Commanding Officers' Quarters

After the settlers, traveling over the Oregon Trail, began arriving into Central Washington in 1850, conflicts with the Indian tribes of the Yakama... more

by Charles Robinson

Title

Commanding Officers' Quarters

Artist

Charles Robinson

Medium

Photograph - Landscape Photograph

Description

After the settlers, traveling over the Oregon Trail, began arriving into Central Washington in 1850, conflicts with the Indian tribes of the Yakama Nation were inevitable. Ft. Simcoe was constructed at the Mool Mool Springs, an Indian campsite at the base of the Cascade Mountains near the present day town of White Swan, in 1856 to thwart the hostilities and became the advance post of the Ninth Infantry Regiment. Ironically the fort completed after the Treaty of 1855 was signed with the Yakama Nation, confining the Indians to the Yakama Nation Reservation. As a result the fort was never the site of any military conflicts and the fort was decommissioned in 1858 and turned over to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1859. It was used by the Bureau as the Indian agency headquarters to provide services to the Indians on the reservation and as a school for the children as well as trade skills to the adults. Efforts to preserve the site began almost immediately. The Commanding Officers’ Quarters is a restoration of the original building. The home is furnished with authentic furniture of that period. The site was designated a state park in 1956 under a 99-year lease from the Yakama Nation.

Uploaded

September 4th, 2012