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Wawawai, Washington

A steamboat stops to pick up cargo at Bishop’s Bar, Wawawai, 1896. Before white settlement, the area was home to Nimiipuu and Palus inhabitants. In 1875, Isiah Matheny established an apple orchard in Wallula and, soon after, additional settlers began growing prune plums, pears, and other fruit along the Snake River. Wawawai was platted in 1878, and a post office opened seven years later. The town included large-scale orchard operations, such as LaFollette Ranch, and developed into a fruit shipping hub. Indigenous and Chinese laborers—and, later, local high school and college students—worked Wawawai's annual harvests. After World War II, fruit cultivation became more expensive, and Wawawai farmers responded by opening “u-pick” orchards and grazing livestock on their land. The post office closed in 1967, around the time that plans for Lower Granite Dam displaced Wawawai’s residents.