Spokane Falls

The Spokane Falls are an impressive series of cascades where the Spokane River drops about 100 feet through basalt canyon walls in the middle of downtown. At peak spring flow they are genuinely dramatic; by late summer the flow is reduced but still visible. The Upper Falls and Lower Falls are both accessible from Riverfront Park, and the gondola ride offers the best views from above.

The falls have defined Spokane since long before the city existed. The surrounding basalt cliffs, carved by the catastrophic Missoula Floods at the end of the last ice age, give the falls their distinctive rocky character. The best vantage is from the Howard Street Bridge or from the gondola.

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A story
The Spokane people, who lived here for thousands of years before European settlers arrived, called the falls "Sntúulixʷ" — the meeting place. The falls were the reason Spokane existed: the river's power drove the sawmills and flour mills that made the city rich in the 1880s, and the hydroelectric potential made it one of the first cities in the American West with electric street lighting.