Washington’s Spokane Tribe of Indians last week revealed the name and logo for the 0 million it has broken ground on in the western part of the state: the Spokane Tribe Casino. The logo will consist of a mirror image of two horses, one red and one blue, with an upward pointing arrow carved out of the letter “A” in the word Spokane. Another three arrows in the logo will stand for the three bands of the Spokane tribe.
According to the Spokesman-Review, the logo symbolizes the past and the future of the tribe. The new name and symbol were unveiled at a jobs fair on May 31.
“Our ancestral homelands spread across more than 3 million acres, including Airway Heights and much of the Spokane region,” said Carol Evans, chairman of the Spokane Tribal Business Council, in a press release. “This name honors our heritage, our history and our ties to the land.”
The logo is heavy on symbolism attaching to the tribe to land that they roamed in the Spokane River basin, in part because the casino will be an “off-reservation” casino on 145 acres put into trust in the city of Airway Heights by the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the “two-part determination” rule. This rule required the assent of Washington Governor Jay Inslee, which he gave a year ago.
The casino would have 450 slots, 12 table games, a restaurant, deli, gaming-floor bar with an entertainment center, hotel, cultural center, police and fire station to follow in a second phase.
The site is controversial because it is very close to the flight path of the Fairchild Air Force Base, the largest employer in the Spokane area, responsible for 5,700 civilian jobs. The Kalispel Tribe of Indians, who operate the Northern Quest Resort and Casino three miles from the new casino, also oppose it, and have announced their intention to file suit against the Department of the Interior in federal court. They will be joined by Spokane County, which argues that the casino threatens operations at the base, although the Air Force has said previously that operations will not be affected.
The city of Spokane supports the casino for the jobs that it will bring.
