Big history of tiny Wallula remembered
The big history behind the tiny town of Wallula will not be forgotten, thanks to the efforts of a nonprofit civic group.
On April 30, the group Walla Walla 2020 will dedicate the new Wallula Historic Site on Highway 730 south of Wallula Junction just inside Wallula Gap.
Visitors at the dedication will hear about the Wallula area’s place in Western history.
The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery camped there when it was a gathering place for area tribes. It was claimed for Britain in 1811 and became the site of a fur trade fort.
By the 1860s it was a steamship port and then became the first railroad depot in the Northwest.
The historic site has been equipped with six parking places and an interpretive sign that gives a detailed history of the area through the construction of the McNary Dam that flooded the location of the first two townsites of Wallula and the campsite of Lewis and Clark.
(T)he most hospitable, honest and sincere people that we have met with in our voyage....
Meriwether Lewis describes the Wallulapum (Walla Walla) tribe
The Wallula Historic Site also will serve as an entry point to public land, helping visitors explore land along the Columbia River and the bluffs overlooking Wallula Gap.
Several false starts to create an interpretive area on Highway 12 were made before Walla Walla 2020 took on the project.
It got permission from the Washington State Department of Transportation to install the interpretive site at a Highway 730 pullout.
That’s the closest point of land to many of the sites at the mouth of the Walla Walla River before the construction of McNary Dam put them underwater.
Grants were obtained from the Wildhorse Foundation of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Union Pacific Foundation.
Wallula was a permanent village for the Indians now known as the Walla Wallas, according to Walla Walla 2020.
In late summers the Cayuses and Nez Perces would also camp there to trade, renew friendships and race horses.
Members of the Lewis and Clark expedition camped on their 1806 return trip from the Pacific Ocean for two nights in Benton County across and south from where the Walla Walla River empties into the Columbia River.
There, Chief Yellepit gave Capt. Clark a white horse and Clark gave the chief his sword. The next night the expedition camped just north of the mouth of the Walla Walla River.
The North West Co. built Fort Nez Perce just 13 years later on land claimed for Britain at the mouth of the Walla Walla River.
It would later become a Hudson’s Bay Co. trading post for supplying fur brigades and trading with local tribes, according to Walla Walla 2020. It was heavily fortified and became known as the Gibraltar of the Columbia.
The first steamboat arrived at Wallula in 1859, carrying supplies for the new U.S. Army Fort Walla Walla to the east.
The site became a major steamship port, bringing thousands of miners to the Idaho gold fields until steamships were replaced by railroad service.
Construction of the first Pacific Northwest railroad of any length began at Wallula in 1871. Seventeen years later, 15 to 30 trains a day were arriving at Wallula.
The town of Wallula, which moved a mile to the north to take advantage of a new depot location there, aspired to be “The Rairoad Center of the Northwest,” according to Walla Walla 2020.
But the plan was derailed when Northern Pacific built the town of Pasco in 1884.
With construction of the McNary Dam the town of Wallula moved to its present location before the area was flooded in 1953.
Talks on the history of the area will start at 1:30 p.m. at the Wallula Junction Park across from the weigh station south of the Walla Walla River and should not be confused with the Madame Dorion Memorial Park just to the north.
An hour later, buses will leave for the historic site, less than a mile away. Participants are asked to take a bus rather than park along Highway 730.
A ribbon cutting is planned, along with a hiking tour up the bluffs and a shorter walk along the river.
For more information, go to www.ww2020.net/historic-sites.
Annette Cary: 509-582-1533, @HanfordNews
IF YOU GO
The dedication of the new Wallula Historic Site will start at the park at Wallula Junction south of the Tri-Cities where there is space to set up 50 chairs.
The park is across from the weigh station south of the Walla Walla River and should not be confused with the Madame Dorion Memorial Park just to the north.
Those coming from the Walla Walla area can catch a free Walla Walla University bus from the corner of 4th Street and Davis Avenue in College Place at 12:45 p.m. April 30. Make reservations by calling 509-522-0399 or emailing ww2020@charter.net.
Talks on the history of the area will start at 1:30 p.m. at the Wallula Junction Park.
An hour later one or more buses will leave for the historic site, less than a mile away. Participants are asked to take a bus rather than park along Highway 730.
A ribbon cutting is planned at the site, with remarks by an impersonator of David Thompson, who claimed the area for Britain, opening the fur trade there.
A bus will return to the Wallula Junction Park then, or participants can stay longer to tour the area and catch later return buses.
One tour, led by “David Thompson” and author Robert J. Carson, will hike up the bluffs. A shorter walk, led by Sam Pambrun, the great-great grandson of area fur traders, will take visitors down along the Columbia River.
Much of the information provided at the Wallula Historic Site is from Where the River Bends, edited by Carson. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
For more information, go to www.ww2020.net/historic-sites.
This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 6:52 PM with the headline "Big history of tiny Wallula remembered."