Marcus and Narcissa Whitman set about the…

Marcus and Narcissa Whitman set about the business of establishing what in a decade will be several missions.

The name of their settlement, Waiilatpu (Why-ee-lat-poo, the 't' is half silent), means "place of the rye grass" in the Cayuse language.

Located in the Walla Walla Valley, just west of the northern end of the Blue Mountains, near the present day city of Walla Walla, Washington, the settlement is in the territory of both the Cayuse and the Nez Percé tribes.

Marcus farms and provides medical care, while Narcissa sets up a school for the tribes’ children.