Told by the Pioneers - Washington Secretary of State

T old by t 11 C PiM1CCI'S
creek, ano :Jlr. Spaulding gave the chief some apple seeds that he had
bronght from the east. They were planted the following spring, and
the first orchard of southeastern Washington came into existence.
Some of you have seen tIris orchard, of which onl~' one tree now remains,
a branch of which, with the apples on the limb, was shown in
the Asotin exhibit at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposition in 1909. In
1838 Rev. Cushing Eells, the founder of Whitman College, passed
through this county to visit Mr. Spaulding at Lapwai, and then proceeded
to the Colville countrY where he established a missiOll. In
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1839 a small printing press was brought from the Sandwiell blands
and set up at Lapwai and some books were printed in the Nez Perce
language by Dr. Spaulding and Cornelius Rogers, a young mall who
had come 'west with :JIr. Eells. This was the first printing press in
the northwest.
On 1\ovemher 29th, 1847, occurred the Whitman massacre and soon
afterwards :Jlr. Spaulding and the few remaining whites connected
with him at the Lapwai mission, were escorted to Fort 'Walla Walla
by friendly Nez Perces, and left this part of the country. At this time
'William Craig, who had l.::ng lived with the Nez Perces, aud William
:JIcBean, with a few assistants at the Hudson's Bay fort, were the
only white people in this section of the country. On receipt of the
news of the massacre at Whitman mission, the settlers of the WillameUe
valley organized and the Cayuse war began. Cornelius (J illiam,
grandfather of ~frs. Nellie Gilliam Day, was elected colollel. On
}[areh 12th, ]848, Colouel Gilliam was camped 011 the Tucanon at the
crossing of the Nez Perce trails, and was informed that the Caynse
Indians, and among them the murderers of Whitman, were encamped
near the mouth of that stream; he at once made a night march and arrived
at their camp in the early morning, only to find that the IlHlians
had forded the Snake and escaped to the other side. Gilliam gathered
up their stock and started back for the erossing of the Touchet at Dayton,
but after marching for a short distance, was attacked by some :300
Palouse warriors, left behind by the Cayuses, to make the attack, The
Indians were at first repulsed but continued to follow up and a running
fight lasted until Da~-ton was reached, where a real hattle took
plaee. Here the Indians were stopped and did not cross to the west
side of the Touchet. A few davs later Colonel Gilliam was aceident-
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ally killed while drawing his stake rope from a wagon, the rope catching
on the trigger of a gun and discharging it.
The murderers of 'Whitman having made their escape, and scattered
among the Indian tribes in different places, the Ca~'use war came to
an end and the volunteers returned to the vallev.
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In 1850 most of the Indians engaged in the massacre were captured
and brOlwht in bv friendlv Umatillas. The leader who hoa;;ted of the
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