Nez Perce National Historical Park Administrative History

CHAPTER THREE:
LAND ACQUISITION AND PROTECTION

Land Acquisition for the East Kamiah Site

Original plans for Nez Perce National Historical Park contemplated that three historic themes would be represented near the town of Kamiah: Nez Perce culture, the Lewis and Clark story, and the missionary story. An important element of Nez Perce culture, the tribal legend of how the people came to inhabit the Nez Perce country, would be presented at the site of a geologic formation known to the Nez Perce as the Heart of the Monster. A piece of the Lewis and Clark story would be told nearby with a roadside sign. This was the area of the "Long Camp," where the Lewis and Clark expedition waited for snow in the Bitterroot Mountains to melt before returning eastward over the range. The actual site of the Long Camp was now occupied by an operating sawmill so there would be no land acquisition involved in this site. Finally, the missionary story here would feature the First Presbyterian Church, built in 1874, and the McBeth house nearby, where the missionaries Susan and Kate McBeth resided. The McBeth sisters are buried in a cemetery behind the church. [156]

By 1970 the Park Service had tailored this interpretive scheme to fit the realities of the park's land base in East Kamiah; it was decided to drop the missionary story in East Kamiah after the First Presbyterian Church refused to sell its land to the Park Service. Significantly, this change of plan preceded the decision to scale back the basic development plan for the park. According to the new development plan, the Park Service would forgo the development of three "entrances" into Nez Perce country at Spalding, East Kamiah, and White Bird in favor of a main hub at Spalding.

Various explanations were given for the First Presbyterian Church's refusal to sell. Burns thought the Presbyterian Nez Perces of Kamiah were acting out of spite toward the Nez Perces of Lapwai. [157] In the 1960s these devoutly Christian Nez Perces still looked askance at the way the Nez Perces in Lapwai were bringing back the root feast, holding pow-wows, and reviving other tribal customs that the church had discouraged earlier in the century. [158] Conversely, the Reverend Henry L. Sugden suggested that the church membership became intransigent on the sale of the church property (which included a number of rental homes) only after a Park Service appraiser rudely appeared unannounced and "thoroughly examined and measured all homes inside and out." [159] In the course of Burns' subsequent talks with the church congregation, some Nez Perces raised a significant point, as Burns reported:

One item they mentioned, which I think we should give careful consideration to, is the fact that for the past 100 years or so it has been the tradition of this Church that individual Indians were allowed to build close around them. I feel that this tradition should be maintained, since we are not trying to present the picture that close back into the old culture or the days of Lewis and Clark. Their point is well taken. They feel we should not buy their lands and then ignore their tradition in order to tailor the story to our ideas. [160]

At Superintendent Burns' suggestion, the Park Service retreated from its original plan to acquire this site. Later, Superintendent Williams proposed an alternative in which the Park Service would buy the McBeth house and move it to the East Kamiah site. This plan never materialized. [161]

The Park Service acquired some privately-owned lands around the Heart of the Monster site. Once the lands were in Park Service ownership, the park administration removed a sawmill and junkyard to clean up the area. In addition, the Park Service dissuaded NPTEC from undertaking a variety of proposed developments on tribal lands nearby that would have adversely affected the site. Examples included a tribal housing project and a rodeo grounds. [162] The NPS tried to acquire a parcel on the opposite side of the highway from the Heart of the Monster but was unsuccessful. This land was subsequently developed into a commercial campground for recreational vehicles. [163]