• OMI Portal
OMIUSA
  • Home
  • Our Life
    • What is an Oblate Life?
    • Priests and Brothers
    • Our Founder and Oblate History
  • Ministries
    • U.S. Province Oblate Ministries
    • International – Oblate Ministries
    • Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation
    • Support Our Mission
    • Mission with Youth
    • Partnering with Laity
      • Honorary Oblates
  • Vocations
    • Novena Prayer for Oblate Vocations
    • All Your Questions Answered
    • How Do I Know If God Is Calling Me to Be An Oblate?
    • Think You’re Being Called?
    • Vocation Videos
  • Resources
    • Oraison: Praying with the Mazenodian Family Updated for June
  • Protecting Our Children
  • Contact Us
Home » Features » Features » It Happened Here: First emigrant wagon train passes through Yakima Valley

It Happened Here: First emigrant wagon train passes through Yakima Valley

Oblate Historical Legacy

Posted on September 23, 2020

By Donald W. Meyers, originally Published in the Yakima Herald-Republic

(Re-posted with permission)

A monument commemorating Chief Owhi’s gardens and the first emigrant train from the east was dedicated Sept. 20, 1917. The monument is photographed at its location about 14 miles northwest of Yakima, Wash., Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. Shawn Gust / Yakima Herald-Republic, file

Along North Wenas Road, three miles northwest of Selah, stands a small granite monument, one that’s easy to overlook.

The monument commemorates the location of “Owhi’s Gardens,” land that was cultivated by Upper Yakamas under Chief Owhi, as well as the passage of the Longmire-Byles emigrant train through the area 167 years ago Sept. 20.

The monument could also rightly be seen as marking the beginning of the end of life as the Yakama knew it.

Owhi was the uncle of Kamiakin, the great chief of the Yakamas. Owhi was chief of the Upper Yakama, whose territory included what is now Kittitas County and parts of the Upper Yakama Valley.

The Wenas area offered the Yakama areas protected from harsh winters and good water supplies. It also provided access to the west side of the Cascades, allowing for trade with the tribes on the coast, as well as the Hudson’s Bay outposts at Fort Nisqually and Fort Vancouver.

In 1847, Owhi invited priests from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to come to the Valley and teach the people, in return for his protection. It is believed that the missionaries taught the Yakama how to irrigate land, practices Owhi’s people used in the Wenas Valley to grow crops, leading to the name “Owhi’s Garden.”

In August 1853, a U.S. Army surveying team from Fort Vancouver led by Capt. George B. McClellan came into the Valley, camping at Owhi’s Gardens. Scouts who encountered McClellan’s company reported that he said territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens was going to make a treaty to take the land from the Natives.

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the article on the website of the Yakima Herald-Republic

 

Tweet
← Previous article
Next article →

Join Our Email List

Archives Articles

Looking for Something ?

  • Eugene de Mazenod Speaks to Us
  • Missionary Oblate Partnership
  • Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation
  • Mission, Unity and Dialogue
  • Oblate Associates
  • Oblate School of Theology
  • Oraison: Praying With the Mazenodian Family
  • Contribute to Our Mission
  • Icons by Fr. Clyde Rausch, OMI
  • Mazenodian Family Website
  • Kusenberger Chair of Oblate Studies
  • Useful Links




News in Pictures
Navigation
  • Our Life
    • What is an Oblate Life?
    • Video Reflections
    • Priests and Brothers
    • Our Founder and Oblate History
  • Ministries
    • U.S. Province Oblate Ministries
    • International – Oblate Ministries
    • Justice and Peace
    • Support Our Mission
    • Mission with Youth
    • Partnering with Laity
Navigation
  • Vocations
    • How Do I Know If God Is Calling Me to Be An Oblate?
    • Are You Being Called?
    • Vocation Videos
  • News
    • Features
    • U.S. Province News
    • International News
  • Protecting Our Children
  • Praesidium
  • Contact Us
Looking for something
  • Eugene de Mazenod Speaks to Us
  • Missionary Oblate Partnership
  • Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation
  • Mission, Unity and Dialogue
  • Oblate Associates
  • Oblate School of Theology
  • Oraison: Praying With the Mazenodian Family
  • Contribute to Our Mission
  • Icons by Fr. Clyde Rausch, OMI
  • Mazenodian Family Website
  • Kusenberger Chair of Oblate Studies
  • Useful Links

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate