Additional land at
Mount Spokane was obtained due to the efforts of Cheney Cowles (1908–1943), whose father ran the
Cowles Publishing Company. Cowles was the managing editor of the
Spokane Daily Chronicle and was an original member of the Spokane Ski Club; he was killed in military plane crash in
Alabama during The Vista House at the summit was constructed in 1933, and built by local Washington contractor E.O. Fieldstad – the first of five
fire lookouts on the mountain, some of which were constructed by the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Mount Spokane hosted the Northwest ski championships in February 1937. Future
Olympic gold medalist Gretchen Fraser (
née Kunigk), then 18, won the women's
slalom. The ski area was originally on the west side of the mountain with
rope tows and operated the world's first double
chairlift converted from a mine
tramway from with a lodge built by the CCC the late fire in the nearly-completed lodge addition in January 1952 began the move to the east slopes. A new day lodge (#1) was built by the state on the east side and a
Riblet double chair was installed in the summer of 1956. A second was added five years later, and a third in 1970. The fourth chair was added a few years later, the fifth in 1977 and the sixth in 2018.
Night skiing on Mount Spokane began in December 1967. The majority owner of the Mount Spokane Chairlift, Inc. was founder Al E. Mettler who sold his interest in 1970 to Six years later, Caley filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the ski area assets were sold to a creditor,
Riblet Tramway Company of Spokane. Mettler returned in March 1976, as interim general manager for a few months, relieved by Keith Petrie, previously at
Anthony Lakes in eastern
Oregon. Sam Wormington took over in 1977, moving southwest to Spokane from nearby in ==References==