Wallula Stone: Petroglyph Boulder Thrice Displaced

Wallula Stone (detail)

Below: Columbia River near Wallula Gap, Washington-Oregon border.

2013 Photos DB

The Wallula Monolith "discovered" 1897 by a railroad crew. Displaced to Portland City Hall plaza in 1910.  Below: Portion of the boulder partially chalked, shown with Frederic Saylor, who analyzed and wrote in detail his speculative imaginings re its meaning.  

The boulder, supine 1910-1940, displaced pillar-like in 1940 (photo Ben Maxwell circa 1950) with an attached bronze tablet (Photo DB, 2013)

In 1996, fortuitous circumstances resulted in the Wallula Stone repatriated and again (dis)placed to the new Nix-Ya-Wii Warriors Memorial, honoring tribal veterans of all wars and of the signers of the Treaty of 1855, at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), Mission, Oregon..

In situ photos above and below at the Warriors Memorial, 2013 (DB)

View online or download the complete 2013 presentation as a PDF from Academia, click link: Versions and Variations of the Storied Wallula Stone, 1897-2012.  Research presented by DB at the Northwest Anthropological Conference, Portland, OR. March 2013.