Fish Habitat
After the Northern Pacific Railway lines arrived in Spokane in 1882, there was rapid growth in milling operations along the river. Many of these mills required dams to provide power for their machinery. As a result of the dams blocking the river, salmon populations in the Spokane plummeted, leading to complaints from many of the people living upstream. After the construction of Long Lake Dam in 1915 by Washington Water Power blocked upstream passage, the river's salmon populations disappeared completely.
Steelhead were also abundant on the Spokane River, prior to pollution and the construction of the dams. Today, the Spokane River system is one of the two largest unoccupied stretches of steelhead habitat within their former range.
Today, the Spokane River supports populations of rainbow trout, northern pikeminnow, and Bridgelip Suckers (Catostomus columbianus), as well as several non-native species. Many of the remaining fish, however, are not suitable for human consumption due to the chemical pollution in the river, with signs alongside the river warning that the fish are contaminated with PCBs.
Read more about this topic: Spokane River
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