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For more (including 6 images), view the original article.

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In 1952, a Palouse farmer named Roland "Squirt" Marmes discovered a strange rock formation on his property near the town of Hooper, Washington. That same year, another Hooper rancher named John McGregor brought Washington State University archaeologist Richard Daugherty to Marmes' property to view the odd-looking cavern. Although interested, Daugherty would not return for ten years. In 1962 the first archaeological excavation was undertaken, followed by subsequent excavations
in 1963, '64, '65, and 1968. The Washington State University Archaeology Department and its students led the excavations, which yielded some of the most interesting finds yet discovered in the Northwest.

The Marmes Rockshelter site was discovered only a few years before the Lower Monumental Dam was slated to be finished, leaving archeologists racing against the clock to figure a way to save the cavern before the area behind the dam was inundated by the Snake River. Imagine the WSU archeologist's surprise when his team began to uncover hundreds and eventually thousands of well-preserved items, including a ceremonial burial pit and even skeletal remains. The Marmes site proved without a doubt the existence of mortuary practices of early plateau inhabitants from at least 12,000 years ago. It also helped to determine and shape the sequence of events that have defined everything archeologists know about the culture and habits of the early Plateau peoples. The remains at the Rockshelter showed that the site was inhabited steadily for nearly 8,000 years. The unearthing of Marmes Man was undoubtedly the most significant of the site's thousands of artifacts. In 1968, when he was uncovered, Marmes Man's were the oldest human skeletal remains yet discovered by archeologists, estimated at around 12,000 years old. He was later placed back into his gravesite where he still resides to this day.

In 1968, the construction of the Lower Monumental Dam 20 miles downriver from the Marmes site was nearly finished and with congressional approval, a small coffer dam was constructed around the Rockshelter to protect it from the rising waters. Unfortunately, it did absolutely no good. The river quickly seeped under the cofferdam's base through the loose rock and gravel beneath, submerging the Marmes Rockshelter under 40-feet of water. All that is visible today is the top few feet of the cofferdam which still surrounds the Marmes site. Ironically enough, the discovery of the site and its eventual inundation precipitated a move for more government involvement within the realm of cultural resource management and the creation of laws to better protect places of historic and cultural significance from irreversible damage. When the dam is someday demolished, archeologists will no doubt return to the site in hopes that Marmes Man and the thousands of other artifacts and human remains survived the flood.

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One-room schoolhouses were a common sight in the 19th century American West. Although most have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair, there are still some left that have been restored through the time and effort of members of the local community. One such school house can be found off of South Prairie View Road in Waverly, WA. In fall, 2013, the Southeast Spokane Historical Society, with the help of thousands of dollars in private donations, made an attempt to restore and conserve the old school and also sponsored the school's five-mile move to its current location. Prairie View School has served as a staple of Waverly's community history and culture for 110 years.

The Prairie View schoolhouse opened in 1904 and stood at Fenn and Waverly-Plaza Road to serve and educate area children in grades K-12, but it was not the town's first. Beginning in 1881, the area opened its first schoolhouse, a simple log cabin structure. A few years later as the growing population of Waverly had outgrown the old log building, the town constructed Prairie View. Walter Stark served as the school's principal for the first few years and Annie Holtman was the school's teacher from 1923 until 1961. Local historian, Glenn Leitz, believes the building was originally a pioneer home before it was turned into the new school. Before it closed its doors in 1937, as many as 30 to 40 students attended Prairie View during any given school year.

The schoolhouse sat nestled among some cottonwoods in a very sad state. In 2013, the Southeast Spokane historical Society had the building lifted from its original foundation and transported approximately five miles to its current location. It now sits on a recently poured concrete foundation and a new roof has been put in place. From the outside, the school looks relatively new due to the recent remodel and the original clapboard siding still remains, which is still in remarkably good condition. Other than the new roof and foundation, the inside of the school has maintained much of its original character, including the stage. The process of moving and restoring the old school has, as of 2013, totaled around $50,000.00, all of which has been funded through generous donations.

Similar schoolhouses could once be found dotting the Palouse landscape in both Spokane and Whitman Counties. As early as 1927, there was 130 one-room schools just in Spokane County alone. Waverly's Prairie View Schoolhouse is one of a small number in which the local community has made the push beyond talk and began a concerted attempt to preserve it. Waverly's Prairie View Schoolhouse stands as a testament to the importance of public education to the residents of the Northern Palouse.

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Old grudges die hard. In 1938, cross-county archrivals the Colfax Bulldogs and the St. John Eagles met in a bitterly contested football matchup. St. John emerged the victors with a score of 14 - 0, but the defeated Colfax Bulldogs did not forget. They met on the gridiron again for a rematch - 50 years later. In 1988, most of the players were nearly 70 years-old, but that did not stop the fifty-one players from both teams from a playing each other once again in an epic grudge match 50 years in the making. The idea of nearly 70 year-old men playing a football game in an entertaining attempt to relive their glory days may seem crazy if it were tackle, but fortunately for the players, the 1988 rematch was
a touch game.

Those present at the 1938 game remember it as being one of the best they had ever seen. Even as the players moved on to college, got jobs and raised their families, the big game still lingered in the back of their minds. Fifty years after the game, former Colfax resident turned movie star, John Crawford, was among a group of residents rallying the Colfax community and Bulldog alumni to memorialize the game by holding a 1988 rematch. The game was played at Colfax High, but this time the outcome was different. The Colfax Bulldogs earned their payback, beating the St. John Eagles with a score if 6 - 0. The "Codger Bowl," as it became known, was unlike any other event to have taken place in the region. Many Colfax residents felt that the uniqueness of the game was, in and of itself, worthy of remembrance.

In 1991, John LaBenne from Idyllwild, California was the artist chosen to commemorate the event, which he did by using a chainsaw to expertly carve the faces of all 51 players into five, 65-foot tall cedar poles. Each player even has their original leather football helmets and wrinkled, aged faces added to the detail. Every face is meticulously cut, including their last names and jersey numbers. LaBenne agreed to do the carving for a $10,000 donation, of which, only $960 has yet been paid to the artist. It took four-months to complete and he sunk $5,000 of his money into it, expecting to receive the originally agreed upon sum. The dejected LaBenne still harbors resentment against both the piece and the City of Colfax. In a 1988 interview, he stated that the experience was the "lowest moment" in his life and that, had his car worked, he would have "gone back and set a match to it." LaBenne did a wonderful job in portraying the Colfax and St. John players with his sculpture and his art continues to stand as a monument to the importance of not just the 1938 game, but to the importance of Palouse football period.

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Nineteenth century Americans loved a good courthouse. Here in 1889, the residents of Whitman County constructed a grand gothic palace of justice that stood prominently until 1957 when it was torn down and replaced with a modern courthouse the same year. Palatial courthouses stood for law and order and the civilizing of the frontier. But there was another, more dubious tradition in the American West, one of lynching and extra-judicial violence.

In the spring of 1894, two men sat in the Whitman County Jail in Colfax, both awaiting their fate. George F. Parker was accused of murdering A.B. Cooper on October 17, 1893 in Pullman during a botched robbery attempt. Ed Hill had been charged with the killing of Langford Summers on November 5, 1892 in nearby Garfield during a "drunken spree." Hill was set to be released, convicted only of assault for the stabbing death of Summers, while Parker was still awaiting trial for Cooper's death.

Around 1:00 am on June 1, 1894, a man knocked on the jailhouse door and when the guard opened it he was overtaken by a group of armed men who used his keys to open the cells of both Hill and Parker. The two men were forced upstairs at gunpoint, bound, gagged and had nooses affixed to their necks. While Hill yell and swore, Parker seemed to accept his fate and remained calm. They were both thrown off the second floor balcony where the nooses strangled them to death, rather than their necks being snapped. Most local residents were incensed that such barbaric justice was tarnishing their town so late in the 19th Century. Colfax would not experience another such incident, at least not for another four years.

As 1897 turned into 1898, Chadwick "Blackey" Marshal and Robert "Dakota Slim" McDonald sat in the Colfax jail (in the basement of the courthouse), in the midst of their trial for the murder of Orville Hayden in Farmington in 1897. On the night of January 8, 1898, a posse of around twenty heavily-armed men arrived at the courthouse jail "with revolvers cocked" and demanded the two prisoners. A rope was fastened to Blackey's neck and he was dragged upstairs to the superior courtroom where he was thrown headlong out of a second-story window and hanged. The mob next went after Dakota Slim who had stuffed rags in the keyhole of his cell door, preventing entry. Catching a glimpse of his shoulder, someone shot him, at which point he convincingly feigned death. The Whitman County Sheriff released Dakota Slim the following morning on account of Blackey's "confession." Seven years later, after he was arrested for a crime in Nebraska, Dakota Slim confessed to the murder of Orville Hayden in 1897. This meant they had lynched the wrong man - Blackey did not kill Hayden. Chadwick "Blackey" Marshal was the last man to be lynched in Whitman County.

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In 1910, the "Milwaukee Road" extended nearly 1,500 miles as it stretched from Chicago to Seattle. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (CM & SP) was, for a period in the late-19th and early-20th Centuries, one of the Northwest's most popular railroads for the transport of commerce. In the West, especially in the Palouse, some of the most important of those products were fruit and grain. The CM & SP trains, on route from Chicago to Seattle, stopped through dozens of Palouse towns where, in each one, car after car was filled up to capacity with the region's staple crops: lentils, peas, barley, oats, plums, apples, and most vital to the region's economic success - wheat. As late as 1915, most railroad companies that serviced the Northwest assumed that, as long as the agri-business industry was booming, the railroads would continue to experience economic prosperity and growth as well.

This vision of future railway domination was soon usurped by the automobile. With the advent of state-sponsored highway systems, combined with the rise of the trucking industry for fast and affordable commercial transportation, many railroad businesses began to disappear, being bought out by bigger railroad companies, from the 1940s into the 1970s. One such railroad was the CM & SP which, by 1972 was bought out and had abandoned its right-of-way and removed hundreds of miles of Washington rails.

As part of a "rail-to-trails" project envisioned by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the old Milwaukee Road in Washington State was made available for hikers and bikers to utilize at their leisure in 1999. The purpose of the project was to preserve the Milwaukee Road corridor by making it an outdoor recreational destination to allow those who use it to follow the same route that transformed the Northwest and touched millions of American lives. The project, which has been in the works for nearly two decades, maintains and repairs sections of the trail in order to make it safe for outdoor enthusiasts. The Milwaukee Road trail is an excellent way to tour the Palouse and view the region's spectacular panoramas and scenery. The trail takes hikers and bicyclists through some of the most historically significant towns in the Northern Palouse, such as Rosalia, Pine City, Malden, Ewan-Rock Lake, and Lind. Take a side trip through these old farming towns where the original architecture and pioneer cemeteries speak volumes of the rich cultural history found in this region.

The state parks commissions of both Washington and Idaho are, as of 2014, with the help of the non-profit Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, still in the process of trying to raise the money needed to repair and finish some sections of trail in order to connect it from Tekoa to the Idaho portion of the trail. For now, the Milwaukee Road in the Palouse ends just north of Tekoa and will hopefully be finished soon. Until then, enjoy a ride or a hike over the enormous, Roman aqueduct-style CM & SP Bridge near Rosalia where you can view the Steptoe Battlefield. The desolately beautiful Rock Lake portion of the trail is another example of the intriguing scenery offered by the Milwaukee Road Trail.

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"Hundreds Homeless at Colfax - Driven to the Hillsides by Raging Floods - Houses Swept Away by the Rushing Waters"

The front-page headline of the March 3, 1910 edition of the Spokane Daily Chronicle described nearly 500 residents of Colfax as they were left without shelter as the Palouse River flooded homes, businesses and railroad depots. Although it suffered the worst devastation, Colfax was, by no means, the only town affected by the raging waters of the relatively small, yet powerful and dangerous river. Every community in the region near the Palouse River and even its tributaries, such as Pine Creek and Latah Creek, were subsequently inundated as well. Residents of the Palouse region who lived near the rivers and creeks had learned to live with floods occurring every ten years or so, but never had they witnessed anything like the 1910 floods. As settlers transformed the grasslands and forests of the Palouse to support industrialized agriculture and logging, they unleashed forces that would wreak havoc on their frontier communities.

As an unseasonably warm February in 1910 moved into March, the creeks and streams that flowed into the Palouse began turning into raging torrents. The warm weather caused a dense snow-pack to melt, which, combined with recent heavy rains and winds, forced the river beyond its banks and into nearby towns and fields. Before area residents had a chance to begin flood preparations, the river was already at flood stage. On February 28, local newspapers mentioned the river rising rapidly and wondered of the possibility of a major flood. By March 2, Hangman Bridge at Latah Creek was completely
washed-out and Colfax and Rosalia (among others) were under an average of three-feet of frigid, rushing water. On March 4, as the waters began to recede, Colfax and Moscow were left "completely cut-off from the outside world" and were without trains, or even a telegraph wire. In fact, the Spokane & Inland Empire train depot was washed from its foundation, slamming into another building over 200 yards away. Colfax suffered an estimated loss of around $300,000.00.

The extreme damage created by the flood forced a Colfax Gazette reporter to ask, "Is this the winter of our discontent?" Fortunately, there were no deaths caused by the floods and the afflicted communities immediately rebuilt. If anything, Colfax was only strengthened as a community as a result of the rebuilding efforts and the stories of individual bravery which demonstrated the power of humanity in times of struggle.

Unfortunately, this was not the last flood that Palouse-area residents would experience. Similarly devastating floods occurred again in 1933 and 1948, which eventually led to the Colfax Flood Control Project in 1962. The project's construction involved the deepening of the Palouse River channel, building concrete-lined canals and retaining walls at a cost of $ 203,000.00. Since the project was completed in 1964, the town has managed to stay dry and subsequently, has experienced no problems with the Palouse River since.

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You are looking at one of the most impressive waterfalls in the Northwest and a staple of the region's geology. The Palouse is full of beautiful landscapes, but the most impressive by far is the grand, 198-foot high Palouse Falls. Situated five-miles upstream from the Snake River confluence on the Palouse River, the impressive cascading waterfall has been a staple of Palouse geology since it was first discovered long ago by local tribes. The beauty and awe-inspiring power of Palouse Falls has inspired and attracted visitors for generations.

Palouse Falls holds a special place in the creation story of the Palus Indians. The traditional fishing site of the Palus Tribe is located near the falls, where the Snake and Palouse Rivers meet. This is where the village of Palus, the tribe's largest and oldest village once stood. Also known as Naha'u'umpu'u, or "People of the River," they are especially fond of the falls because residing nearby is the massive, petrified heart of the legendary Beaver, Wishpushya.

During the time of the Animal People, Beaver lived peacefully at his lodge at Hole-in-the-Ground near Rock Lake in northern Whitman County. He was killed by the five Wolf Brothers armed with spears, but not before an epic battle ensued in which time the rocky and undulating geography of the Palouse was formed as a result of the struggle. Beaver was mortally wounded at Palouse Falls (known to the Palus as "Falling Water," or Aputaput). In the pain and agony of death, he thrashed and flailed, gauging-out the rocks with his mighty claws and teeth, forming the sheer cliffs that surround the falls. Beaver died from his wounds, falling at the confluence of the Snake River where his giant heart transformed to stone. According to legend, the remains of Beaver crated all of the region's various tribes. The Palus are said to have "sprung from his heart," which is the large rock on the west side of the Palouse River at the Snake River confluence and is still visible today.

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Before it was known as "Spokane County's preeminent grain market," Rockford earned a reputation for vigilante justice. Like many other Western farming and ranching communities in the 1880s, Rockford experienced a certain element of criminal activity. One of the most lucrative criminal enterprises in the region was horse rustling and the Northern Palouse sat in the middle of the rustling trade between British Columbia and Eastern Oregon. Rock Creek, which runs through the town of Rockford, was one of the region's most popular routes for the trafficking of stolen horses.

In 1882, a Montana transplant by the name of Aldy Neal was "engaged in abducting horses" from settlers throughout the Inland Northwest. The entire Neal family were industrious horse thieves. As suspicions about the Neal family's dubious occupation abounded in Rockford, the family "pulled-up stakes and left," but Aldy and his sister chose to remain. Aldy was sought by Sheriff Hatten in connection for area horse thefts. A group of Rockford settlers rounded up a posse, surrounded Aldy's house and quietly apprehended him in order to bring him to the county court house in Cheney.

About one-and-a-half-miles north of Rockford, a heavily-armed group of around twenty men "with revolvers cocked" stopped the group escorting Aldy and demanded they give him up. Outgunned and outmanned, the posse allowed the masked vigilantes to unstrap Aldy from his horse where they led him to the nearby timber. In vain, Aldy Neal plead for his life and stated that he would confess to all his family's crimes, as well as his own. The vigilantes told him that "his time had come and to make peace with his Creator." He was allowed several minutes to prepare for his death, then his captors slung the rope around a pine branch, a noose around his neck and Aldy was hanged. The crowd waited until he was dead and then dispersed.

Upon hearing of the lynching, Sheriff Hatten casually rode in the following day from Cheney to inspect the scene. Neither the vigilantes, nor the group that arrested Aldy would identify the killers. No arrests were ever made and there was never another recorded episode of horse- thief lynching since. The act was "roundly decried" throughout the Northwest and even made headlines in newspapers as far away as West Virginia.

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This impressive structure is the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul (CM & SP) Viaduct, built in 1909. The CM & SP railway was, for the first few decades of settlement, one of the most important railroad companies in the Palouse region. Although Tekoa was already established and still growing when the CM & SP built its tracks through town, it was made exponentially larger as a result of the construction of the bridge. The 975 feet-long and 115 feet-high railroad trestle that runs just north of Tekoa represented not only the success of the town, but signified the success of one of the fastest growing and most agriculturally important regions of the Northwest.

The Northern Palouse was seen by most railroad companies as being the most economically strategic route for the construction of new tracks in the early 20th century. Due mostly to the relatively level topography (relative to the central and southern portions of the Palouse, where elevation changes are more frequent and intense) and close proximity to Spokane, Colfax, and Idaho, Tekoa was a gateway to markets east of the Rocky Mountains. Lumber, ore, manufactured goods, grain, and fruit shipments all made Tekoa, from 1900 through 1920, "one of the busiest places in the Inland Empire." It was important enough for the CM & SP that they assigned one of their star engineers, W.E. Dauchy, as head of the company's operations at Tekoa. Dauchy was previously chief engineer in charge of the Culebra Cut phase of the Panama Canal.

As the de facto capitol of the Northern Palouse, Tekoa became the CM & SP's most important hubs for Palouse exports, making Tekoa one of the most vital centers for the movement of Palouse agriculture. Even Northern Idaho's lumber and mining industries contributed to the town's prosperity. The CM & SP made a "swing around circle" every day to the Coeur d'Alene mining region - more than any other railway. Tekoa's "Wallace route" was the most popular means of travel and transport to and from Eastern Washington to Idaho's Silver Valley. It was so popular that another train had to be added to the route and more crews hired in order to keep workers and supplies going in and ore coming out.

Millions of dollars of commerce passed through Tekoa every year, thus spawning the town's rapid economic growth, but once the trains began to pull service in the 1940s, the towns that grew up around them began to decline as fast as they expanded. Highways and long-haul trucking began to take over in the 1950s, sealing the fate of communities across the Palouse. Wheat farming still abounds in and around Tekoa, but the immense quantities of goods which once traveled over this bridge, en route for destinations across the globe, are but a faded memory of economic times long since gone.

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You are looking at St. Boniface Church, named after the German apostle. It is the first consecrated Catholic Church in the State of Washington. The church not only represents the spiritual commitment of early Palouse immigrants and their modern-day ancestors, but also the commitment to building, from the ground up, a new society in a strange new place. This spirit would come to personify the people of the Palouse.

One of the most dramatic social changes experienced in the Palouse region was westward migration. As Europeans and Americans encroached on tribal lands in the 1860s, they brought with them a new culture. As the United States military removed area tribes, such as the Palus, Spokanes and Yakamas from their ancestral homelands on to reservations, the region was opened for homesteading. With abundant farming lands available after the Indian Appropriations Act in 1871, along with an effective suppression of Native American resistance, thousands of northern European farmers began migrating to the Palouse in search of economic prosperity.

In the late 19th Century, groups of German immigrants (predominantly from the regions of Bavaria, Baden, and Rhineland) settled their own enclaves in areas throughout the Palouse. One of the most prominent and prosperous immigrant communities was in Uniontown, originally settled by German Catholics in 1873. One year before settlement, a "party of young Germans" set out from Minnesota to homestead in Oregon Country. The group arrived in Walla Walla early in 1873, and from there to Palouse Country. Deciding to remain in an area south of Colfax, they named the settlement Uniontown (after the area's unofficial name of Union Flats). The group even sent one man, Mr. Jacobs, back to Minnesota to send word of their arrival and bring back more German-American migrants.

The group of devout Catholics initially set about establishing a community church, a difficult task due to the lack of building materials. At first, Jesuit Fathers from the Lapwai Mission performed Mass inside homes. By the early 1880s, a Catholic organization was formed and a Dominican Friar, Father Caesary, became the first resident priest. In 1893, construction of the current structure began, at which time only the foundation was made. Financial hard times had befallen both Uniontown and the rest of the nation during the Panic of 1893, which effectively kyboshed the town's Catholics from continuing the construction of their church for another 11 years. In May, 1904, under direction of Uniontown's new Pastor, J.A. Faust, construction once again commenced and the grand structure was completed in less than year, opening its doors in April, 1905 at a total cost of around $20,000.

The construction of St. Boniface Church was indicative of the prosperity experienced among the German immigrants who brought their specific knowledge of wheat farming to the region over 140 years ago. It was the introduction of the German-American culture that helped to make the Palouse both culturally diverse and economically successful. They brought with them not just unique social and religious qualities, but they also brought distinct farming techniques from Europe, many of which are still used today. St. Boniface stands as a testament to the long-standing and positive influence that German immigrants have created in the Palouse.

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Welcome to Hole-in-the-Ground, where you will notice one of the most peculiar geological formations in the region. As part of the channeled scablands, Hole-in-the-Ground was created by the powerful flood waters of glacial Lake Missoula some 15,000 years ago. The torrents carved coulees, valleys and gorges through the basalt rock of the region, leaving behind the immense walls surrounding enormous trenches. But these geological formation of the region can also be explained in another way.

According to Palus tribal legend, Hole-in-the-Ground was the home of Beaver during the "time of the Animal People." Armed with spears, the five Wolf Brothers ambushed Beaver as he resided peacefully at his lodge. An epic battle ensued, which consequently formed the curious geography of Southeast Washington. During the fight, Beaver ripped and "chewed-out" nearby Rock Lake and as he clawed his way towards the Snake River Valley, his beating tail created the various small waterfalls along the Palouse River. Beaver was eventually killed by the Wolf Brothers and, in the throes of death, he carved-out the sheer cliffs of Palouse Falls. Beaver's heart turned to stone as the giant creature collapsed at the confluence of the Snake and Palouse rivers. His remains were transformed into the region's various tribes, but the Palus were said to have "sprung from his heart." For the Palus, Hole-in-the-Ground is not just an interesting sight to behold, it is at the forefront of creation.

The natural barriers provided by the massive stone walls, along with the fertile, 1,000 acre valley below, makes for a great livestock and horse corral, especially for the region's cattle rustlers. In the 1870s and 1880s, the Masterson Gang, a notorious group of rustlers and thieves led by "Big Bill" Masterson, used Hole-in-the-Ground as their main rendezvous point and corral. The gang raided ranches as far as Montana and Oregon, bringing back as much as 500 horses in a single trip. The herds were rested here, grazing in the lush grassland valley for a few days before they were driven again to be sold - and always at a profit. Sometimes, the herds were sold back to the same ranchers the gang stole them from. The gang was eventually foiled by Hole-in-the-Ground homesteaders Henry Jones and Luke Rawls. Rawls, who was deputized, successfully infiltrated the gang and with the aid of Jones, was able to arrest Masterson in the Spokane Valley after returning from a trip to "fetch some horses" in Montana.

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In the northwest corner of Whitman County, alongside Pine Creek and hidden amongst the undulating hills of Palouse wheat farming country, sits the town of Malden, Washington. This tiny town was once one of the largest and fastest growing communities in the region. As the headquarters for the Columbia Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway (CM & St. P), Malden's growth was based upon the success of the railroad.

With the exception of some area farmers and ranchers, Malden was relatively unsettled before 1909. That was the year the CM & St. P had a depot and roundhouse constructed to serve as a divisional headquarters. The area was named Malden, after a railroads executive's hometown in Massachusetts. Shortly after the depot was completed the town of Malden was incorporated, and at only .67 square miles, it is one of the smallest municipal boundaries in the state of Washington. Regardless, Malden experienced tremendous population growth for two decades--going from essentially zero to over 1000 by 1920.

A succession of lodging places were constructed including the Malden Hotel and the Empire Hotel. A newspaper, the Malden Register, was founded. At its height Malden had multiple grocery stores, a hardware store, restaurants and saloons. Many of the residents worked at the CM & St. P roundhouse, which in 1909 boasted "the largest turntable in the world."

Malden's boom years proved to be short-lived. The railroad moved its operations out of Malden in the 1920s, and the population began to plummet. By 1930, there remained only 375 residents. In the 1970s, Malden's train depot was demolished and all of the CM & St. P tracks were removed as the defunct company abandoned its lines. In 2010, the population was 203. The stores and hotels and are long since closed, though a local post office remains open.

Malden is demonstrative of the inland Northwest's economic booms and busts, which can be witnessed throughout the Palouse. It also demonstrates the resiliency and adaptability of small towns. As part of a "rails-to-trails" project, the old railway is now a portion of the John Wayne Trail, a popular destination for mountain bikers and hikers. Malden may yet have a second act.

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Like most towns in Whitman County, Farmington was once a prosperous and rapidly expanding community during the early twentieth century. An abundance of nearby timber and a close water source was what first attracted settlers to the area in the 1870s. George Briggs and Hiram Youngs were the first to homestead the area, but it was Minnesota native George Truax who in 1878 gave his homestead over to be platted into a town. Named after Truax's hometown of Farmington, Minnesota, the town in Washington was officially incorporated in 1888.

In the beginning, cattle-ranching was the main focus of Farmington's economy, which was the norm for most young, emerging frontier towns. In the early 1890s however, settlers began to plant sugar beets to supplement their livestock-based economy. This quickly progressed into the planting of fruit orchards and by the late 1890s ranching was all but abandoned. The fruit orchards had proved to be an unsuccessful venture due to early frosts and cold winters, which left residents looking for a dependable, long-term agro-economic foundation.

Like nearly all Palouse-area towns in the early 1900s, Farmington residents looked to dry-farming techniques to harvest grain in the region's fertile loess soil, but unlike most Palouse towns, Farmington also maintained an economic base in legume harvesting as well. Wheat and lentils both became staple crops, the success of which was made possible by the construction of the Spokane-Palouse Rail Line.

The community of Farmington soon began to thrive as a result of both their new form of agriculture and the railroad depot. The depot not only helped farmers ship their crops, but it also helped to expand the town's the rather small population. The depot also helped to bring exciting visitors to the little town. In 1908, Teddy Roosevelt arrived at the depot on a cross-country tour where he stopped by many little towns on his way to speak in the larger urban areas such as Spokane and Seattle.

Farmington has been a town of boom and bust. The agricultural economy and the construction of the railroad depot brought the "boom", but the Great Depression of the 1930s brought the "bust". Farmington was not alone as many communities (almost all of them) suffered tremendously in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929. Right before the crash, the population of Farmington was nearly 500 residents, and looked to be on a steady increase, but by 1940 the population was down to 341. In 1970 the population was 140 and has maintained around the same number ever since. In 2010 the population of Farmington was 146.

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Welcome to Rosalia, Washington, a town whose history is very similar to the other agricultural communities of the Palouse.

Rosalia was first settled in 1872 and was named after the wife of the town's founder John Favorite. Rosalia's existence is due to the Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 which opened up native lands in the Northwest to the white settlers who were arriving in droves. As Indian lands were appropriated, area tribes were forced onto reservations away from their ancestral homelands.

Rosalia grew quickly in the first decades, fueled by the rich soil of the Palouse. Brick buildings popped up along Whitman Avenue, and Rosalia boasted a bank, a movie theater, and other businesses to serve the farmers in the surrounding countryside.

In 1872, two brothers William and Tom Donahue were digging a drainage ditch near a spring when they discovered some very large bones, including tusks. The leg bones measured 10 feet and the skull weighed in at 800 pounds. These happened to be the bones of a 9,000 year old mastodon, which were sold to a Californian man who then eventually sold them to the Field Museum in Chicago. These mastodon bones are still on display at the museum.

1910 was an eventful year for Rosalia as record snowfalls and an early spring thaw swelled Pine Creek far beyond its banks. The town became inundated under as much as five feet of water as homes and crops were destroyed by the rising tide. Looking at Pine Creek today it is difficult to imagine the tiny stream as being capable of creating the amount of damage that occurred in 1910.

One of the most noticeable attractions found in Rosalia is the Texaco Central Service Station on 534 Whitman Street. Built in 1923, by Charles Hall, the Central Service Station was one of the first gas stations in the area, and one of the only stations in Rosalia for many years. The Hall family operated the station until 1980 when it was closed down. In 2000 the family donated the vacant building to the Rosalia Chamber of Commerce. It has since been maintained in its original fashion ever since the remodel and is now the town's visitor/tourist center.

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All but forgotten today, the Palouse once had its own mass transit--the S&IE Interurban Railway, affectionately known as "the Bug."

As the population of the western states dramatically increased in the early 20th century, railroad transportation became necessary for economic expansion, transportation, and communication. This revolutionary decrease in travel time enabled sparsely populated rural areas, like the communities of the Palouse, to connect with the market and culture of urban areas like Spokane and Seattle. This travel revolution brought both the boom and bust of many Palouse towns in the 1900s.

Eastern Washington's population boom in the early 1900s made the advent of electric-powered passenger trains, or "interurbans" the most popular form of personal transportation during that era. Linking Spokane to the many farming communities of the Palouse helped to strengthen regional bonds - both culturally and economically. Interurban travel became much more than just an affordable and quick way to get around. It was also a means of realizing regional importance through the transport of commercial goods.

The Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad (S&IE) was one of the most popular regional interurbans in eastern Washington, with dozens of stops in the Palouse between Spokane and Moscow. The number of passengers riding the S&IE trains had reached into the hundreds of thousands by 1919, then peaking in popularity.

The S&IE started out as a simple streetcar line owned by Spokane Traction Co. and was powered by electricity purchased from Washington Water Power, Spokane's main electric utility. The Spokane Traction Co. next had a Dam built on the Spokane River at Nine Mile in order to bypass the services of WWP and use their own hydroelectric power. In 1907, Spokane Traction Co., the Spokane-Coeur d' Alene Railroad, and James J. Hill of Great Northern (and of Hillyard fame) merged the three lines together. This consolidation helped to expand their vision of interurban travel south from Spokane to the hub of the Washington and Idaho agri-business industry, the Palouse region.

This advancement in iron horse technology also helped to interconnect the various farming communities of the Palouse. The SIE Interurban not only changed the manner in which people traveled and conducted business, but it also changed the very manner in which they viewed their own community, as well as the surrounding communities.

By the 1920s, as Ford's mass production of automobiles made it easier for working-class citizens to purchase a car, the use of interurbans began a rapid decline in ridership. In 1922 the Spokane-Inland Empire Railroad began to supplement certain interurbans with bus routes and soon depots and stations were removed altogether. By the mid-1930s the retention of interurban travel had become a losing battle as more personal vehicles were being purchased and the nation's roads were steadily improved.

The Spokane- Inland Empire interurbans ended electric train service to the Palouse in 1939 with one last Spokane-Moscow journey. Extremely limited diesel-locomotive interurban service continued from Spokane to the Palouse until 1970 when the line was scrapped entirely.

Today, public passenger train service from Spokane to the Palouse is non-existent and, although hardly comparable to the interurban experience, private bus service is the closest thing insofar as mass transportation is concerned. The real experience of interurban, passenger train travel is now confined to the fond memories of an aging generation.

This stop is located at Harpole Bridge (or the Manning-Rye covered bridge) built in 1922. This bridge used to be an important part of the S&IE's Palouse-line on the route to Colfax. Interurbans used to travel over this bridge frequently and it was abandoned along with the rest of the line by Burlington Northern in the 1970s. The is now a portion of the Colfax Trail.

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You are standing near the path of the Mullan Road, the first wagon road across the northern Rocky Mountains.

Since before Lewis and Clark, it was an American dream to establish an effective route connecting the eastern United States to the Pacific Ocean. The vast expanse of the American continent made this passage difficult, but thanks to Irish immigrant and West Point graduate John Mullan, this vision would be realized.

In March 1853, Governor Isaac Stevens led an expeditionary force to survey the newly-established Washington Territory. Mullan was one of his officers and was soon appointed to build the wagon road. The road would aid in the subjugation of the area's Native population, serve as a wagon trail for American migrants and as a survey of the best routes for an eventual railroad.

The 624-mile-long Mullan Road, winding through the Idaho and Montana Rockies into the western foothills, through the plains of southeastern and central Washington, and along the banks of the mighty Columbia River into Fort Walla Walla became a symbol of military might and commercial power. The road's completion in 1861 was quite an accomplishment in an area of the continent which held only a handful of white settlers overshadowed by a population of Indian tribes that had been dominant in this region since long before European contact. Many of these tribes, such as the Nez Perce, Iroquois and Flathead offered guidance and advice in leading Mullan through the mountain passes and river valleys that he would utilize for his road's construction. Always mindful of existing Indian trails and roads, Mullan even utilized the mountain pass trails of the Coeur d' Alenes.

The Mullan Road was one of the busiest wagon trails in the Northwest during its eight-year commissioned use. Over 20,000 immigrants and over $1,000,000 in commerce passed over the road in 1866 alone. With the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, the wagon trails were traded for the Iron Horse, and the Mullan Road was decommissioned.

Fast-forward nearly 100 years and by the 1960s as Interstate 90 was completed in Washington, Idaho and Montana, markers of the original Mullan Road were placed and can be seen along the Interstate. Many of these signs are visible on or near I-90 through Montana, Idaho, and Eastern Washington. Highway 10 in Idaho and Montana follows much of the road's original route. These major thoroughfares indicate not only the original road's presence, but they also remind us of the historical significance of the Mullan Road, and its impact on western American society, even in to the 21st century.

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This is the site of a murder.

The 1850s were a violent time in northwest history as a growing tide of American immigrants encroached upon Indian land. In 1855 the first governor of Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens, forced the tribes to sign treaties giving up nearly their entire domain. Most Indians refused to recognize the dubious legality of the treaties and nursed bitter resentments. In 1858 violence broke out as the Spokane and Yakamas waged guerilla warfare on the invaders. Early that year Indians nearly wiped out a 150-man unit under Colonel Steptoe, who was lucky to escape back to Fort Walla Walla with his life. In response, the Army dispatched 600 troops under the command of Colonel George Wright to subdue the Indian tribes of eastern Washington by any means necessary.

Marching north from Fort Walla Walla, Wright met and defeated an allied force of Yakama, Spokan, and Coeur d' Alene tribes at Four Lakes and Spokane Plains. He then turned west along the Spokane River near the area of present-day Liberty Lake where on September 8 he ordered the slaughter of nearly 1,000 horses belonging to the Palus tribe.

Yakama Sub-Chief Qualchan and others had been accused of attacking white settlers in the area, including the murder of US Indian Agent A.J. Bolon. This status made him a wanted fugitive by territorial authorities. On September 23, 1858 Qualchan's father, Chief Owhi, entered Wright's camp under a white flag, in an attempt to negotiate peace with US officials. Owhi was immediately placed in shackles as Wright intended on holding him hostage to lure Qualchan to the camp. Unaware that his father had been taken captive, Qualchan arrived at Wright's camp on September 24 with his wife Whist-alks, his son, and two other warriors (including his brother Lo-kout) on his own mission to negotiate peace. Col. Wright was in no mood for diplomacy. Rather, he wished to make an example of Qualchan and ordered him hung.

Upon his arrest, Qualchan noticed his imprisoned father and wept. As soldiers attempted to hang Qualchan it was said by his companion Seven Mountains that "Qualchan twice summoned the power of the mist and twice the rope broke". Qualchan's executioners bound his arms and legs and he was slowly strangled to death. With his words almost as cold as his actions, Wright's only mention of the event in his journal read: "Qualchan came to see me at 9 o'clock, at 9:15 he was hung." One day after helplessly witnessing his son's murder, Chief Owhi was shot dead as he attempted an escape. Over three days another dozen of so Indians were hanged as well, all without a trial.

Qualchan's death was only the beginning of what could be considered a hanging spree by Wright. Only one day after the killings, Wright had six members of the Palus tribe hanged, including a chief. Similar to Qualchan, they were hanged after approaching Wright's camp with a white flag attempting to negotiate peace. Wright was a busy man for the month of September as he had almost 1,000 horses and at least seven men murdered for the cause of westward expansion.

September 24, 1858:
"There was no timber close to where they camped, but they planted a large stick in the ground and nailed a cross stick on it; tied my husband's legs together, his hands behind his back, put a rope around his neck and strangled him to death...they must have seen from the expression of my face that I anguished, but they heeded not". These are the words of Whist-alks, wife of Yakama leader Qualchan who witnessed her husband's death under orders of Col. George Wright.

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This is the Tohotonimme battlefield where on May 17, 1858 a combined force of around 650 Spokan, Palus, and Coeur d' Alene warriors fought against the encroachments of Col. Edward Steptoe and his column of 160 men. His group also included a group of "Christianized" Nez Perce scouts. In this battle, one of the last Indian-American wars fought within Washington Territory, the Native forces emerged victorious as they routed Steptoe's men and forced a retreat.

Steptoe's presence in the Palouse region was an attempt to intimidate area tribes with a show of military force, but few were impressed. On May 16, at Pine Creek near present-day Rosalia, a band of Coeur d'Alenes accompanied by Father Joset (a Jesuit Missionary) confronted Steptoe in an attempt to reason with him and stop his march into hostile territory. Unheeded by their intervention, Steptoe rode further and soon realized he was being followed by a large force of Coeur d'Alene, Palus, and Spokans. Steptoe's column was dangerously low on ammo as he did not expect an altercation, and his dragoons even left behind their sabers. Due to Steptoe's poor planning, his column was forced into a prolonged retreat once Indian force began their attack. The battle at Tohotonimme occurred during this "running battle," as Steptoe's men took up defensive positions on a small hill in an attempt to repulse his attackers.

That night, during a lull in the battle it is thought that Chief Vincent of the Coeur d'Alenes used the sounds of dancing and war drums to allow Steptoe a chance to escape under the cover of darkness. No one has yet discovered for certain how Steptoe and his men were able to flee. Still in debate to this very day is just how Steptoe was able to escape in what could have very well been a much more significant victory for the Indian forces.

Steptoe may have escaped alive, but not before five Nez Perce scouts, two officers and five enlisted men were killed during what was basically Steptoe's glorified retreat. Indian forces emerged victorious, sending a strong message to Federal officials that these northwest tribes would not be forced off their land without a fight. Unfortunately, this Indian victory was short lived as Col. George Wright came to this area in the following months with a force of 600 men. Wright ensured a more successful campaign of "Indian removal."

When you stand in front of the Steptoe Memorial obelisk and overlook Tohotonimme field along the highway, you are standing at the very spot where Col. Steptoe attempted his last ditch effort to rally his troops and repulse the attack. This is also the spot where he had his column's howitzers hastily buried to prevent them from falling into their attacker's hands. Directly to the southeast of the battlefield is Pine Creek, where Steptoe was first fired upon and the fighting initially broke out.

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A winding fifteen minute drive up to the top of Steptoe Butte offers some of the most breathtaking views in Eastern Washington. On a clear day, visitors are greeted by a panoramic view of nearly the entire Palouse and beyond. Mt. Spokane can be seen to the north, the Big Bend Columbia River Valley to the west, and the Idaho Rockies to the east. The natural beauty of this location led to the construction of one of the area's most famous and interesting lodging places.

In 1880, Palouse homesteader James "Cashup" Davis first hiked to the butte's summit where he looked over the immense landscape and contemplated the construction of a grand hotel. In the spring of 1888 a primitive road was built, corkscrewing around the butte's circumference. Teams of horses hauled thousands of feet of lumber, along with construction equipment, up this crudely made mountain trail every day. Davis' two-story structure was completed and opened its doors to guests on July 4, 1888. The Cashup Hotel could room up to fifty visitors and even contained an observatory above the second floor where a telescope gave guests a majestic view of the Palouse landscape.

Davis' hotel project would prove short lived. The novelty wore off after few years of popularity.Even road-weary travelers found the Cashup Hotel's location to be too inconvenient. Another problem was the lack of water on the butte--water had to be hauled up the butte everyday by horse teams. James "Cashup" Davis died in his hotel in 1896 at the age of 81. The hotel closed its doors forever in 1902.

In 1911, the structure was destroyed due to an accidental fire started by some careless young boys smoking cigarettes and what remained of the structure was subsequently removed. In 1946, local conservationist Virgil McCroskey donated the land to the State of Washington for preservation purposes. Steptoe State Park is now located at the very same spot where the Cashup Hotel once looked over the Palouse in all its majestic glory.

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The towns of the Palouse followed similar patterns of early growth as white settlers flooded into the area, followed by a long and gradual decline with the greater mechanization of farming. Some simply vanished. Today,the ghost town of Elberton stands as a silent witness of rural depopulation.

Elberton's story started in the 1870s when, due to an abundance of timber in the area, a sawmill powered by the nearby Palouse River was built. Within the next few years the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. had constructed a line through the river valley. These enterprises brought more settlers to the area and in 1886 the town was platted by Sylvester M. Wait. Fruit orchards were introduced and apples and plums quickly became the chief source of Elberton's prosperity for many years.

At the height of its prosperity, Elberton had a population of nearly 500, a flour mill, sawmill, two stores, a post office, three churches, and also boasted the "region's largest" prune dryer. The most important attraction was the Elberton Picnic held from 1893-1924. The annual Picnic was a three day, fair-like event that was known throughout Whitman County and attracted hundreds of visitors. According to long time resident John Elwood, the Elberton Picnic was so popular that presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan even showed up to give a speech during his famous 1896 campaign.

Elberton's quick rise to regional prominence would only last a few years as a series of unfortunate events occurred during the early 20th Century, beginning in 1906. This is the year that the district around Elberton was deforested enough to force the sawmill to move to Idaho. In 1907 the O.R. & N pulled its area service, and then the flour mill soon followed suit. In 1908 a fire burned part of the town and in 1910 a catastrophic flood submerged much of what was left of the struggling community.

The final blow came in the early 1930s when the stock market crash and the Great Depression helped to seal Elberton's fate. The town was nearly empty by the 1950s. After years of existing as a residential bedroom community, Elberton was officially disincorporated as a Washington town in 1966. It was around this same time that Whitman County fire crews began using many of the town's long-abandoned structures for training purposes, lighting them ablaze to extinguishing the fires. Elberton's decline is representative of the economic strain experienced in most Palouse farming communities during the '30s.

The only original structure to survive to the present-day is the United Brethren Church, built in 1913. Although nearly all of Elberton's buildings were destroyed or damaged during fires and floods, the United Brethren Church managed to endure. It has not been in use for many years, and still retains much of its old character. Its dilapidated state only adds to the personality of this Washington ghost town. The cemetery lurks on a hill overlooking Elberton, which also adds a certain 'hallowed' quality to this abandoned community.

Today there are only about 15 residents in the vicinity of Elberton, but a trip there will not disappoint as there are interesting things to see and do. Remaining landmarks and structures include the United Brethren Church, the abandoned railroad trestle and the old cemetery off Oral smith Road directly northeast of the church. Remnants of the original orchards and even private gardens can be seen during the spring and summer. If you look close enough you can even find some structural remains beneath the overgrowth.

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