In 1810, the Canadian North West Company established a fur-trading post called Spokane House.  Spokane House became the first long term non-Indian settlement in what is now Washington state.  Many nations had explored the Washington’s coast.  With the exception of a Spanish garrison at Neah Bay – lasting only a few months, none had tried to start a settlement. 

Fur-trading was what drew most people to Washington.  Spokane House was built along the Spokane River, by the North West Company – a fur-trading company that traveled by land.  Explorer and mapmaker David Thompson commissioned Jacques Raphael to build a trade house for the Spokane and Colville. 

Spokane House turned into a complex of buildings.  There was the trading store, an office, dormitories for the men, and carpenter and blacksmith shops.  It became a desirous destination for those working nearby. 

Spokane House changed hands two times.  The first was in 1821, when the North West Company merged with the Hudson Bay Company.  In 1825, Hudson Bay decided to close Spokane House and move to Kettle Falls.  Jacques Raphael, the founder, moved into the original settlement with his wife, living as an independent trader until 1828. 

During these years, the only establishments in current day Washington State were trading posts.  Later, in 1836, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman traveled to Washington marking the first white woman to journey to Washington and the first mission work in Washington.  The Whitman’s spent their time working with the Cayuse Indians.  While teaching them about Christianity, the Whitman’s attempted to change the Indian’s lifestyles.  Differences in culture, values, and language resulted in conflict between the missionaries and the Cayuse. 

Narcissa Whitman also started a school for her adopted children and the Indian children.  They were taught to observe the Sabbath, to read and write English, and even to sing.  In the winter of 1846-1847, William Geiger was hired to teach school.  

In the fall of 1847, an infected wagon train started a measles epidemic that killed approximately half of the Cayuse Indians.  Marcus Whitman, considered a medicine man, had been unable to stop the spread.  Some of the Cayuse viewed the epidemic as an attack against their people.  On November 29, 1847 they retaliated, killing the Whitmans along with 11 others. 

The deaths of the Whitmans did not stop the arrival of emigrants.  The Treaty of 1855 set aside certain reservation lands, opening the rest for homesteading.  Walla Walla was established in 1859. Also in 1859, Rev. Eells laid claim to the Waiilatpu mission site and established a school there in honor of Marcus Whitman.  It was eventually renamed Whitman College.