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Newcomers Brochure Section Audio-Described
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IMAGE and TEXT: Newcomers DESCRIBING: Contemporary color landscape photo overlooking the Mission site and valley.
SYNOPSIS: This large, square photo stretches from the top to the bottom of the brochure. In the foreground, large green and yellow trees surrounded by grasses make up the bottom half of the landscape. In the center of the landscape, a fence row is situated along a roadside going left to right with a covered wagon midway along the road. Directly behind the road is a secondary row of trees with manicured cut grass with a pond to the far left of the mowed area. A trail makes its way through the mowed area. Behind the second group of trees are plowed agricultural fields and a gray building on the right. Behind the fields is a third row of trees. Rising up from the third row of trees is a mix of high and low brown hills stretching to the horizon. Starting at the horizon, the color of sky transitions from gray to bright blue as it continues upward through the white, puffy clouds. The expansive, cloudy sky covers the top half of the image.
CAPTION: Overlooking the mission site and valley
CREDIT: NPS
RELATED TEXT:
From time immemorial, the weyíıletpuu (Cayuse) have called this valley and this region home. Intimate with every part of it, they consider each plant and animal to be a relative. Over tens of thousands of years they have managed for the best mix of forest and grassland to support their foods.
Inspired by the religious zeal of the time, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman left their New York home in 1836 to open a Christian mission among the pášx̣apuu band of weyíıletpuu. pášx̣apuu interest in this new lifestyle and religion waxed and waned; few converted. When the mission’s sponsors wanted to end the effort, Marcus Whitman hastened east to petition for continuing the mission. Successful, he returned, leading the first major wagon train through weyíıletpuu land.
Increasing waves of immigrants alarmed weyíıletpuu leaders tílewkeyˀkt, ˀıcıyéeye šıléq̉ıš, and tamáx̣aš. They were convinced weyíıletpuu sovereignty and lands were threatened. Then a measles epidemic killed over half the pášx̣apuu, mostly children and elders. Many suspected that Marcus Whitman’s failure to cure them was an intentional way to acquire their land. Tensions reached a breaking point. Life in the Walla Walla Valley would soon change forever.
“There’s blood left here by both sides. Our ancestors and the other people — their breath left them here. We both hold this ground sacred and special.”—k̉oỷam̉á šáamqın (Fermore Craig), 2015
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The Newcomers section of the Whitman Mission National Historic Site Brochure Audio Described
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