Fluidr / 1coffeelady's "Multnomah Falls~Bridal Veil, Oregon & Fort Walla Walla ~Touchet/Wallula, Washington" set

Sweet Orange & Rust Rail Sign ~ Corbett, Oregon

A Canon PowerShot S95 — 1/15s ƒ/2.2 ISO 400 at 6.9 mm

N 0 B 79 C 0 E Aug 22, 2016 F Apr 26, 2020

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Portland 35 Miles
Tacoma 177 Miles
Seattle 210 Miles
Pendleton 173 Miles
Spokane 305 Miles
Boise 393 Miles

Tags: rust orange rail railtracks over head rail tracks tracks corbett oregon oregon rails. signs cool signs bright signs rail signs

Sizing It Up "Multhamah Falls ~ Bridal Veil, Oregon

A Canon PowerShot S95 — 1/20s ƒ/2 ISO 640 at 6 mm

N 0 B 112 C 0 E Aug 22, 2016 F Apr 26, 2020

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The waterfall formed around 15,000 years ago at the end of a hanging valley, and was created by the Missoula Floods. According to legend from the Multnomah tribe (from whom the falls take their name), the waterfall was formed after a young woman sacrificed herself to the Great Spirit to save Multnomah village from a plague by jumping from the cliff, and the Multnomah peoples were saved. After her death, water began to flow from above the cliff, creating the waterfall.
The falls were noted in the journals of explorers William Clark and Meriwether Lewis during their expedition through the Columbia River Gorge in 1805. In an October 30 journal entry, Lewis notes:
passed Several places where the rocks projected into the river & have the appearance of having separated from the mountains and fallen into the river, small niches are formed in the banks below those projecting rocks which is common in this part of the river, Saw 4 Cascades caused by Small Streams falling from the mountains on the Lard.

Tags: multnomah falls oregon multnomah falls bridal veil oregon multnomah falls oregon waterfalls missoula floods & multnomah falls falls water falls nature nature water falls falling water Columbia River Gorge & multnomah falls

The History of Wallula Interpretation Sign ~ Touchet, Washington

A Canon PowerShot S95 — 1/15s ƒ/2.5 ISO 400 at 7.5 mm

N 0 B 2.1K C 0 E Aug 22, 2016 F Apr 26, 2020

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Geology at Wallula
From 15,000-18,000 years ago what many geologists believe were the Earth’s largest floods raced through Wallula Gap. Some of these floods were as many as twenty times as large as the combined discharge of all the world’s current rivers

The Gap was only large enough to accommodate about half the discharge from ice-dammed Glacial Lake Missoula, which caused the water to surge at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour through the opening at Wallula. These floodwaters created channeled scablands, surged up the Walla Walla, Yakima and other valleys, roared through the Columbia River Gorge and inundated the Willamette Valley on their way to the ocean.

Glacial Lake Missoula, comparable in size to Lake Erie, was formed during the glaciations of the Pleistocene ice age, which began about two million years ago, when a tongue of ice flowed south from British Columbia’s Cordilleran ice sheet and blocked the Clark Fork of the Columbia River. When a series of approximately 2000-foot-thick ice dams broke, Lake Missoula emptied in massive floods, each lasting a few days. In these Missoula Floods, icebergs rode the waves, depositing at Wallula a variety of exotic rocks. The Two Sisters monument there is an example of some of the flood-created scablands at Wallula. ~From “Where the River Bends,” Robert J. Carson, et. al.

Native Peoples
Wallula was a permanent village site for Wallulapum (Walla Walla) Indians as well as a place of intertribal encampments of Walla Wallas, Cayuses, and Nez Percés numbering several thousands in late summer. Here they traded, celebrated, discussed political concerns, renewed friendships, courted, raced horses, and gambled.

Those who lived in the Wallula area between about 11,000 and 8,000 years ago lived in temporary shelters in small mobile groups, foraging a wide variety of plant and animal resources, including fish, river mussels, deer, elk, antelope, birds, rabbits, and hares. Later, the people became more sedentary and small villages appeared, including longhouses.

Around 1720 the horse reached the Wallula area, greatly increasing mobility and the range of trade and resource gathering. However, the underlying culture continued to rely on a seasonal round centered on salmon fishing, root gathering, and deer and elk hunting.
~From “Chiefs and Chief Traders,” Theodore Stern, and “Where the River Bends,” Catherine E. Dickson, et. al

Lewis & Clark
The Corps of Discovery camped just south of Wallula on October 15, 1805 on their way to the Pacific Ocean. On their return in April of 1806, they camped for two nights at the Walla Walla village on the north side of the river, where Chief Yellepit gave Captain Clark a white horse, and Clark gave Yellepit his sword. The explorers then swam their horses and ferried their baggage across the river in two canoes provided by the Walla Wallas, after which the party camped for the night just north of the mouth of the Walla Walla River – also visible from here.
In his journal, Lewis described the Walla Wallas as “the most hospitable, honest, and sincere people that we have met with in our voyage… This village consists of 15 large mat lodges. A little before sunset the Chymnahpos (Yakamas) arrived. They joined the Wallahwollahs and waited very patiently to see our party dance. The fiddle was played and the men amused themselves with dancing about an hour. We then requested the Indians to dance which they very cheerfully complied with.”

Fur Traders
In 1818, the North West Company built Fort Nez Percés as a fur trading post at the mouth of the Walla Walla River. In 1821 this was rebuilt by the Hudson’s Bay Company as its Fort Walla Walla, a center for outfitting and supplying the inland empire fur brigades, as well as for trade with local Indians.

Fort Nez Percés was heavily fortified, and became known as the Gibraltar of the Columbia. Beaver pelts from the vast inland region were shipped through Wallula to Vancouver, and from there were loaded onto ships for England. The authority of the Hudson’s Bay Company was respected by local tribes, and many of their mostly French-Canadian or Métis employees settled in an area of the Walla Walla Valley that became known as Frenchtown, often marrying local Indian wives.

Steamboats
In territorial days, Wallula served as a major steamship port for the inland areas of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The first steamboat, the Colonel Wright, arrived at Wallula in April 1859 carrying military supplies for the US Army post, also called Fort Walla Walla, at the new town of Walla Walla to the east. After that, regular steamship service could be relied upon for carrying cattle, sheep and wheat to coastal markets and for bringing settlers to the interior. Miners also used the route to travel to British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana.

The steamship dock was at the mouth of the Walla Walla River. As you look out over present day Lake Wallula, the Walla Walla joined the Columbia to your right and about a half mile from here. The steamboats on the Columbia River were eventually replaced by major railroads which arrived at Wallula in the 1880s.

Railroads
In 1871, construction of the first Pacific Northwest railroad of any length began at Wallula. The Walla Walla and Columbia River Railroad was completed in 1875 to connect the town of Walla Walla with the steamship dock at Wallula. The only previous tracks in the region were the short portage lines around the Columbia River rapids at the Cascades and between the Dalles and Celilo Falls. In 1880, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company began a line from Wallula to Portland, which by 1883 was linked at Wallula to the Northern Pacific’s transcontinental railroad. In 1888, five railroads brought as many as 15 to 30 trains a day to Wallula.

Despite a town having been established around the ruins of Old Fort Walla Walla where the steamship dock and the WW&CR railroad depots were located, the OR&N built its track and depot a mile inland because its freight business no longer relied on river traffic. A new town of Wallula was then built around these tracks to capitalize on the railroad and its workers and customers, after which the first town was abandoned.
Though Wallula aspired to be “The Railroad Center of the Northwest,” in 1884 the NP built the new town of Pasco, and in 1887 the Union Pacific bought the OR&N and extended its line to Umatilla, where most of the trainmen relocated. When Lake Wallula inundated the depot facilities at Wallula in 1953, the tracks were moved east to their present location, and the town of Wallula was again relocated, this time to a hill to the northeast.

The Towns and Lake Wallula
The first town of Wallula was established in 1860 by James Vansyckle as a depot for the gold rush into the eastern mountains of Washington Territory. It also served travelers on the Mullan Road linking Fort Benton on the Missouri River with Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia. The original town thrived during the gold rush, but declined by the late 1860s.

In the 1880s the railroads created a temporary boom for the second town built a mile east along the new mainline. With the construction of McNary Dam and the 1953 inundation of both town sites by Lake Wallula, the final town of Wallula looks down from a low hill to the northeast of here that can be seen from the bluffs above, and many locations of Wallula’s history are now under water.
Walla Walla County

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Fort Walla Walla Historic Interpretation Sign ~ Wallula, Washington

A Canon PowerShot S95 — 1/15s ƒ/2 ISO 400 at 6 mm

N 0 B 75 C 0 E Aug 22, 2016 F Apr 26, 2020

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*Excuse the pic.
To the west, at the junction of the Walla Walla & Columbia Rivers is the site of a trading post built in 1818.
Fort Walla Walla was a vital link in the region fur trade & helped open up the Northwest to the white man. From this post traders & trappers pushed into the rich Snake River basin.
Pioneers on the overland trek to the Oregon country in the 1840's found its farms a source of supply & employees of the fort were among the area's first permanent settlers.
The fort was abandoned by the Hudson's Bay Company at the start of the Indian War in 1855.

"Fort Nez Perces, 1818" Interpretational Sign ~ Wallula, Washington

A Canon PowerShot S95 — 1/15s ƒ/2 ISO 400 at 6 mm

N 0 B 223 C 0 E Aug 22, 2016 F Apr 26, 2020

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***Excuse the pic
This site honors the Trading Post built by the Northwest Company of Canada as Fort Nez Perces & rebuilt by the Hudson's Bay Company as Fort Walla Walla in the early 1800's. In 1811, David Thompson of the Northwest Company led a fur trading party down the Columbia River & planted a British flag at the mouth of the Snake River, claiming sovereignty over this region for Britain. Thompson & his party then met Walla Walla Chief Yellept at Wallula, where Thompson promised to build a post. In 1818, the North West Company built Fort Nez Perces at the mouth of the Walla Walla River, which later was known as Fort Walla Walla after it was rebuilt by the HBC in 1821. The Wallula fort served as the Hudson's Bay Company center for the outfitting & supplying of all of the Company's inland empire fur brigades, as well as for trading with local tribes.

The Trading Post at Wallula were on the north bank of the mouth of the Walla Walla River, now inundated by the backwaters of McNary Dam. The stones placed in the ground where you stand were recovered from the foundations of the old forts before the area was flooded. The closet accessible point to where the historic forts originally stood is on US 730 as you enter Wallula Gap, just past milepost 5. There you will find a Wallula History Site with additional signage relating to the fascinating Geology of the area, the Native Peoples who lived & gathered here, the Lewis & Clark Expedition which camped near there on its way to the Pacific Ocean & again on its way east, the Fur Traders who were the Europeans to settle in the area, the Steamboat which docked at Wallula near the old fort & opened the inland region to modern travel & trade, the railroads that once brought 15-30 trains a day to Wallula, the three Towns of Wallula, & the flooding of the area by Lake Wallula after completion of McNary Dam. Just beyond the Walllula History Site are the legendary Two Sisters pillars shown behind the fort in the historic sketches below, which you should also visit.

*Fort Nez Perces, 18181, from A. Ross, Fur Traders of the Far West
*Fort Walla Walla, John Mix Stanley, 1853