Spalding began his mission and school nearby, but moved here in 1838. Believing in secular as well as religious teaching, he taught the Indians irrigated farming, brought in the Northwest’s first printing press, and built saw and flour mills. But hostility slowly developed, and Spalding left after the Whitman massacre at Walla Walla in 1847. He returned with the gold rush to labor among his converts until his death in 1874. His grave is nearby.