WALLA WALLA, Wash., city, county seat of Walla Walla County, on the Walla Walla River, 28 miles east of the Columbia River, and on branch lines of the Northern Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads, close to the Oregon line, 150 miles southwest of Spokane. A United States fort was established near the site of the city in 1857, and around this fort grew up a trading post and settlement; it was first called Steptoeville, but when the town was incorporated in 1859 the name of Walla Walla was adopted. It was incorporated as a aty in 1862 and received a second charter in 1884. The city is situated about 15 miks west of the Blue Mountain range, at an altitude of 1,060 feet; it is surrounded by the beautiful and fertile Walla Walla Valley, over 100 miles in length, forming a part of the ((Inland Empire') between the Rocky and Cascade ranges, and consisting of a belt of agricultural land, the larger part under cultivation, which yields large crops of wheat, oats and barley, as well as al falfa, vegetables and fruits. The dairy interests are large. In this valley the city of Walla Walla is the centre of trade. It contains an extensive plant for the manufacture of farm machinery and implements, gas and electric power works, two flourishing mills and lum ber mills; asid has five banks, of which two are national banks. Among its notable public insti tution.s are the United States Land Office,
United States District Court, an Odd Fellows' home for the State of Washington, the Stubble field home for incligent widows and orphans, with $135,000 of perpetual endowment, and two hospitals. Fort Walla Walla joins the city on the west, and six miles to the west is the monu ment to the memory of the martyred pioneer and patriot, Marcus Whitman. Walla Walla is also of importance as an educational centre; it has a public library and an excellent system of public schools, including a large high school, and is the seat of the far-famed Whitman Col lege and Academy, a Roman Catholic seminary for girls and an academy for boys, and the Saint Paul's seminary for girls (Protestant Episcopal), while Walla Walla College is lo cated two miles outside the city near the fort. There is a handsome Carnegie library and a commodious Y. M. C. A. building. The city has an excellent supply of pure water from mountain streams, and a first-class system of waterworks owned and operated by the munic ipality. The government is vested in a mayor, elected annually, and a council of seven; the city officials are mostly elected by popular vote. There are two daily and several weekly news paper& Pop. 24,200. Consult Lyman, (His tory of Walla Walla County' (1901).