Stevens County was established in 1863 from the northern part of Walla Walla County. In 1864, Stevens County annexed Spokane County increasing its area to include all of northern Washington. Over the years, Stevens County was reduced in size by the creation of new counties. These include Whitman in 1871, Spokane in 1879, Okanogan in 1888,and after statehood, Ferry in 1899 and Pend Oreille in 1911.
Stevens County remained attached to Walla Walla County for judicial purposes, as part of the First Judicial District until 1867. After 1867, Court sessions were held in Stevens County at Pinkney City (later named Fort Colville). Court sessions continued to be held in Stevens County until 1879 when it was combined with Spokane County for judicial purposes. At that time all court records were transferred to Spokane Falls. District Court was reestablished in 1881 with sessions held at Colville.
Territorial court records from Spokane County include Civil, Criminal, and Probate cases.
The earliest District Court cases date from 1882. The hard copy was destroyed after microfilming. Some early cases from Stevens County are located with the records of Whitman County.
Probate Court was established in 1863, but only one Probate case file dating from 1887 had been located at the time this guide was compiled. One box of additional files dating from 1874-1891 has since been located and are in the custody of the Eastern Washington Regional Archives.
The Colville Indian Reservation occupied a large area of Stevens County, which later became part of Okanogan County. This was also an area of mining activity and some of the cases reflect actions to recover mining claims.
Arranged into series by court of jurisdiction; described herein according to each case type.
None.
None.
In-house only.
[Document cited], Stevens County Territorial [type of case and case #], Washington State Archives Eastern Regional Branch.
The files were created in Territorial Probate, District, or Justice Court and remained in the custody of the County Clerk until transfer to the State Archives.
The material was accessioned into the Archives in 1989.
No further additions are expected.
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Additional court records such as courtroom journals may also be available. Inquire with repository for details.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.