Wapato Stuffed Pepper Soup - Small

Product of Washington State

Rill's Specialty Soups are a Product of Washington State.

Great Ideas for Dressing Up your Wapato Stuffed Pepper Soup

Tidbits of History - Wapato (Wah’-puh-toh)

The town of Wapato lies in the South Central part of Washington State on the Yakima Indian Reservation. The name Wapato is a Native American word for a plant commonly dug for its starchy roots, something like a potato. In the early 1900s when it became legal to gain clear titles to Native American lands, Alex McCredy bought 80 acres and platted the town site. White farmers began to buy and lease reservation lands, and with the aid of Japanese laborers they turned the sagebrush desert into productive lush farms. The Japanese were brought in by Northwest Development Company and they tended the first apple orchard on the Yakima Reservation. This became possible with the help of government irrigation projects.

In the early 1920s Filipinos began immigrating to the Yakima Valley. They came with special immigration status as citizens of an American Territory and had high hopes of pursuing higher education. They began to work together in co-ops for mutual social and economic benefit buying land when they were able. During the great depression, some people became resentful of outsider laborers, which they viewed as job competitors. It is recorded that a gang of hooligans drove from house to house dragging Filipino farmers from their beds and beating them. Some were forced into freight trains bound for Seattle. With their determination to stay they remain in the community today.

One third of Wapato’s current population is now Latino. This shift began during WWII when Yakima Valley farmers were in great need of workers. Most of the American young men were in the armed services, many wage earners had gone to defense plants on the coast, and the Japanese American farmers had been sent to relocation centers. The federal government set up the Bracero Program, which allowed Mexican laborers to enter the United States on a temporary basis for the harvest season.

Today, Wapato is a small community with diverse ethnic heritage. In the fall, people come from all over the state to purchase fruits and vegetables during the harvest season. The area also grows many types of peppers, mint, hay, and hops.