160 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
Spokane (spo-kan’) is a division terminal of the Northern Pacific 
Railway, and is the center of an extensive agricultural and mining 
region that is frequently referred to as the ‘‘inland 
Spokane, Wash. empire of the West.” A settlement was early estab- 
Elevation 1,919 feet. lished at this place, and in 1881 it was incorporated 
Population 104,402. 
as Spokane Falls, but later the second part of the 
name was dropped. The city is served by main lines 
or branches of all the transcontinental railroads crossing the States 
of Washington and Oregon, including the Canadian Pacific. Fort 
Wright, one of the more modern military posts of the Government, 
is attractively situated on the bluffs of the river just below the city 
limits, but is not visible from the train. 
On leaving the station at Spokane (see sheet 22, p. 164) the train 
runs down the broad valley for some distance, but not within sight 
of the falls, and then turns to the left up the valley of Latah Creek. 
Here there are extensive hillside cuts on the left, exposing beds of 
dark sand and gravel, which were evidently derived largely from the 
basalt and were washed into this side ravine by floods that came 
down the main valley. This is evident from the way in which the 
gravel is bedded.' 
The valley of Latah Creek, as well as that of Lake Creek, up which 
the railway goes, is marked by a number of well-developed terraces 
that were doubtless formed at the same time as or soon after the 
formation of the delta described above, and a correct interpretation 
of their meaning would throw much light on the conditions prevailing 
* Careful inspection shows that the sand 
and gravel is cross-bedded and that the 
St. Paul 1,505 miles. 
top of the bed A and laid down as a thin 
The main stream was then deprived of 
this dumping ground, for that was filled 
FIGURE 33.—Cross-bedding in glacial gravel on Latah Creek 1 mile west of Spokane, Wash. 
was deposited as a delta—that is, the 
material was washed into the side valley, 
then occupied by a lake, and at first was 
laid down on the slope AB. The point A 
marks the surface of the water, above 
which the material could not be piled. 
Additional material was carried along the 
to the same height as the river channel, 
so the gravel was dropped in the main 
valley, building it up to the height of D. 
At this new height the process was re- 
peated until the side valley was filled to 
the line DF and eventually to the high- 
est point the water reached, 
