Knothead Trail & Dorset Quarry Tour with Jack Nisbet

Did you know that granite extracted from the Little Spokane River Valley and used in many of Spokane’s iconic downtown buildings and in other structures beyond the region? The stone was even shipped as far as Cascade Locks on the Columbia River near Portland, where it was used in the construction of the locks that allowed river travel before dams were built on the Columbia. Granite from our area was used in the Cascade Locks project, which began in 1889.

Recently, the Friends of the Little Spokane River Valley organized a hike led by Jack Nisbet to explore the quarry where this stone was extracted. It is amazing to consider the determination and hard work required to extract such a heavy material and transport it by horse-drawn wagon into Spokane, where it was then loaded onto trains and shipped to its final destinations. The granite was highly sought after and even won a gold medal for its quality at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.