The lowest point in the county is the Spokane River behind Long Lake Dam (boundary of Stevens County) at 1538 ft (468 m) above sea level. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,781 sq mi (4,610 km 2), of which 17 square miles (44 km 2) (0.9%) are covered by water. The current Spokane county seat holder, Spokane, wrested the seat from Cheney in 1886. The first post office in the county was located at Spokane Bridge. It was annexed by Stevens County on January 19, 1864, and recreated on October 30, 1879. Spokane County was established by the Washington legislature effective January 29, 1858. Known as the Spokane House, or simply "Spokane", it was in operation from 1810 to 1826. This post was established in 1810, at the confluence of the Little Spokane and Spokane Rivers, becoming the first enduring European settlement of significance in Washington. He sent out two trappers, Jacques Raphael Finlay and Finan McDonald, to construct a fur-trading post on the Spokane River in Washington and trade with the local Indians. After establishing the Kullyspell House and Saleesh House fur trading posts in what are now Idaho and Montana, Thompson then attempted to expand further west. The Spokane tribe, after which the county is named, means "Children of the Sun" or "sun people" in Salishan Explorer-geographer David Thompson, working as head of the North West Company's Columbia Department, became the first European to explore what is now the Inland Northwest. Initially, the settlers hunted predominantly bison and antelope, but after the game migrated out of the region, the native people became dependent on gathering various roots, berries, and nuts, and harvesting fish. Pick your customized guide from your county, city or legislative district below.The first humans to arrive in what is now Spokane County arrived between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago and were hunter-gatherer societies who lived off the plentiful game in the area. The races that remain - state legislators, State Supreme Court Justices, local judges and ballot measures, and others - will determine how we fund our schools, how fair our judicial system is, and many other issues that are very important to our communities and our future. Keep on voting! There\'s a reason why thousands of people in your district are voting in every race on the ballot. Mockler was widely endorsed by progressive state legislators and local Democratic organizations in her 2021 run and is the better choice in this race. Simpson is backed by the local county Republicans. He also pushed back on the need for a race equity committee, which was established after the national conversation on racial justice to better address the concerns of Bremerton residents. While on the council, Simpson voted against making it easier for people to have small rentals on their properties, which could help alleviate the affordable housing crunch. They immediately voted to re-appoint him, but as a result, Simpson must now run for the seat again. In February 2021 when Simpson had been working in Japan for an extended period of time, the city council voted to remove Simpson from the District 6 seat because he had spent more than 30 continuous days outside of the city. Her opponent, incumbent Mike Simpson, is one of the more conservative members of the council. She supports union workers and believes that the city should prioritize union contracts to promote living wages and fair working conditions. As a former insulation contractor whose family works in construction, she wants to enforce a warranty of habitability to ensure that residents have structurally safe housing. Unique to Mockler's campaign is her focus on housing quality. She also wants to build more bike lanes and safe sidewalks, as well as promote green manufacturing jobs. If elected, Mockler would focus on securing grants that help low-income families buy their first home. Mockler is a former professor and wetland scientist who is running for Bremerton City Council, Position 6 to support sustainability. Due to an error by the Kitsap County Auditor's Office that resulted in almost 400 of the race's ballots going to the wrong voters, a county superior judge has deemed that the 2021 general election between Anna Mockler and Mike Simpson for Bremerton City Council District 6 must be re-voted.