Welcome to the exciting “Crossing the Line Series”! This series includes a Geocache at every road that crosses into Whitman County between Highway 95 and the Idaho State Line. What you need to know/rules of this series:
This series is very rural. You are driving on and sharing the roads with the local farmers. Please be respectful. Drive slow to prevent dust. Stay out of their crops and away from their barns, home, and equipment. Some of the roads are marked as SUMMER ROAD. That does not mean that it goes to the Summer family’s farm home. What it does mean is that the road is not maintained. It will not be plowed in the Winter and will be plugged with impassable mud in the Spring. Use good judgement and common sense before venturing down a “Summer Road”.
Enjoy your trip to Whitman County!
And now for some interesting facts about Whitman County:
The county seat is Colfax, even though Pullman is larger. Pullman passed Colfax in population in 1930.
Palouse Indians were the first known human inhabitants of the Colfax area. White settlers arrived in the summer of 1870, and soon built a sawmill. A flour mill and other businesses followed, and Colfax soon grew into a prosperous town. Originally, pioneer citizen James Perkins called the settlement "Belleville" in honor of his girlfriend; when he found a new love, he changed the town's name to Colfax,[6] for vice president Schuyler Colfax.[7]
Colfax was officially incorporated on November 29, 1873. In 1889–90, the town vied with several other finalists to become the site of a new state agricultural college, present-day Washington State University. The honor ultimately fell to nearby Pullman, fifteen miles (25 km) southeast.
Old 195 is one of only two paved crossings in the series. This cache is at a pullout away from traffic.