site, half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, with its eastand-west streets one hundred feet wide, and its north-and-south streets eighty feet; and to leave off calling the settlement Steptoe City and name it Walla Walla, which was done. In 1862 the Territorial legislature incorporated the city, with an extent of eighty acres. It immediately became an important point, on account of the necessity of an outfitting place for miners then rushing to the Oro Fino and Florence Diggings, in what is now the State of Idaho, and from that time until, now it has been the centre of a large trade, supported first by the mining interests of the upper country, and more recently by the agricultural interests of the valley.
A word about the name of Walla Walla, which I observe is frequently translated to mean the "valley of waters." I had it from the lips of the famous Nez Perce chief, Lawyer, that wallawalla meant the confluence of two rivers, and, being used to designate the junction of the river which waters the valley with the Columbia, became used by Indians and white people to designate the natives who lived about the mouth and the fur company's fort at that place. From this the white men spoke of the river, and then of the river-valley, as the Walla Walla and "the Walla Walla country."- It is not the custom of the Indians to name rivers arbitrarily as we do, but to speak of certain localities by some descriptive word, and to call the tribe or family living there by that name.
The designation chosen for Walla Walla by her inhabitants is " Garden City," and well does she merit it, for trees and flowers fairly obstruct the view. There are few pretentious buildings of any character, the business houses being usually no more than two stories, and the residences simple cottages and villas. In the outskirts are a continually increasing number of the latter, surrounded by beautiful grounds.
The city has a handsome court-house, this being the countyseat; a large and costly public school; a collegiate institution,— Whitman College; several banks; three daily papers, the most important of which is the Union, published ever since 1869; a free library and club-room; a hospital; free postal delivery; water-works; gas lighting; churches of all denominations, and, in short, just what one would expect to find in an Eastern town
