Appearance of the Mission House in the Light of Historical Evidence

From: "A Report on the Second Season's Excavations at Waiilatpu" by Thomas R. Garth, 1948.

 

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Appearance of the Mission House in the Light of Historical Evidence

We have as yet failed to present any description of the over-all appearance of the building. Archeological evidence has been used to reconstruct the appearance of the various rooms from floor level down, but for the upper part we must depend largely on historical data. The exterior of the large T-shaped structure must have resembled smooth white plaster, as the walls had been smoothed down and a coating of mud plaster applied, followed by whitewash made by burning fresh-water mussel shells.

Catherine Sager tells of seeing the building for the first time:

We expected to see a log house, occupied by Indians and such people as we had seen about the Forts. Instead, we saw a large white house surrounded by palisades. (17)

Palisade is a term applied to a high picket fence. The outside appearance would no doubt be pleasing by modern standards were it not for the dirt roof supported by poles and prevented from sifting through by a layer of rye grass. (18) The eaves probably projected two feet or more beyond the walls to afford protection from the rains. The front door and probably all outside doors, as well as the shutters for the windows, were painted a bright green, the floors and pantry shelves were yellow, and the woodwork inside was a light slate color.

 Much of our information on the interior of the building comes from an inventory of mission property destroyed in the massacre prepared by the Reverend H. H. Spalding, missionary associate of Dr. Whitman. (19) Though Spalding was stationed near what is now Lewiston, he frequently visited Waiilatpu and had a good knowledge of its circumstances. The inventory was made up in 1849, and, according to Spalding, its accuracy was checked with members of the Whitman household who escaped the massacre. The inventory is probably accurate on the whole, although dimensions of rooms and walls and like detail are probably not reliable. According to the inventory the walls of the front (west) part of the house were 10 feet (1 1/2 stories) high, and the walls of the east wing (rooms E, F, G, and H) were 8 feet high with a low attic or loft above. It was here that some of the children hid during the massacre. It is likely that Spalding refers to floor-to-ceiling height. Otherwise, subtracting the 18-inch height of the floors above the ground would leave only 6 1/2 feet for the height of the rooms. The ceiling height for B, C, and D was probably also 8 feet, with 2 feet of adobe wall projecting above the ceiling to form the walls of the chamber above, i.e., this was called a half-story -- the roof serving as the ceiling. Stairs along the north side of room C led to this chamber. According to Miles Cannon, who published his book in 1915 and so could have obtained information from survivors of the massacre, this chamber room was at the center of the landing of the stairs. (20) There was a closet under the stairs for medicines, Indian goods, etc. A sash door with 12 lights (panes) was at the southeast corner of room C. Four windows in rooms B and C, according to Spalding, had 20 lights each, and two had 6 lights apiece. Both windows in D had 20 lights. These windows with their small and numerous lights are characteristic of early American houses. (21) The older part of the Jason Lee House in Salem has such windows, though the lights are set in lead rather than with wood (rails and muttons) and putty as were the Whitman Mission House windows.

The doors in rooms B, C, and D seem all to have been panel doors, probably with two or more panels. One of the doors to room C, probably the front door, could be locked with a key and so must have had one of the large rectangular locks of the period. There were probably beamed ceilings at least in the front of the house, as the flooring for the upstairs chamber would, to conserve lumber, also be the ceiling of the room below.

 

The finding of numerous fragments of smooth adobe plaster with a uniform light grey color in rooms G and H, probably from the interior walls, indicates that soot must have been mixed with the whitewash to give a light grey texture to the walls. Very likely the ceilings as well as the walls were whitewashed (after being plastered with mud?), this being a common Hudson's Bay Company practice. (22) In the front part of the building the plaster fragments found were white or near white in color, indicating that the interior walls were probably whitewashed. Very likely all the fireplaces had mantels, though only in room D is one mentioned in the records. The chimney which ran up the partition wall between rooms G and H probably served fireplaces in both rooms, although no fireplace is shown for H in the 1840 ground plan. Both Spalding and Catherine Sager mention a fireplace in room H. Certainly some source of heat was needed here, as this was the schoolroom. Four batten doors as well as four panel doors are listed for the east wing, the former more than likely being used as outside doors. Every room in the east wing of the building had its own outside entrance, and two entrances are shown for room H. One of these must actually have been the entrance to the cellar below.

With a proper complement of furniture (mentioned in the inventory) including clothes presses, settees, rough tables and chairs made of alder, numerous rocking chairs, several bedsteads of alder, wash stands, a spinning wheel or two, in the parlor (B) a bookcase with numerous books and a curio cabinet, pictures here and there on the walls (one of these is now at the Oregon State Library in Salem), we can achieve a fair conception of the probable appearance of the house. It had many refinements found only in the better homes in the East. In fact, Spalding may have had some justification for a complaint he made to the Mission Board in 1842 as follows:

One [dwelling) completed by an accomplished workman with large windows & green window blinds &c richly painted doors, floors &c many nice tables, setees [sic] &c &c, richly painted & varnished --servants &c . . . . (23)

Mrs. Whitman's refined tastes and indefatigableness were no doubt, responsible in large part for the excellent appearance of the house, which she may well have had a major share in designing. (24) For instance, she apparently felt the dirt roofs to be a major defect in the otherwise attractive exterior of the house, and besides they sometimes leaked mud during heavy rains. It was apparently upon her insistence that Dr. Whitman sought to replace them with board roofs. A sawmill was built in 1846 to supply the necessary lumber, and by the fall of 1847, 50,000 board feet of lumber was on hand. The crude alder chairs were also to be replaced. A wood lathe powered by the water wheel of the gristmill had been used to turn enough seasoned wood for 84 chairs. (25) Mrs. Whitman was fond of nice things. Possibly they compensated in some part for her feeling of loneliness in being so far from her family and from civilization. She enjoyed immensely her two sojourns at Fort Vancouver, at that time the center of cultural life in the Northwest. (26) Botany was one of her main interests, and she cultivated a fine flower garden, the red poppies from which grew wild around the mission site even as late as 1872. (27) Her refined taste is well expressed in her selection of chinaware, at least half of which is beautiful English pictorial wares- Spode, Staffordshire, Copeland and Garret, etc. There was very little plain, undecorated earthenware or utility china. What must have been the everyday ware had an attractive blue border.

 

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