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Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110

§433k Whitman Mission National Historic Site; Acquisition of Land; Establishment, Supervision and Maintenance

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

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must accept, as gifts, the 1836 Indian mission site on the Walla Walla River in what is now Walla Walla County, Washington, and any nearby land or access needed to protect and use the site. That property becomes Whitman Mission National Historic Site, a public memorial to Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, who ran the mission and were killed with twelve others in 1847. Under the Secretary, the National Park Service must manage, preserve, and keep the site for the public to enjoy.

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 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

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110