The
Lewis and Clark Expedition reached this area April 27, 1806, on their return journey from the Pacific. The expedition spent three days at the village of Chief Yallept and his tribe of
Walla Walla people (relatives of the
Nez Perce), in the company of about a hundred
Yakama people.
Meriwether Lewis estimated the total of Native American people at around 550. There the expedition learned of an overland route to the Nez Perce homelands, which shortened their route by some eighty miles. During
David Thompson's 1811 voyage down the
Columbia River, he camped at the
Snake River confluence on July 9, 1811. There he erected a pole and notice claiming the country for Great Britain and stating the intention of the
North West Company to build a trading post at the site. from Main Street in 2008 European settlement of the area began in 1818, when the North West Company built
Fort Nez Perce at the mouth of the
Walla Walla River. The location was chosen to compete with the
Hudson's Bay Company for the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest. That site was maintained until 1855. The first railroad to connect
Walla Walla with the Columbia River at Wallula was begun in 1871. The line, called the Walla Walla and Columbia River Railroad, was completed October 23, 1875. The line was later absorbed into the
Northern Pacific Railroad. To save money, the original rails were wooden, with strap iron on the upper surface. In 1883, the Northern Pacific completed its line from
St. Paul, Minnesota, to present-day Wallula. It built a railroad bridge across the river to connect to the
Oregon Railway and Navigation Company tracks along the south side of the Columbia River. ==Geography==