skylstad, William Stimson, Julie Titone, Nance Van Winckel, Sara L. Walker, Jess Walter, Jerry White, Chad Wriglesworth, and J. William T. Youngs.