Day 4 Walla Walla

May 7, 2010 by

Luelle writes:
Today we were in Walla Walla Washington — I always liked that name.  It means Many Waters.  Temperature today 90 degrees.
We set off in our two busses from the River to Walla Walla, and went to their Pioneer Museum.  It was on 15 acres.  They had a great deal of interesting things that had been donated by families of the Pioneers.

A real stage coach. Notice the little seat on the side ... The origin of the term "Riding Shotgun"

A whole room of Uniforms and Women’s dresses and hats.  The ladies must have had 20 inch waists to fit into their clothes.

There were many more rooms outside.  One was set up as a replica of a grain harvester, and one man had control of 33 horses or mules.

33 horse teams were used to pull the wheat harvesting equipment around 1900

And each morning they all had to be hitched up, then unhitched and feed at noon, re-hitched up to finish the day.  Everyone was commenting on how hard the work was then, and how we are glad it wasn’t us.

The same could be said about all the little outbuildings they had — actual buildings from the pioneer times.  A school house, a cabin, a boy’s club house, a girl’s doll house.  They had the Doctor’s office, the blacksmith, the Barber, who not only cut hair, but you could get a bath there too.
There were a lot of senior volunteers to take you around and answer any questions.  You could tell they were proud of their heritage and proud of the great place they were working.  It really did make you stop and appreciate all the modern conveniences we take for granted.
Dave took this one for Noah.

Count The Stars. This was when Fort Walla Walla was a frontier outpost and Oregon was just becoming a State.

School Room (one room, eight grades) around 1890.

Beaver Pelt and tools of the frontier, Top Hat and Wolf Trap ...

This is a Georgia Pacific pulp processing plant. It processes a special kind of pulp to make paper. It is from the Poplar-Cottonwood Hybrid trees that have been developed. They grow fast and can be used for lumber for furniture in 10 years. The great thing about these trees is the very light colored wood which requires less chemical processing to get it white for use as paper. This is easier on the environment ... less pollution dumped in the rivers etc.

Hybrid Trees Cultivated In Rows

Filed Under: Luelle and Dave's Travel Log

Welcome to Old World River Cruises

Sign Up For eNewsletter!

We will never share your email and respect your privacy