Ramble around Walla Walla

June 28, 2023

The Whitman Mission

Even with the short day yesterday, we were done in last night. I guess I've piled up a sleep debt because I didn't stir until almost 8 this morning, which never happens. We're really happy to have a layover day here, the last one of the trip.

Brad, our WarmShowers host, has suggested a few places we might visit around Walla Walla, named for the Walla Walla tribe – the People of Many Waters. The Whitman Mission west of town looks like a good ride destination where we can learn some of the history of this area.

Fort Walla Walla Park is on the way out so we take a loop through it. The first fort here was established in 1856 by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe. A military cemetery in the park has graves of soldiers going back as early as 1859 from the conflicts with the Indians.

Striking memorial to servicemen from the area who died in World War II

These guns used by a Washington artillery regiment In Europe during World War I are the only ones returned to the custody of the troops who fought with them in the war.

From Fort Walla Walla, Lieutenant John Mullan built the first wagon road across the Rocky Mountains in the inland Northwest. Completed in 1862, the 600 mile road crossed the mountains to Fort Benton Montana. We were close to the halfway point a couple weeks ago in Mullan, ID – the eastern end of the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, and probably crossed it riding south through the Palouse. It's nice to connect a few dots in the story of the country we have been traveling through.

Clearly there's a lot to learn here about the history of the Northwest territory. If we had started earlier I'd be all over the museum, but it's already after noon and heating up so we continue west on Whitman Drive towards the Mission. We have a very pleasant, and short ride going past several prosperous looking horse farms. The trip out is just nine miles and mostly flat, suiting our desire for an easy day.

Whitman Drive is a great road with very little traffic today, plus there's a bike path alongside it much of the way.

These beasts were totally into the graze, did not care about us at all.

I'm up for any National Park Service site and usually come away enlightened on whatever the subject may be. At the Whitman Mission National Historic Site we start by watching the half-hour film about Marcus and Narcissa Whitman's religious mission to the Cayuse Nation in the 1830s. Those familiar with the story might prefer to skip over this account, which I'm putting down here mostly for my own edification. It's likely oversimplified. Any thoughts you might want to add are welcome.

Protestant missionaries from New York, the Whitmans emigrated here in 1836 to save the souls of the Indians. The Cayuse were friendly and interested in what they might learn from the white people, but few bought into the faith. Failing to convert the Cayuse people, Marcus Whitman shifted to teaching them how to farm the land in one place instead of moving with the seasons to sustain themselves. He also offered the mission as a way station for white immigrants traveling on the Oregon Trail and led the first wagon train to the Columbia River.

Waves of immigrants passing through inevitably brought diseases that the Cayuse had no immunity for. After a measles epidemic wiped out half of the native population, but the white people survived, the Cayuse grew to distrust Whitman. They attacked the mission in November 1847, killing Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and ten other men. In the years following the attack, a militia of revenge-minded settlers persecuted the Cayuse, hanging five men, seizing livestock, disrupting the harvest, and putting the people in peril of famine. Tribal leaders were strong-armed into treaties that forced them to give up most of their ancestral lands.

For years the Whitmans were seen as martyrs for the faith and the cause of westward expansion. In the last half-century or so, more attention has been paid to the Indians' point of view. The Whitman Mission historic site focuses more on the Cayuse way of life and the disruptions brought by white settlement, and the 1847 killings are described as a tragedy rather than a massacre.

Outside on the grounds, we walk by sites where homes and buildings of the mission were located, a restored mill pond and other signs of the Whitman homestead. It's a sad story. I appreciate the opportunity here to file another hole in my gaping education.

This replica of a prairie wagon used on the Oregon Trail is smaller than I expected. It had no seats, so travelers generally walked beside it.

Apple trees at the site where Marcus Whitman first planted his orchard

Leaving the mission, we turn north on Old Highway 12 and ride by more farms and vineyards. I heard the Walla Walla Valley is known for Syrah and other reds. We haven't tried any local wines here yet. I probably need to look somewhere other than Safeway.

Vineyard at Three Rivers Winery on old Hwy 12

Three miles from downtown Walla Walla, Llama Llamas

Back at Brad's place we get the laundry done. What a pleasure to have clean stuff again. Last night we had takeout from Applebee's so tonight I'm determined to fix a decent meal. Brad is out for dinner with friends and has offered the use of his beautiful, well-equipped kitchen. He lives half a block from Safeway so I walk up there and forage up some trout, asparagus, wine - a Pinot Noir from Oregon was as close to local as I could find, and other bits for dinner. It's a treat to cook a proper meal in a real kitchen for a change.

Didn't get it together to take a picture of dinner before we devoured it, but here's Brad's kitchen after he cleared away the wreckage.

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Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 1,013 miles (1,630 km)

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Rachael AndersonWhat a great day
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1 year ago