Workin' for the Kids

Serendipity or Progress ... which is better? As Fort Walla Walla Museum continues to work into our Services and Facilities Enhancement Project, we'll gladly accept both and not look too closely at a gift '33-mule team's' teeth. Progress, I suppose, is when things move along according to plan. Serendipity is when good things happen perhaps because of, but even in spite of, one' s best laid plans.

Yesterday brought us a little serendipity in our construction project. Excavating for utilities left us with a large pile of pretty darn good topsoil that we might have stored for a long time until we could use it elsewhere in the steps of our expansion. We asked Jim Dumont, who heads the City's Parks and Recreation Department if he knew of any pressing needs for good earth within within Walla Walla. As it happens, such a need exists at the Eastgate Lions Little Leaugue field. A lot of our focus is directed towards children, so being able to support 'the All-American game' made us feel really good. Large dump trucks began hauling away the topsoil yesterday and are already continuing to do so today at 7:45 am.

Here's a cool thing. The history of baseball in the region dates back almost to the origins of old military Fort Walla Walla. Soldiers posted here after the Civil War likely revived interest in the game of "Base Ball" from their time spent back east. Through the years, teams from the Fort participated in a number of leagues in the region that came and went as time went by. Now it's full circle .... Fort Walla Walla Museum resides upon the former military reservation of US Military Fort Walla Walla; now earth from the old Fort will support youth baseball in the city. That's a pretty neat little historical nugget we can pass on to the kids.

Today's photos show the removal of the dirt pile and from the Museum's collection, FWWM # 86.42.12, of a young man in baseball uniform that reads "14th Cav" across his chest. On the back, it says, "Sincerely yours, G.W. Mills, Sergt., Troop C, 14th Cav., Fort Walla Walla, July 5, 1908." If that's Sgt. Mills in the photo, he looks like he'd have no trouble knockin' one over the fence, eh?