The rocky landscape of the Spokane Valley is a result of floods that occurred 16,000 years ago. When settlers began to move to the area in the 19th century, the rock and bolder deposits impeded agriculture, road paving, home building and the establishment of irrigation systems. To make use of the land, the rock had to be cleared and settlers of the Valley used the rocks in varying ways, often depending on skills they had brought with them from their homelands.
German settlers opted to deposit the rocks in the center of their cultivated fields, since the center of each field was the shortest distance to move the stones. The stones were then stacked in mounds or pyramid-like shapes. Some settlers sorted through the stone deposits and collected smaller stones to use for building structures.
Historic Photograph of Barth Tower from Otis Orchards the First Fifty Years by M.H. Berglund
Fred and Hugo Barth immigrated from Germany in 1908 and built one of Spokane’s most notable rock structures. Created in 1917, the Barth Tower was primarily built using from the stones cleared from the brothers’ land to plant apple orchards. It was designed by the Barths to resemble a European Watchtower and was created using German masonry techniques. Unfortunately, the tower collapsed in 2020 after being present in Otis Orchards for more than 100 years. Due to the extensive damage and extreme rebuilding costs, the tower was unsalvageable and is no longer standing.
The Irish settlers of the valley disposed of the rocks and boulders cleared from their land to the outskirts of their property. They then created mortarless walls resembling the famous Irish walls from their homeland. Known as ‘dry stone walls’, the stacked rock walls required specific techniques to maintain the structure without binding such as placing smaller stones on the bottom and placing heavier rock along the top to compress the bottom layers together, preventing crumbling. Stone walls are plentiful in the West of Ireland due to the rocky landscape and farmers, similar to the Spokane Valley, cleared rock from their land and created bordering walls. This allowed more grass to grow in the fields for grazing animals to feed on as well as the creation of separated and walled off fields for livestock.
Immigrants from several European nations moved to Spokane, including settlers from Norway. Hans Vilhelm Johannessen Vinge is an example of another native of Europe that participated in using local rock as building material. Vinge arrived to Spokane in 1902 and was a prolific rock builder in the Spokane Valley for many decades often using masonry techniques that he had learned in Norway. Building sites Vinge worked on include the Vista House, the Vera Well House, and many homes in the Spokane Valley.
The use of rock in building structures was not limited to private homes and farms. Local rock was also used in community-wide efforts to further the establishment of the Spokane Valley. Examples of this are the cobblestone school of Otis Orchards, built in 1909, The Vista House fire lookout on the summit of Mt. Spokane, built in 1933, and the Vera Well House, built in 1906 to support the irrigation of the Spokane Valley. Some of these structures remain to this day. The Barth brothers, Hans Vinge, and other settlers of the Spokane Valley helped create a habitable Spokane Valley, while establishing the renowned architectural style of the rock buildings of the Valley.
Historic Photograph of the Cobblestone School from Otis Orchards the First Fifty Years by M.H. Berglund
Researched and written by Sarah Davis
Main source is “Otis Orchards the First Fifty Years” by M.H. Berglund