Nez Perce Indian

Nez Perce Indian. The Nez Perce homeland was the plateau country of western Idaho., northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. It was the land cut by the snake, salmon, and Clearwater rivers. It was a rich land. The hillsides grew lush with cowish, bitterroot, and blue camas.

Because the Nez Perce Indian believed that their bodies were purified by sweat bathing, their villages all contained sweat-houses for the young men. Water was poured over hot stones. Steam filled the sweathuse. Sweating from every pore, the young boys raced from the house and plunged into the ice-cold river. This not only cleansed the body but also was good sport.

The Nez Perce Indian acquired horses before the middle of the 18th century. They probably bought or stole them from their southern neighbors, th Soshone. They sold inferior horss to neighboring tribes and imported the finest stock for themselves from New Mexico and Cihuahua. When the explorer Lewis and Clark came upon them in 1805,  the Nez Perce Indian had a large and magnificent herds.  They were already breeding brown-and-white, and black-and-white spotted horses, the famous Appaloosas.
Horse breeding produced many changes in Nez Perce Indian life. The Appaloosas were excellent for trading. They were sold to the Crow Indian in exchange  for porcupine quills, embroidery, parfleches, bison skins, and tobacco, and to the wasco-wishram for hiqua-shell that served as a form of money in the salmon area.

Changes were brought  by missionaries, settlers, gold seekers and the reservation system. In 1836 Henry H. Spalding started a mission at Lapwai. They learned Shahaptian, the language of Nez Perce Indian, and devised a Shahaptian alphabet. The Nez Perce Indian began to read and write in their ow language. Some learned English. Spalding introduced the Nez Perce to hoe agriculture. The Indians bega to raise potatoes and wheat and learned to care for sheep, chickens and pigs. Spalding gained  respect from the tribe by healing the sicks. The Spalding remained in the Nez Perce country until 1847.

Meanwhile, thousands of settlers were beginning to move to Oregon over the Oregon trail. The Nez Perce Indian often supplied the wagon trains with fresh horses, meat, salmon, and camas. Before long settlers moved directly into the Nez Perce country. Fearful that war would break out, the United States government proposed that the Indians be settled on a reservation. A treaty defining the Nez Perce Indian reservation was signed in 1855.

When gold was discovered on the reservation lands, miners asked the Government to  change the treaty. A new treaty (1863) provided for a much smaller reservation. Land in the Salmon, Snake, Wallowa and Grande Ronde valleys was taken from the Nez Perce Indian.

The Nez Perce Indian were dismayed. White settlers began a slow trickle into the Grande Ronde Valley. They pushed into the Wallowa. Government efforts to keep the peace were spurned by the Indians. A few angry Nez Perce Indian fell upon the settlers and miners. The battle was on.

The war of 1877. Because the Nez perce Indians were under great pressure from the army, they decided to abandon their lands in Oregon and Idaho. It was a difficult decision to make. They started west over the Lolo trail. But General O. O. Howard and his army command followed close behind. The Nez Perce Indian were led by Looking Glass, their Chief. Chief Joseph commanded the rear guard. In the early skirmishes, the Nez Perce were quite successful. They inflicted many casualties upon the enemy. The Nez Perce Indian crossed Targhee Pass into Yellowstone National Park. Determined now to escape to Canada, the quickened their pace. But the army would not give up their pursuit. Looking Glass and other Nez Perce Indian Chiefs had been killed during the trek. It was left for Chief Joseph to suurender.

The Nez Perce Indian were sent to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and later to the Coville Reservation in Washington. Chief Joseph died there in 1904. Over 1,500 Nez Perce Indian live in the Lapwai Reservation in Idaho.