Another place of interest, although associated only with painful ideas, is the site of the Waiilatpu mission, about seven miles west of the city, where, in 1847, perished Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, Presbyterian missionaries, and about a dozen others, at the hands of the Cayuse Indians. One common mound marks the spot where they were hastily buried by volunteer troops from Wallamet Yallcy after the flesh had been torn from their bones by wolves. A movement is on foot to erect a monument to the memory of Dr. Whitman. The most suitable monument, it seems to me, would be an endowment for the college which bears his name, with a tablet inscribed to him set in its wall.
Of the towns in the Walla Walla, Waitsburg is one of the prettiest. It is in the valley of the Touchet, where it is joined by the Coppei, in the midst of beauty and fertility. The place was first settled by Mr. S. M. Wait about 1864, who built a flouring-mill, then very much needed by the settlers, from which he cleared five thousand dollars in two months after it was running. Soon tradesmen of various kinds settled about him, and a town grew up which does honor to its founder. Mr. Wait was one of the first to experiment with grain on the uplands.
Waitsburg has a population of one thousand, who maintain good schools, support a daily newspaper, and enjoy life in this garden of plenty, which is also a model of good taste.
Another pretty town is Dayton. Like Waitsburg, it lies in a valley, and is embowered in trees, while it is surrounded by wheat-fields which would seem continuous but for here and there a line of poplars pointing out where a farm-house is concealed. The swift, cool Touchet flows through the town, and turns the wheels of two flouring-mills, and is joined by a smaller stream with a French name Petite, anglicized into Pattit.
Dayton has a population of two thousand five hundred, a handsome court-house, four public schools, foundry, furniturefactory, brewery, and other industries, besides five saw-mills in mountains near by. It has a national bank, is lighted by electricity, and has water-works. The streets are broad, with good sidewalks, and tempting fruit-gardens just over the fence. The town was founded in 1871 by Jesse Da}', formerly of St. Paul. Both Waitsburg and Dayton are reached by the Hunt system
