A Report on the Second Season's
Excavations at Waiilatpu
1948 Report, Part 2:
Archeological Procedure
THOMAS R. GARTH
Published in
Oregon Historical Quarterly June, 1948.
Volume XLIX, Number 2, pages 117-136.
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Table of Contents 1948 Report
Having located and partially excavated the five
major mission buildings in 1947, we then set to work (1948) to complete
the job on the two main dwellings. We commenced uncovering the west
walls of the T-shaped Mission House, an adobe-brick structure. Only
the lower 12 inches of the wall were found to be intact, and often
the height was even less. Depth below the surface varied from 8
to 12 inches. The walls proved to be 20 inches wide, made of adobe
bricks 20 inches long, 10 inches wide, and 5 inches thick. In the
course of excavating the walls we encountered a series of packed
levels, called floors, which had a close relationship to the history
of the ruin. The two lowest levels had ash layers over them, which
made their identification relatively easy. On the lowest of these,
called floor 4, were the ashes of the fire which burned the Mission
House in 1848, as well as things which were in the house when it
burned.4 There were
nails, broken china, glassware, slate, etc., which were doubtlessly
scattered about after the massacre. Fortunately the building had
a heavy dirt roof. This, when the supports burned through, crashed
down on the burning wood floors below, in many instances smothering
the fire and preserving planks, joists, and even bits of cloth,
leather, grains and other foods, in a charred state. The roof also
blanketed the area with 4 to 6 inches of earth, protecting it from
the tramping and souvenir hunting of soldiers and others who came
on the scene afterwards. Some of the adobe walls also fell, adding
to the accumulation of earth over the floor 4 ash layer. The soldiers
who built Fort Waters out of the walls that remained walked on the
fallen dirt roof and packed it in turn. This packed level, which
is from 2 to 6 inches above floor 4, has been given the designation
"floor 3A."5
No doubt many of the artifacts found on floor
3A belong either to the soldiers of 1848 or to the stockmen who
came later; others must represent mission property picked up by
the soldiers or stockmen after it had been scattered by the Indians.
Interestingly enough the reconstructed building (Fort Waters) also
had a dirt and straw roof which fell when the fort was burned in
1855, preserving perishable materials in much the same manner as
occurred earlier in 1848. In the rear of the structure on floor
3A quantities of charred coffee, corn kernels, and some wheat seed
were found in the ash layer. Particularly in the cellar area whole
charred planks and heavy deposits of charred rye grass from the
Fort's dirt and straw roof were found. Floor 3A was covered not
only with the dirt from the roof of the Fort, but with a heavy accumulation
of broken and disintegrated adobe brick as well, making a deposit
several inches in depth. The bricks represent the falling in 1855
of the remaining walls of the old Mission House.
Cushing Eells and others who came after the second
destruction of the building (after 1855) walked on the burned rubble
from the walls, the exposed bricks being pulverized until nothing
but a mound re mained. Their tramping also packed the mound surface,
creating still another packed earth layer, i.e., floor 3.6
In one 30-foot-long area there was an ash layer on this level with
much burned material as well as considerable kiln-fired brick of
uneven manufacture. Often it was only 1 1/4 inches thick instead
of the 2 1/4-inch thickness of standard bricks of today. Here obviously
was where the Eells cabin, which burned in 1872, had stood. Subsequent
occupancy of the site, flood deposition, dirt from cellar excavations,
etc., produced two other packed layers which have been designated
as floors 2 and 1, respectively. Floor 1 is not far below the present
surface of the ground and is no doubt fairly recent. Floor 3 is
immediately recognizable, for it represents the upper limit of the
burned bricks, charcoal, etc., from the old adobe building. All
packed floors did not occur consistently in all I areas, and particularly
was this true outside the walls of the Mission House. However, in
the great majority of cases the floors were consistent. After a
period of excavating in which we came to know well the artifact
types occurring above floor 3, this material was saved only when
it was of some peculiar interest. Artifacts were catalogued according
to location in the ruin and to the floors on or between which they
occurred. As might be expected, most artifacts occurred on the floors
rather than in the dirt deposit between them. By thus cataloguing
our finds according to level we were able to. identify with relative
certainty items which belonged to the Whitman period and those which
came afterward.
The ruin area was divided into 10-foot squares,
the excavating procedure being first to expose floor 3, then remove
the 6 inches or so of earth over floor 3A until it was completely
exposed, and finally continue to floor 4. In a few areas we went
through floor 4 (i.e., the ground level during the Mission period)
and struck a fifth floor, probably representing a pre-Mission period.
Most of the artifacts on this level were of Indian origin.
Archeological Evidence Largely Verifies the
Construction of the
Mission House as Shown in the 1840 Ground Plan
We were extremely fortunate in having a ground
plan of the Mission House to guide us during our excavating. This
was sent by Mrs. Whitman to her mother in New York in 1840, when
the house was ready for occupancy.7
Considerable information about the house is included in the explanation
written by Mrs. Whitman along the margins. (See
Figure 2.) We found the walls almost exactly
as pictured here, except that room A was never built and the back
wall of "L" was extended the full width of the building and joined
by an extension of the south wall to make an additional room. This
was probably the new room which was being worked on shortly before
the massacre. In 1947 we thought we had discovered another room
10 feet farther east, but this proved to be merely a ridge of earth,
colored and shaped in a peculiar manner, and not a true wall. The
total length of the building was 99 feet, and the length of the
"T" front was 61 feet 6 inches.
The dimensions given in the 1840 ground plan were
not strictly adhered to. Sometimes they appear to be outside measurements
(from outside wall to outside wall) and at other times they appear
to be inside measurements of the rooms. Also the drawing is not
accurate as to scale. Although the outside widths of the building-
19 feet for the front section and 22 feet for the east wing--agree
with the 1840 plan, room dimensions are at considerable variance.
The following table gives the room measurements as we found them:
Room B (Outside south wall to center of partition)
-- 13 ft. 5 in.
Room C (Center of south partition to center of north partition)
-- 24 ft. 10 in.
Room D (Center of south partition to outside north wall) -- 23
ft.
Room E (Inside edge of west wall to center of partition) -- 16
ft. 6 in.
Room G (Center of west partition to center of east partition)
-- 10 ft. 3 in.
Room H (Center of west partition to center of east partition)
-- 19 ft. 6 in.
Center of west partition of I to center of east partition of K
-- 22 ft.
Center of west partition of L to east wall (outside) -- 11 ft.
9 in.
Fireplaces and hearths were found in rooms B,
D, E, and G. However, only for the one in G was there evidence of
a chimney. This extended from the cellar floor to a 3 1/2-foot height.
Even the firebox was partially intact. (See
Figure 3.) There was nothing left of the
fireplaces above the level of the hearths. The kitchen hearth was
of exceptional size, being 13 feet long by 8 1/2 feet wide. (See
Plate IIa.) It was here that Dr. Whitman was
said to have been first struck at the onset of the massacre. Farmhouse
cellars, the first dug about 1873 and the second in 1912, have largely
obliterated the south wall of the old Mission House. The north wall
fared better, especially toward the rear of the building. The walls
of rooms I and K were of different sized brick (9 by 5 by 18 inches),
these rooms being added some time after the rest of the house had
been completed. The walls here were 18 inches thick, and the walls
for the new room in the southeast corner of the building were 27
inches thick. In nearly all instances the bricks were laid header-and-stretcher
fashion, starting with a header row. (See
Plate IV.) The partitions were also built
of adobe and were brought from the ground up. Only once did a partition
shown on the 1840 plan fail to be found. This was the partition
between I and K, which may possibly have been of log or board construction.
The cellar under room H (the schoolroom) constituted one of the
most interesting features uncovered. Here the various levels appeared
as before, though they were much exaggerated. There was a 20-inch
accumulation of adobe-brick rubble over the ash layer of floor 4
(the cellar floor in this case),which meant that after the 1848
fire the cellar was more than half filled with brick rubble, charred
beams, ash, and the like from the room above. Over this were two
levels of packed earth, the first probably made by the soldiers
of 1848 and the one above, on which were charred timbers and ash
from the 1855 fire, representing the ground level (floor 3A) in
1855. The dirt floor (floor 4) of the cellar was nearly covered
by charred boards (see Plate
IIb), no doubt the fallen flooring of the schoolroom above. The
joists and planks were in excellent condition. In some cases the
adze marks were visible on the joists, which proved to be squared
2-inch by 6-inch pine timbers. The flooring was one-inch planks,
varying from 8 to 12 inches in width. In the center of the cellar
was a granite footing 2 feet across and one foot high which must
have supported a post, which in turn supported the floor above.
(See Plate I.) The stone
must have been carted in from some distance, as granite is rare
in the region. Possibly it was chipped off a larger piece being
shaped for a mill stone.
The cellar was only 3 1/2 feet deep. No doubt
Whitman profited from the bitter experiences he had with the cellar
of their first house which was full depth, the adobe-brick walls
starting on the cellar floor. Floods had filled the cellar shortly
after the house was built, causing the adobe walls to bulge and
sag and badly damaging the structure.8
However, in the Mission House, besides having the cellar exceptionally
shallow, Whitman had its dirt side walls sloped to about a 45 degree
angle with the adobe walls laid above. (See
Figure 4.) Doubtless to enter the cellar
one must have needed to stoop over. Nevertheless, added height may
have been gained by raising the height of the floor above. The cellar
was probably used as a storage place for potatoes and similar perishables.
Spalding's inventory lists this cellar with bins (for foodstuffs,
no doubt) and an outside door.9
Next: Part 3
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Endnotes
3Archeological work
was carried on under the auspices of the National Park Service.
Back
4Floor 4 is the packed virgin soil--compacted
by the walking back and forth of missionaries, Indians, and immigrants
during the Mission period (1836-1847).
(See
Figure 1.)
Back
5In some areas two levels of floor 3A
are recognizable. It is conceivable that the first or lowest of
these represents the level first walked on by the soldiers of 1848
and the second or higher one the level walked on after they had
begun reconstructing the building and shortly before they had put
in a board floor. It is on this higher level that the second layer
of ash is encountered along with charred flooring.
Back
6Floor 3 represents the ground level
(surface) from about 1856 to 1872.
Back
7Mrs. Whitman to her mother, May 2, 1840.
Transactions of the Oregon Pioneer Association (1891), 136.
Back
8 Mrs. Whitman to her parents, April
11, 1838, in C. M. Drury, Marcus Whitman, M.D., Pioneer and Martyr
(Caldwell, Idaho, 1937), 187.
Back
9H. H. Spalding, "Property Belonging
to the A.B.C.F.M., and Pertaining to the Waiilatpu Mission Station,"
in M. M. Richardson, The Whitman Mission, (Walla Walla, 1940)
150.
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