The Great Migration Westward
A massive influx of settlers is pouring into the region, with reports suggesting over 100,000 immigrants passed Fort Laramie this season alone, many destined for the valleys of the Pacific Northwest.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The immigration still comes pouring in. Travelers from Boise this week say that the road is 'literally lined' with immigrant wagons. The most of them seem to be destined for the Willamette, though a great many are settling in the Boise valley and other valleys east of the mountains, and others are coming on to this place. Few have any conception of the vast numbers that have left the States for the west this season. We are told by Mr. Greathouse that he has reliable information that thirty thousand seven hundred wagons have passed Fort Laramie, with over one hundred thousand immigrants. An immigrant told us the other day that, comparatively, we had not seen any of the immigration yet destined for this valley. But we shall soon 'see what we shall see.'
“The road is 'literally lined' with immigrant wagons.”
The rapid demographic shifts of the 1860s defined the character of the inland Pacific Northwest. Today, Walla Walla again experiences high growth, though the 'immigrant wagons' have been replaced by contemporary migration trends that challenge local infrastructure and housing availability just as they did in the 19th century.
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