Day 1 - Fort Walla Walla

The first day’s journey took me over White Pass and down the Tieton River valley to the site of Fort Walla Walla, also called Fort Nez Perce.  The fort was originally established as a trading post in 1818 just west of the junction of the Walla Walla and Columbia Rivers. 

A roadside marker at the site shown below reads:

“Fort Walla Walla was vital link in the in the region’s fur trade, and helped open the Northwest to the white man.  From this post traders and trappers pushed into the rich Snake River basin.

“Pioneers on the overland trek to the Oregon country in the 1840s found its arms a source of supply, and 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”

Later, the fort also served as the western head of navigation for steamboat traffic, as Fort Benton, Montana, was the eastern head of navigation, leaving the 600 interim miles the only overland portion of the journey from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean.

From 1855 to 1862, Captain John Mullan constructed the 624 mile Mullan Wagon Road, connecting Fort Benton with Fort Walla Walla, further opening the west before the transcontinental railroad was completed.  Travelers on the

Mullan Road

typically took 47 days to traverse the overland route between the two forts.

Fur Trade Trip 2011

My intense interest in studying the exploration of Canada and the United States, particularly that of the northern regions, has led inevitably to an interest in the fur trade. During the summer of 2011, I am planning visits to a number of the key fur trade locations in the western US and Canada. Among these may be Pine City, MN, Grand Portage, Fort Frances, Fort St. Charles, Norway House, the Pas, Cumberland House, the Forks of the Saskatchewan, Fort Carlton, Fort George, Rocky Mountain House, Lower Fort Garry, Fort Esperance, Fort Dunvegan, Fort St. John, McLeod Lake, Fort St. James, Fort Chouteau, Fort Union, Fort Benton, and Pinedale's Museum of the Mountain Man. You can read about these sites in Barbara Huck's fine book Exploring the Fur Trade Routes of North America, or you can Google them.

I will leave the fur trade sites in Washington and Oregon, as well as the fur trade-related explorations of Lewis and Clark, the Santa Fe trail, and the Oregon Trail for another time.

Because of the nature of the fur trade locations, I will, in many cases, be outside the normal range of contact for my portable computer, but will make an effort to provide updates as regularly as possible soon after my visits.

Ken Karch