Indian Tribes of
the Columbia Plateau
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General Information
Nez Perce Indians
Map - Indian Tribes of the Northwest
The Plateau Indians live in the area between the
Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains and north of the Great Basin.
Much of this area is high flat land, but there are also mountains,
canyons, and many rivers and valleys. Part of this area is now the
eastern part of the state of Washington, including the place that
is now the city of Walla Walla. Some of the tribal names were Snake,
Cayuse, Umatilla, Yakima, Spokane, Palouse, and Walla Walla; all familiar
place names in this area today. The people of the Plateau moved from
place to place throughout the year to gather edible vegetables and
fruits, including camas, kouse, bitter-roots, serviceberry, chokecherry,
huckleberry, and wild strawberries. The gathering of these plants
is still a traditional way of life among many of the people of these
tribes today.
They made woven bags out of grasses, such as rye grass, bear grass,
or hemp. The bags which varied in shape and size, were used for carrying
a harvest, transporting items, or for carrying personal belongings.
Their homes were movable tipis made of poles covered with mats made
of tule (pronounced too-lee) reeds, a tall, tough reed that grows
marshy areas and sometimes called bulrush. In winter they made more
permanent homes. They dug a pit a few feet into the ground and constructed
a framework of poles over it which was then covered with the tule
mats. Earth was piled up around and partly over the structure to provide
insulation. The large winter lodges that were shared by several families
were rectangular at the base and triangular above. They were built
with several layers of tules; as the top layers of tule absorbed moisture,
they swelled to keep moisture from reaching lower layers and the inside
of the lodge. In later years, canvas was used instead of tule mats.
In addition to hunting and gathering, these Indians were fishermen,
with salmon making up a major part of their food supply. When horses
came to the area, the world of the Plateau people expanded, allowing
them to trade with the tribes on the plains east of the Rocky Mountains
for things such as bison meat and hides. Groups of hunters rode far
to hunt bison, deer, and elk.
The Cayuse were the Indians who lived in the area of the plateau where
Walla Walla is today. Their territory was at a crossroads of the Oregon
country. The Indian and trapping trails from north, south, east and
west crossed their lands. They lived near the great Columbia River
which served as a highway for many Indian tribes.
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The Nez Perce live in the valleys of the Clearwater
and Snake Rivers and their tributaries. Originally dwelling in fishing
villages along rivers, they built large, multi-family lodges of timbers
topped with grass, tule, and cattail mats. Salmon was the mainstay
of their diet. The Nez Perce also hunted in the woodlands, and dug
the bulbs of the camas lily on the high plateaus. Often, several villages
formed a loose confederation, or band, so that resources could be
pooled for long hunting trips or war.
Spanish invaders introduced horses into North America during the 16th
century, but it was a long time before Indians had them in large numbers.
The Nez Perce acquired horses perhaps as early as the end of the 17th
century. These Indians took great care with their horse herds. They
selectively bred their horses by gelding or trading away inferior
specimens and importing superior breeding stock. This produced well
built, strong horses that were highly prized. The tribe especially
favored the colorful, spotted Appaloosas, an ancient breed which the
Nez Perce diligently perfected.
They quickly adapted to the new mobility horses provided. Bands of
Nez Perce crossed the Rocky Mountains and met, traded with, and fought
Indians on the high, northern plains. They hunted bison and lived
in skin-covered tepees. They adopted the eagle-feather headdress,
horse accessories, games and customs from their new acquaintances.
Even the many Nez Perce who remained in the traditional homelands
could not help but be affected.
By the time of the American Revolution, the Nez Perce had begun to
feel the impact of a new people from another land. Their first meeting
with the whites took place in September, 1805 when Lewis and Clark
led a small group across the Bitterroot Mountains into Nez Perce country.
The Nez Perce received them graciously, gave them supplies, and told
them about the river to the Pacific.
Soon, fur trappers and traders, both British and American, entered
the region. In 1836, Presbyterian missionaries, Henry Harmon Spalding
and his wife, Eliza, arrived with the Whitman party and chose to settle
at Lapwai, near present-day Lewiston, Idaho. Reverend Spalding was
more successful in his attempts to convert the Indians and had several
Nez Perce baptized into the Presbyterian Church. The mission ended
in 1847 when the Whitman Killings occurred at Waiilatpu, one hundred
miles west of Lapwai. In 1846, Britain and the United States made
a boundary line at the 49th Parallel. The Nez Perce found themselves
surrounded by the United States with this division of the Oregon Country.
Washington Territory, which included all of Washington, Idaho and
part of Montana, was formed in 1853, and its governor, Isaac Stevens,
wanted to divide up Indian lands in that territory into reservations.
He called the leaders of the Nez Perce together in Walla Walla in
1855. An agreement was reached that reserved most of the Indian traditional
homeland as their exclusive domain.
The discovery of gold on the Nez Perce Reservation in 1860 raised
calls from the Euro-Americans who wanted a smaller reservation that
would exclude the gold fields. So, in 1863, a new reservation, containing
only one-tenth of the land originally set aside, was proposed to the
tribe. Lawyer, a pro-American Nez Perce, Christian leader, and his
followers accepted the plan and signed the treaty. Other Nez Perce
leaders rejected it, giving rise to the "treaty" and "non-treaty"
designations of the respective factions.
The Americans, claiming that Lawyer represented the entire tribe,
asserted that the agreement was binding to the entire tribe, but to
the Nez Perce, this was not true, or even possible. Lawyer could only
sign away his land, not land belonging to the rest of the tribe. After
President Andrew Johnson signed the treaty in 1867, the United States
government launched a campaign to move all the Nez Perce onto the
reservation.
The Nez Perce leaders who had not signed the treaty and who lived
off the new reservation ignored the orders. Foremost among them was
Old Joseph, who led a band that lived in Oregon's Wallowa Valley.
Young Joseph, who succeeded his father, hoped that a peaceful solution
could be found, for he did not wish to go to war or to leave his home.
In May, 1877, the non-treaty Nez Perce were told that the U.S. Army
would forcibly move them onto the reservation. So in early June, Joseph
and his people crossed the Snake River into Idaho and camped near
Tolo Lake while preparing to move onto the reservation by the June
14 deadline.
On the morning of June 13, three young Nez Perce men, angered at what
was happening and seeking revenge for the murder by a Euro-American
of one of their fathers, rode out into the dawn. By midday of June
14 they had killed four settlers. Joined by 17 other Nez Perce, the
group killed 14 or 15 settlers in the next two days. Knowing that
General Oliver O. Howard would retaliate, the Indians headed for White
Bird Canyon. There on June 17, 1877, a small body of warriors imposed
a crushing defeat on a superior force of soldiers, killing 34 and
losing none. Neither group emerged victorious from skirmishes at Cottonwood
in early July and a battle on the Clearwater on July 11 and 12. At
Weippe the non-treaties decided to cross Lolo Pass into Montana in
the hope that they could escape the war and live there in peace. The
bands, totaling about 750 men, women, and children, hoped also that
their bison-hunting friends, the Crows, would help them.
In all their hopes, they were disappointed. More and more soldiers
came after them, eventually totaling more than 2,000. Instead of helping,
the Crows harassed them, some serving as guides for the Army. At Big
Hole, August 9 and 10, they lost between 60 and 90 lives in a surprise
attack by U.S. troops and volunteers. Still they managed to elude
the United States Army until October when they were forced to surrender
just 42 miles short of the Canadian border and refuge. Young Chief
Joseph is known for his speech "I will fight no more forever...".
The last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th
century were difficult ones for the Nez Perce. White values and culture
were forced upon them by the missionaries and government officials.
The General Allotment Act of 1887 gave individual Indians title to
anywhere between 40 and 160 acres (the Nez Perce average was 90 acres)
in the belief that ownership of land would assimilate them into the
mainstream of American life more rapidly. The unallotted land was
sold to the general public. Shortly, more than 70 percent of the reservation
lands were in white ownership.
In 1948 the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho became a self-governing body
under an approved constitution and bylaws. In 1961, a revised constitution
and bylaws were adopted. The Nez Perce People have not lost sight
of their past, living in the present, with sights set on a bright
future.
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Indian Tribes of the Northwest
PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Slickpoo, Allen P. Noon nee-me-poo (We, the Nez
Perces): Culture and history of the Nez Perces.
Allen P. Slickpoo,Project Director, Nez Perce Tribe;
Deward E. Walker, Technical advisor,
University of Colorado. [1st ed.] ed. Walker, Deward
E. and Nez Perce Tribe.
[Lapwai, Idaho: Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho,]; 1973.
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