Jennings: Book offers rich, pictorial history of Mount Spokane

Mount Spokane has a rich history, but until recently, learning about it involved diligent detective work to find a clipping here or a photo there.

Duane Becker of Elk, Washington, experienced this trying to satisfy his curiosity about the history of Mount Spokane, so he decided to write his own book about it. The 127-page volume is titled simply “Mount Spokane,” published in 2012 by Arcadia Publishing.

Becker, 54, is a musician who plays pedal steel guitar and piano. He spent years touring with Wiley and the Wild West. Now he performs in several local bands and plays in studio sessions for other artists. Becker is also president of the Pend Oreille County Historical Society.

“I don’t ski a lick, but I’ve been interested in Mount Spokane for years because my brother-in-law, Lynn Sailor, was an avid hiker,” he said. “He would hike up at Mount Spokane to get in shape for backpacking trips. Back in the 1970s, I used to go with him up there and he would tell me stories about the history of the place.”

Becker looked high and low for a book of Mount Spokane history without finding one. About 30 years ago he started visiting the library and scouring newspaper archives, looking for anything he could find about the mountain. Over the years he collected enough material to write a book.

“I really didn’t have any pictures, but I put the word out to the ski patrol, family, friends – anybody – asking if they had pictures of Mount Spokane,” Becker said. “I went to all kinds of functions with historical societies and announced that I was writing a book and I was interested in getting pictures.”

Becker was surprised at the response and ended up with about 850 images. His work is a pictorial history, starting with Francis Cook, of Cook’s Cabin fame, sitting in an 1890 portrait with his family. Cook bought property at the summit and spent the last 10 years of his life building the first road to get there. Becker said he died with a mile to go.

“There were farm to market roads all through Greenbluff at the time,” Becker said. “But by the time Cook got past Greenbluff he was on his own. He and his son surveyed the road with crude instruments. A pick, a shovel, an ax and a saw were all they used to build that road.”

Becker’s book is full of vintage scenes from the golden age of skiing at Mount Spokane. Looking at the photos, I imagined propping my 8-foot long wooden boards against a snow bank outside The Grand Lodge. It was the original ski lodge, a classic alpine structure built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in1940. After a day skiing around snow ghosts, I would warm up and relax by the huge granite fireplace. A crowd of men and women, looking sharp in wool knickers and sweaters, would be talking and laughing.

It’s such a shame the building burned down to its granite foundations in 1952, before a much anticipated new addition could even open. Two men were killed in the fire. One of them, an electrician named Rulon Downard, is immortalized at the ski area with Rulon’s Run, the last exit from No Alibi leading to Two Face.

Strangely enough, Becker writes that skiing had its roots in Spokane on the South Hill. A downhill run and ski jump opened in 1913 just east of the intersection of 57th Avenue and South Custer Road, about two blocks from Moran Prairie Elementary School. It was popular throughout the 1920s. In 1933, Spokane Ski Club volunteers built a log clubhouse on Mount Spokane, along with two rope tows and two ski jumps. The rest, as we say, is history.

Becker said his book is available the old-fashioned way, at local bookstores. I checked Amazon Tuesday and one copy was left in stock. Becker said about half of the first printing of 1,200 copies has been sold. It’s a must-have for those who ski and ride there, or anyone who feels the connection that Spokane’s mountain tends to inspire.