In the 1860s and 70s, more and more settlers entered the Inland Northwest. Conflicts between those settlers and Native American tribes at times turned violent. Most notably the Nez Perce War (1877) and the Bannock War (1878) were fought over the forced resettlement of those tribes. In this area of Washington, the Spokane and Colville reservations were created north of the Spokane River. Fear of the tribes leaving the reservation caused the local people to call for a permanent

About eight miles west of Wallace we stumbled across a monument dedicated to the Sunshine Mine Disaster that occurred May 2, 1972. The monument includes a statue of a miner and the names of each worker who died in the tragedy. I had never heard of this event. On May 2, 1972, there were 173 workers inside the mine. At 11:40 am a fire started in the mine and an evacuation was ordered 23 minutes later when the location of the fire could not be determined...