Original Mission Site - Whitman Mission National Historic Site, WA - Self Guided Walks and Trails on Waymarking.com

This loop trail passes through the Original Mission Site and includes eight interpretive signs. Text of signs is included below.

#1 - Farming at the Waiilatpu Mission - N 46°02.416' - W 118°27.905'
The crops and livestock Marcus Whitman raised here fed his mission family. Hungry travellers found food for winter, and their payments helped to offset mission expenses.
For the Indians, the farming methods Whitman taught were training for survival. Marcus knew that root gathering and hunting would not sustain the Cayuse after the white man settled their lands.
Whitman began with one plow and fifteen hoes. Eventually he cultivated the 40 acres in front of you.
The Whitmans planted apple trees the year they arrived, and eleven years later they had 75 fruit trees. The orchard to your left is a small restoration.
Thousands of split rails cut in the mountains protected crops from roaming cattle and helped Indians establish ownership of their fields.
Many irrigation ditches, like the restored one to your right, increased the yield of crops. The Indians learned to dig similar ditches of their own.

#2 - The First House - N 46°02.392' - W 118°27.891'
Winter was approaching Old Oregon. Marcus Whitman, having selected this place for a mission, began work on a shelter. In December 1836 he brought his bride, Narcissa, to the crude house he had partially completed at this site. It was the beginning of the Waiilatpu Mission.
Narcissa was pleased: “We . . . found a house reared & the lean-to enclosed, a good chimney & fireplace & the floor laid. No windows or doors except blankets. My heart truly leaped for joy as I alighted from my horse, entered and seated myself before a pleasant fire (for it was now night). It occurred to me that my dear Parents had made a similar beginning & perhaps more difficult one than ours.”

#3 - Alice Clarissa Whitman - N 46°02.385' - W 118°27.875'
The Whitman’s only child, Alice Clarissa, was born during the mission’s first year. She was a delight to her parents and a curiosity to the Indians who were amazed at her size and vitality. They proudly called her “Cayuse girl” because she was born on their land. The depression in front of you marks the old channel of the Walla Walla River whose waters once skirted the mission. This is where Alice Clarissa drowned.

#4 - Grist Mill - N 46°02.375' - W 118°27.825'
The first flour mill at Waiilatpu was little more than an oversized metal coffee grinder powered by a small channel diverted from the river. A second mill used 24” millstones enclosed in a small building, but a fire later destroyed it. Whitman’s third and last mill at this site turned 40” stones, but the walls, roof and granary were never completed. The restored millpond to your left powered the mill and fed the mission’s irrigation ditches.

#5 - Emigrant House - N 46°02.402' - W 118°27.803'
Marcus Whitman’s assistant, William Gray, completed this 1 1/2 story adobe house for his family in the mission’s sixth year. Later it became a guest house and winter quarters for settlers arriving on the Oregon Trail.
Settlers Entering Old Oregon During the Mission Period: 1841 - 25; 1842 - 100; 1843 - 800; 1844 - 1500; 1845 - 3000; 1846 - 1500; 1847 - 5000.

#6 - Blacksmith Shop - N 46°02.412' - W 118°27.847'

#7 - Mission House - N 46°02.412' - W 118°27.881'
Marcus Whitman built this whitewashed adobe house in the mission’s third year. Pine boards for floors and woodwork were whipsawed in the mountains. Like the other buildings, the roof was made of poles covered with grass and mud. With its painted trim, window panes, and fireplaces, it was an island of civilization in a wild land.

#8 - November 29, 1847 - N 46°02.414' - W 118°27.891'
The house that once stood here was the home of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman for nine years. It also served as a school, hospital, orphanage, and church. One tragic day changed everything.