Frenchtown

Before the Whitmans got to Washington, there was a Hudson's Bay Company outpost (you know, "54-40 or fight!") here, and its trappers and other personnel lived in a settlement called Frenchtown. After the battle of Walla Walla (Dec 1855), part of the Yakama War, the town was abandoned for a time. There's very little left here, but there's an effort underway to restore the site.

the site's sign


Frenchtown site marker - badly shot by me!


Frenchtown and Santa Rosa church marker


the cemetary


this is one of the posts marking the site of the church



A light-morph Swainson's Hawk soaring overhead, probably one of the ones we saw at the Whitman Mission, given how close the two places are


These are some of the many red-winged grasshoppers around the site. Drab and hard to see when on the ground, they flash a sudden and unexpected red when they fly. It was impossible for me to get a good shot of that - they're small, fast and unpredictable, but it was magical to see. Below is someone else's shot of their wings.




Here's a shot of one showing its wings (©Charley Eiseman, licensed under Creative Commons).