Fire in the Woods: Images of Tribal Forestry in Eastern Washington

  • By Jack Nisbet
  • Posted 6/12/2025
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 23302

David Thompson's Trade Route by Jason Blake, 2005, Courtesy Bennett Communications

Sketch on the Spokane River, by Paul Kane, n.d., Courtesy ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. ©ROM

View of Snake River at mouth of Tukanon showing Fort Taylor and Peaks Taylor and Gaston, by Gustavus Sohon, 1858, Courtesy Library of Congress

Mountain Trail Probably Approaching McGillivray's (Kootenay) River, by Henry James Warre, July 1845, Courtesy Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1971-86

Valley of the Columbia River, by Henry James Warre, 1840s, Courtesy American Antiquarian Society

Looking for a Ford, McGillivray's (Kootenay) River, by Henry James Warre, 1845, Courtesy Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1965-76-9

Falls of the Kootenay (ak-kaph-kleh) From Near the Trail, by James Madison Allen, 1857–1862, Courtesy National Archives (102278920)

Spokan Plains nears Plants House Camp, by Charles Wilson, May 22, 1861, Courtesy Royal BC Museum and Archives PDP03201

Spokane Falls, 1874-1890, Photo by Carleton E. Watkins, Courtesy Mammoth Plate Photographs of the North American West, Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Camp on the Spokane River, by Gustavus Sohon, September 6, 1859, Courtesy Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections

Four Ponderosa Pines in a Forest Near Spokane, 1915, Photo by Asahel Curtis, Courtesy Washington State Historical Society (1943.42.32934)

Spokane Ferry, by James Madison Allen, 1857–1862, Courtesy National Archives (102278863)

River Scenery, by Paul Kane, 1840s, Courtesy ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. ©ROM

Mission Station of Walker and Eells, Spokane River, by Paul Kane, 1847, Courtesy Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 31.78.69

Deer Drive, Coeur d'Alene Lake, by Nicolas Point, 1840s, Courtesy The Archive of the Jesuits in Canada / Archives des jésuites au Canada, GLC BO-43.S7.3.61

Western White Pine, Pinus monticola, by Almyr Lambert, 1833, Courtesy A Description of the Genus Pinus, Vol. 3. George White; H. Weddell, 1837

Dwarf Mistletoe, Arceuthobium sp, by William Jackson Hooker, 1829, Flora Boreali-americana, Vol. 1. London : H.G. Bohn, 1829

Camas, Cammassia quamash, 1838, Botanical Magazine

Columbia River 50 Miles Below Colville, by Paul Kane, 1847, Courtesy Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 31.78.4

Columbia River, the Grand Rapid, Colville, by Paul Kane, 1840s, Courtesy of ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. ©ROM

The Kettle Falls, by Paul Kane, 1847, Courtesy Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 31.78.68

East Shore Lake Roosevelt, n.d., Photo by Jack Nisbet

The Forest on Fire, by R.P. Leitch, n.d., The North-West Passage by Land, p. 225

Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest have used fire to manage the land around them for thousands of years. The concept of reciprocal nurture, or "taking care" of a place so that the land could provide for the people in turn, has been part of this fire dynamic since time immemorial. In this pictorial essay for HistoryLink, Spokane author and historian Jack Nisbet explores tribal burning practices on the east side of the Cascades. Click on the image of the map above to get started.

More: Images of Tribal Forestry in Western Washington

Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You