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Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73

§433k Whitman Mission National Historic Site; acquisition of land; establishment, supervision and maintenance

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER LXI— - NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS › § 433k

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must accept as a gift the site of Marcus Whitman's 1836 Indian mission on the Walla Walla River in what is now Walla Walla County, Washington. The Secretary may also take extra land and a right-of-way to the nearest highway. That property will be the Whitman Mission National Historic Site and a public memorial to Marcus and Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, who were killed with twelve others in 1847. The National Park Service Director, under the Secretary's direction, must manage and protect the site so people in the United States can enjoy and learn from it.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §433k

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to acquire, on behalf of the United States, by gift, the site of the Indian mission established in 1836 by Marcus Whitman on the Walla Walla River in what is now Walla Walla County, Washington, together with such additional land, including a right-of-way to the nearest highway, as the Secretary may deem necessary to carry out the purposes of this section. The property acquired under the provisions of the first paragraph of this section shall constitute the Whitman Mission National Historic Site and shall be a public national memorial to Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, who here established their Indian mission and school, and ministered to the physical and spiritual needs of the Indians until massacred with twelve others 11 So in original. persons in 1847. The Director of the National Park Service, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, shall have the supervision, management, and control of such national historic site, and shall maintain and preserve it for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of the United States.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

“Whitman Mission National Historic Site” and “national historic site” substituted in text for “Whitman National Monument” and “national monument”, respectively, pursuant to Pub. L. 87–471, which redesignated Whitman National Monument as Whitman Mission National Historic Site. See section 433n of this title.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For

Transfer of Functions

of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 433k

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73