Assignment: cover a specific activity, trail, or natural or historical feature of the park.Gervais, OR
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The walls, the roof, the crude furnishings—the very structures that once were Willamette Mission—have long since rotted away under Oregon's relentless winter rains. Instead, modern-day metal silhouettes and interpretive signs silently remind us of the hardships missionary Jason Lee overcame in 1834 after he and a few helpers finally arrived here after a seven-month trek from the east. Used only until 1841, Willamette Mission was a school, a church, a hospital, and a home for local Native American children. Although history declares the end of the state's first Methodist Mission as a failure, letters and reports from these brave missionaries actually encouraged Americans to move west, which by all accounts is a triumphant new beginning for Beaver State pioneers.January 22, 2012 Like Add a Comment