HISTORY
8 • FEBRUARY 2014
The Current
Plante’s Valley footprints deep as one of original settlers Ferry business just one segment of adventurer’s life By Jayne Singleton and Bill Zimmer |
SPOKANE VALLEY HERITAGE MUSEUM
“Greetings” from your historical tour guides, Seth Woodard and Howard Stegner. This month we will introduce you to Antoine Plante, the first permanent settler-businessman in the Spokane Valley:
Antoine Plante
I was born in Montana in the early 1800s of a French Canadian father and a Flathead Indian mother. I became fluent in English and French as well as several Indian dialects. I worked and explored throughout the northwest learning many of the Indian trails and routes. In 1831 I worked as a trapper for the Hudson Bay Company. I first married a Pend Oreille Indian woman and later, in 1840, married a Flathead Indian woman. I have three children. After living in the Colville country for several years hunting and trapping, my family and I panned for gold in California. We then returned to the Spokane Valley, where I was familiar with a commonly used Indian ford across the Spokane River. We built a log house near the river at Irvin across the river from the cement plant. I built a root cellar and planted an orchard. My property had a natural spring running down from the hills above.
In the 1850s, I built a cable ferry across the river near the Indian ford. At that time, there were no bridges in this area, so business was pretty good. I charged $4 for each wagon with two horses and 50 cents for each additional horse or mule, $2 for a cart or carriage with one horse, $1.50 for each man and horse, $1.50 for each pack animal, 25 cents for loose animals other than sheep or hogs and 15 cents for sheep, goats and hogs. The main reason that I did quite well is that my ferry became part of the Mullan Road and was used by miners, packers and freighters, as well as mail carriers on horseback. Captain Mullan described the ferry as: “A good one, consisting of a strong cable stretched across the river and a boat 40 feet long.” I ferried Territorial Governor Issac Stevens across the Spokane River so that he could continue his journey north to Colville via the Colville Road. After “Spokane Bridge” was built near the state line, my ferry business declined, but I continued to operate it for a few more
years for locals, friends and neighbors. I left the Spokane Valley for the Jocko Valley in Montana and lived out the rest of my life in St. Ignatius. It is always interesting to learn about the explorers, adventurers and settlers who came before us, and we experience all three in the “footprints” of Antoine Plante. Antoine Plante died in 1890 and is buried in the cemetery adjacent to St. Ignatius Mission. This installment of the Footprints in the Valley series was written by Spokane Valley Heritage Museum Executive Director Jayne Singleton and Bill Zimmer, a retired educator and longtime West Valley school board member. For more about this article or other aspects of the history of the Spokane Valley region, visit the museum at 12114 E. Sprague Ave. or call 922-4570.
Dedicated in 1938 (tour guide Seth Woodard is second from left in the photo above), a historical marker notes the location of Antoine Plante’s ferry business, which stands today at modern-day Plante’s Ferry Park. At right, this circa 1925 photo marks the stump remaining from an apple tree, part of the orchard Plante built near his Spokane Valley cabin after settling in the area. The circa 1930 photo below shows the barn Plante built on his property. While these mementos of his property remain, no photo of Plante was ever preserved, according to museum archives.
FOOTPRINTS IN THE VALLEY In this 2014 history series from the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum, “History Heroes” Seth Woodard and Howard Stegner will take readers on a tour of “Footprints in the Valley,” month by month, through photos, documents, articles and treasure hunts. This month: Meet Antoine Plante, Spokane Valley businessman, explorer and adventurer.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE SPOKANE VALLEY HERITAGE MUSEUM