Virtual School Tour

The Cook Wagon

This kitchen on wheels served an essential function during the wheat harvest. The cooks and their helpers were up and prepping food to feed crews of fifteen to forty workers. This sustenance gave the laborers enough energy to work long days during the summer harvest.

Questions for students: Why was the cook such an important part of the crew during the wheat harvest? What are some of the factors that made the cook’s job difficult? What are the differences between working in a cookhouse and cooking in a home kitchen?

The Ox Shoeing Stock

During the westward expansion of the 19th century, oxen were the preferred animal to pull loaded wagons across the Great Plains and over the mountains. This type of stock was used to hold and position the animal so it could be safely shod with two iron shoes per hoof. Oxen were important work animals and were later used by farmers and loggers to pull equipment and heavy loads.

Questions for students: What is an ox? Why were they preferred to horses and mules on the Oregon Trail? Why do farriers need a special chute to shoe an ox?

Sheep Ranching in Eastern Washington

From the late 19th to the early 20th century, sheep ranching was big business in eastern Washington. Sheepherders moved their large flocks to higher elevations in the spring and summer. When they were far away from the ranch, many lived out of sheepherder wagons, like the one on display at the museum.

Questions for students: Why were the sheep moved to different locations each season? What are some of the reasons sheep ranching eventually declined in this region? Why was a sheepherder wagon important for a sheep operation?

Lewis & Clark Meet Yellept

In 1805-06, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through Walla Walla, meeting Chief Yellept of the Walla Walla People. On their trip back from the coast, many gifts were exchanged, and friendships were made.

Questions for students: Why were the gifts of the horse and firewood so important to Lewis & Clark? What simple item did Yellept want in exchange? Why would this item have been important? Who benefited from this trade? What did Lewis & Clark think of the Walla Walla people?

The Horse-Drawn Fire Engine

Fort Walla Walla Museum meets up with retired Walla Walla Fire Department Captain Russell Kroum, who talks about the history of the city’s fire department and the story of the museum’s horse-drawn fire engine.

Questions for students: Why would the city of Walla Walla burned down so easily, and what is different about the city today? Why would it have been important to have a system in place to get the horses hitched to the wagon so quickly? What are some of the reasons fire helmets look the way they do? What are the benefits of the leather helmet’s design?

The Abbot-Downing & Company Passenger Wagon

The museum’s iconic red and yellow stagecoach was built around 1903 and used for races at the fairgrounds and in parades during Frontier Days in 1913. Stagecoaches were an important means of transportation that would eventually be replaced by steam-powered boats and trains.

Questions for students: What are some differences between a Concord coach and the museum’s passenger wagon? What are some advantages of traveling by steamship or train over stagecoach? Which rule of stage travel do you think would be most important for passengers to know and why?

The Lloyd Family and their Indian Neighbors

Fort Walla Walla Museum's Lloyd Collection features many Plateau Indian items like woven bags, beadwork, and baskets. The collection documents decades of positive relations between the Lloyd family and their Indian neighbors. Artifacts from this collection are on display in rotation at Fort Walla Walla Museum.

Questions for students: Why did Palouse Chief Big Thunder and settler Albert Lloyd get along? What are some of the ways in which the Lloyd family fostered positive relationships with their Indian neighbors? Why do you think the Lloyd family kept these gifts for so many years?

Lettice Reynolds: A Pioneer Woman

This is the story of Lettice Millican Clark Reynolds, the pioneer woman associated with the museum’s Clark Cabin. Lettice was the first white woman to reside in the Walla Walla Valley after the Whitman tragedy. She journeyed to the area to prove up the land claim and complete the cabin on her own after her husband’s unexpected early death.

Questions for students: What challenges facing Lettice Reynolds made it such an accomplishment to finish off the land claim? What different ways of making money (in this region and time period) do Nellie and Lettice discuss during the interview?

The Prairie Schooner on the Oregon Trail

Museum docent Sherilyn Jacobson continues the tour at the prairie schooner in the museum’s Grand Hall. Smaller than a Conestoga wagon, pioneers also used the schooner while heading west to claim territorial land.

Questions for students: What was the main reason pioneers wanted to move west? What kinds of things did the pioneers have to pack for the journey along the Oregon Trail? What would be your top three items to take on a long road trip? How do those differ from what the pioneers would have taken?

Technical Sergeant Bill Mach was stationed at the Walla Walla Army Air Base during World War II. He was assigned to the photo lab as a base photographer and documented the people and planes at the base. Luckily, he sent copies of his best photos home to his family, where they were preserved for many years.

Questions for students: Why is this collection important, and what information can we learn about Walla Walla from these photographs? What are some of the ways the city was different in the 1940s? What are some differences between the city in the 1940s and today? Which was your favorite photograph and why?

The Many Forts Walla Walla

In all, there were six Forts Walla Walla. The earliest three forts were fur-trading posts. After the Treaty of 1855, there was increased violence between incoming settlers looking for land and the Indian people already living here. The next three forts were military posts, the last of which converted to a veteran’s hospital.

Questions for students: What are two reasons the fur trade fort was abandoned and transformed into a military post? How did the fort support the local economy? How does this old fort continue to benefit Walla Walla?

Military Fort History

Fort Walla Walla Museum is located on the military complex where the final military fort was occupied in 1858. While the earliest days of the fort included skirmishes between soldiers and the Homeland Tribes, the fort helped keep the peace between the two groups.

Questions for students: Why would it have been important to have a fort in Walla Walla? What did you learn about the 9th and 10th Cavalry Units? Why do you think the artillery group volunteers made wooden cannons?

Union Schoolhouse

Museum docent Sherilyn Jacobson tours the museum’s Pioneer Village with a stop in the Union Schoolhouse. This one-room schoolhouse was built in 1867 and would have taught students of varying ages in one class.

Questions for students: For what events were students excused from school, and why would that have been important? How was school back then different than school as you know it today? What other responsibilities did teachers have besides teaching students?

Pioneer Doctor’s Office

Museum docent Sherilyn Jacobson continues the tour of the museum’s Pioneer Village with a stop in the Doctor’s Office. While state of the art for the 1870s, this one-room cabin is very different from a modern doctor’s office.

Questions for students: Name the three doctors who practiced in early Walla Walla. What other contributions did they make to their community? Think about some differences between a modern doctor’s office and the one you see here in the Pioneer Village. Which would you rather visit for your health and why?

Dorsey Baker’s Walla Walla & Columbia River Railroad

Museum docent Gary Lentz heads over to the Blue Mountain, the oldest surviving locomotive to run in Washington State. Learn about how Dr. Baker built his narrow-gauge railroad at this stop on your virtual school tour.

Questions for students: Why was adding a railroad line to Walla Walla so important? How did the addition of a railroad change life in Walla Walla? The town of Walla Walla didn't want to help support the railroad at first. What could have happened if they decided not to?

Early Agriculture: Scythe and Binder

The tour enters the agricultural exhibits with Museum docent Charles Saranto. In this video, he explains the development of agriculture in the region in the mid-1850s, demonstrates the use of a scythe, and explains how a mechanized binder eventually replaced it.

Questions for students: Why was the development of agriculture important in this region? Why did people harvest grain? Would you rather use a scythe or a binder? What were the benefits of using a binder over a scythe to harvest green grain?

Early Agriculture: Thresher and Water Wagon

Museum docent Charles Saranto continues his tour of early agriculture. The invention of the steam engine once again changed the face of agriculture with another source of power. The engine powered the thresher, which separated the grain from the straw. However powerful the engine or the animals, neither could function without a source of water.

Questions for students: How was steam-powered equipment different than animal-powered equipment? In what ways was water so important to this kind of agriculture? It took many people doing different jobs to harvest grain this way. Which job would you like to do? Why?

The Harris Combine and 33-Mule Team

Museum docent Charles Saranto ends his tour at one of the museum’s most popular exhibits: the Harris combine. The combine is just as its name suggests—it combines the thresher and push header into a single piece of equipment. The museum’s combine is hitched to a team of 33 fiberglass mules.

Questions for students: Describe three ways in which the combine makes farming even more efficient than other equipment you’ve learned about. Why do you think farmers preferred to use mules over horses? How did using mules change the way farmers cared for their teams and kept them stocked with strong animals?