16 Facts About Spokane Garry

Spokane Garry acted as a liaison between white settlers and American Indian tribes in the area which is eastern Washington state.

Spokane Garry was the son of the tribal chief of the Middle Spokanes, whose name is given by various sources as Illum-Spokanee, Illim-Spokanee and Ileeum Spokanee.

Spokane Garry was accompanied by another boy known as Kootenais Pelly, who became Garry's closest friend at the school.

The students learned English at Fort Spokane Garry and were taught new forms of survival skills.

Spokane Garry enjoyed learning, but found adjusting to the new life difficult.

Spokane Garry became afraid and clenched his teeth only to realize afterwards that he had bitten into the ear of the student holding him.

The student waved off the inadvertent attack, leading Spokane Garry to realize for the first time that white settlers could be well-intentioned, but that resistance to authority would likely be futile.

Spokane Garry spent much of the next few years preaching his simple Anglican faith in the Columbia Plateau and teaching his people methods of agriculture which he had picked up at the Red River settlement.

Spokane Garry found that his new position within the tribal hierarchy created a stronger sense of duty to his people and a need to ensure their peaceful co-existence with white settlers.

On October 17,1853, Spokane Garry met with Isaac Stevens, the newly appointed Governor of Washington Territory.

Stevens later professed himself surprised that Spokane Garry could speak both English and French fluently, but wrote that he found himself frustrated by Spokane Garry's unwillingness to speak frankly.

Two years later, Stevens summoned the Walla Walla, Nez Perce, Cayuse and Yakama tribes to negotiate a treaty, as well as asking Spokane Garry to attend as an observer.

Spokane Garry made an impassioned speech itemizing all the grievances the Indians had and their unwillingness to give up their ancestral lands for the benefit of the whites.

The illegal purchase of Spokane Garry's land caught the attention of the Department of Interior, who sent a special investigator in late October 1891 to probe the issue.

Further, the Skiles report uncovered by Beine reveals collusion in this fraud by Spokane Garry's founding father James Glover and several other leading citizens of the day.

Spokane Garry was survived by his second wife and two daughters.