![spokane county assessor election spokane county assessor election](https://media.12news.com/assets/KREM/images/a1e237ab-9d7e-439d-ad7e-db6ef85c04fa/a1e237ab-9d7e-439d-ad7e-db6ef85c04fa_540x304.jpg)
To the west is the barren landscape of the Columbia Basin and to the east is the foothills of the Rockies-the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, which rise to the east in northern Idaho. Spokane County has a complex geologic history and varied topography. (There is virtually no change in elevation between the dam and the mouth of the Little Spokane River inside Riverside State Park.) The highest point in the county is the summit of Mount Spokane at 5,887 ft (1,794 m). The lowest point in the county is the Spokane River behind Long Lake Dam (boundary of Stevens County) at 1538 feet (468 m) above sea level. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,781 square miles (4,610 km 2), of which 1,764 square miles (4,570 km 2) is land and 17 square miles (44 km 2) (0.9%) is water. The current Spokane county seat holder, Spokane, wrested the seat from Cheney in 1886. The first post office in the county was located at Spokane Bridge. It was annexed by Stevens County on January 19, 1864, and re-created on October 30, 1879. Spokane County was established by the Washington legislature effective January 29, 1858. Known as the Spokane House, or simply "Spokane", it was in operation from 1810 to 1826. This post was established in 1810, at the confluence of the Little Spokane and Spokane rivers, becoming the first enduring European settlement of significance in Washington state. He sent out two trappers, Jacques Raphael Finlay and Finan McDonald, to construct a fur trading post on the Spokane River in Washington and trade with the local Indians.
![spokane county assessor election spokane county assessor election](https://media.spokesman.com/photos/2016/06/03/PrimVoteSplit.jpg)
After establishing the Kullyspell House and Saleesh House fur trading posts in what are now Idaho and Montana, Thompson then attempted to expand further west. The Spokane tribe, after which the county is named means "Children of the Sun" or "sun people" in Salishan The explorer-geographer David Thompson, working as head of the North West Company's Columbia Department, became the first European to explore what is now the Inland Northwest. Initially, the settlers hunted predominantly bison and antelope, but after the game migrated out of the region, the native people became dependent on gathering various roots, berries, and nuts, and harvesting fish. The first humans to arrive in what is now Spokane County arrived between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago and were hunter-gatherer societies who lived off the plentiful game in the area.
![spokane county assessor election spokane county assessor election](https://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kpbx/files/styles/x_large/public/202108/sherazi_v_jasmin.jpg)
Spokane County is part of the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also part of the greater Spokane-Coeur d'Alene Combined Statistical Area that includes nearby Kootenai County, Idaho. The county is named after the Spokane tribe. The largest city and county seat is Spokane, the second largest city in the state after Seattle. As of the 2010 census the population was 471,221, making it the fourth-most populous county in the state of Washington. Spokane County is a county located in the U.S. Location in the state of Washington (state)