The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-11-27
A Beautiful apd Thriving Place, apd tbe
WeaItbiest ip Proportion TO Popula-
flop of Any CD tbe Pacific Coast, aDd
tbe Ephepot Of States Ri<best Valley.

StiH farther on Is the Advent settlement.
with Walla Walla College.
What must We expect IS the center OF
these eoncentrac zones2 What must be tina
hssb of this miniature universe? In Nalsa
Waiia. the Garden City" OF the West. DO
We find the acme Of Our expectations
little metropolis. indeed. commensurate
with the demands of It's fertile valley.
WaIia Waila was lad out on the prop
erty OF A. j. Gaia, and first called Steptoe
city. after Colonel Steptoe, WHO was IN
command at Fort WalIa Walia In ls5s.
On January II. 1852 however. 1t was
Incorporated as Walia Waila city. The
history OF its early growth is a check
cred account of sudden prosperity, disorder.
and indian struggles. In $780, during the
Orc Elmo mining excitement In northern
Idaho. and the immediate subsequent dis
coeeries In Eastern oregon, Montana, and
British Columbia, Waiia Walla became the
trading center of the Inland Empire. How
ever. many OF those alIured hither by the
love Of gold perceived the agricultural
facilities. and from that time on Walla
Waila has made a steady growth; nor at
any time since has that false god OF
fictitious values, known as Boom" ever
cast his banefui influence over the city
its growth has been firm and steady. for
AIS roots permeate the richest OF soils titled
by a hearty. Industrious. weli-to-do class
or farmers. Today. the population Is about
ten thousand. Its area Is about three
square miles. with about fifty miles OF
street. The main thoroughfares are paved
macadamized. or strawed, and for those
or our readers who are unfamiliar with
last term We Will add that straw strewn
upon the street. moistened and subjected
10 travel. viii form a cement with the
lighter soil which affords a hard. smooth
surface During the summer months
sprinklers run night and day throughout
the city.
The primoraial nucleus OF the business
portion seems to have been where the
clothing establishment OF Al Goldman and
the business houses OF Joe Merchant and
the schwabacher Company now stand.
The first fire occurred on June II. 1867
The insufficient means for curbing the
names prompted the purchase OF the first
hand engine In 1866, 1875 and 1887. WaIla
Waila was again visited by devastating
nres. Also in August OF 1893. the Wala
Naiia Foundry and the Hunt Machine
SHOPS, along with several dwellings,, were
burned
Waila Wailas schools and colleges ara
the apple OF her eye. There are two largo
bffck structures known respectively as
the Baker and Paine schools a two-storv
wooden structure known as the Park street
school while another large building Is being
toust' uT1e1 OF stone ana pressed brick,
which when fully completed and equipped
VIII cost close TO fifty thousand dollars
The schools are furnished with modern
equipment and libraries. Moreover. a COM
retent corps OK teachers, with Prof r. G.
Kerr al their head. fight n winning battle
Win the common foe OF ignorance
Among the private schools are ST. Paurs
seminary. an Episcopaiian institution. with
MISS imosene Boyer as its head: S..
Mary's Convent. under Catholic control
and with II a new two story structure not
YET completed for young men: walla Wal.
Ia College, about three miles from town
where the Adventists carry on their work
IN spacious and c0inmodial,s teulnie OF
learning: and lastly. Whitman College.
II there is any institution Of which Walla
,Waila Is justly proud. It Is Whitman Col
lege--for what she has been, for VIVA,
she Is. for What she VIII be She stands
as living monument TO a man who. per-
haps more than any other man, made II
possible for the American flag 10 fioat over
tina northwest without "a national strtig-
gle His bones lie Inferred AT Walilatpu.
about three niles to the ives. OF town. over
which a marble obeiisk, poiating 10 his
eternal home, has been raised within the
last year, and marks the scene OF that
awful massacre.
The enrolment OF Whitman College This
year VIII be- about two hundred ana aftv
students