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88-552: Named for the blue flowering camas—an important food source for all Native Americans in the interior Northwest—the Camas prairie is a traditional Nez Perce gathering place in north central Idaho . From the Nez Perce National Historical Park : Camas prairie is interpreted at a highway pullout on the north side of U.S. Highway 95 , about six miles (10 km) south of Grangeville . This large prairie

176-617: A reservation in North Central Idaho at 46°18′N 116°24′W  /  46.300°N 116.400°W  / 46.300; -116.400 , primarily in the Camas Prairie region south of the Clearwater River , in parts of four counties. In descending order of surface area, the counties are Nez Perce , Lewis , Idaho , and Clearwater . The total land area is about 1,195 square miles (3,100 km ), and

264-528: A buried and dismembered calcrete , carbonate soil horizon. The calcrete is 15 to 25 cm (5.9 to 9.8 in) thick. It provides empirical evidence of at least two separate periods of giant current ripple activity and associated with separate Missoula Floods that occurred thousands of years apart based the thickness and development of the calcrete. The giant current ripples of the Camas prairie are analogous to similar giant Pleistocene bedforms described form Channeled Scablands of Washington. They are identical to

352-455: A ceremonial feast known as " kooyit ". Thanksgiving was offered to the Creator and to the fish for having returned and given themselves to the people as food. In this way, it was hoped that the fish would return the next year. Like salmon, plants contributed to traditional Nez Perce culture in both material and spiritual dimensions. Aside from fish and game, Plant foods provided over half of

440-513: A dream or trance. The weyekin was to bestow the animal's powers on its bearer—for example; a deer might give its bearer swiftness. A person's weyekin was very personal. It was rarely shared with anyone and was contemplated in private. The weyekin stayed with the person until death. Helen Hunt Jackson , author of " A Century of Dishonor ", written in 1881 refers to the Nez Perce as "the richest, noblest, and most gentle" of Indian peoples as well as

528-426: A link to the invisible world of spiritual power". The weyekin would protect one from harm and become a personal guardian spirit. To receive a weyekin, a seeker would go to the mountains alone on a vision quest. This included fasting and meditation over several days. While on the quest, the individual may receive a vision of a spirit, which would take the form of a mammal or bird. This vision could appear physically or in

616-568: A more common name, they changed it to Watopahlute . This comes from pahlute , nasal passage, and is simply a play on words. If translated literally, it would come out as either "Nasal Passage of the Canoe" (Watopa-pahlute) or "Nasal Passage of the Grass" (Wato-pahlute). The Assiniboine called them Pasú oȟnógA wįcaštA , the Arikara sinitčiškataríwiš . The tribe also uses the term "Nez Perce", as does

704-438: A significantly larger area, they cover about 26 km (10 sq mi) of the Camas prairie basin. The wavelength of these dunes and antidunes ranges from 90 to 951 m (295 to 3,120 ft) and their height ranges from 0.3–17 m (0.98–55.77 ft). They are all two-dimensional, flow transverse, sinuous, sedimentary bedforms . The wavelength and height of these giant current ripples decrease away (downcurrent) from

792-533: A strong supporting element for J Harlen Bretz 's contention that Washington State's Channeled Scablands were formed by repeated cataclysmic floods over only about 2,000 years, rather than through the millions of years of erosion that had been previously assumed. The lake was the result of an ice dam on the Clark Fork caused by the southern encroachment of a finger of the Cordilleran ice sheet into

880-597: A transliteration of a Sahaptin term. According to D.E. Walker in 1998, writing for the Smithsonian , this term is an adaptation of the term cú·pʼnitpeľu (the Nez Perce people). The term is formed from cú·pʼnit (piercing with a pointed object) and peľu (people). By contrast, the Nez Perce Language Dictionary has a different analysis than did Walker for the term cú·pʼnitpeľu . The prefix cú - means "in single file". This prefix, combined with

968-550: Is 8 miles (13 km) wide east–west and 10 miles (16 km) north-south. The basin is bordered by Rattlesnake Ridge on the north and Petty Mountain on the south(west). Features: strandlines along the valleys east flank. The basin extends from south of Conner to Lolo , 57 miles (92 km) to the north. The Bitterroot Mountains form the west shore and the Sapphire Mountains the east. The valleys of Potomac , Greenough, and Ovando - Helmville are linked by

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1056-558: Is an exonym given by French Canadian fur traders who visited the area regularly in the late 18th century, meaning literally "pierced nose". English-speaking traders and settlers adopted the name in turn. Since the late 20th century, the Nez Perce identify most often as Nimíipuu in Sahaptin. This has also been spelled Nee-Me-Poo. The Lakota/Dakota named them the Watopala , or Canoe people, from Watopa . After Nez Perce became

1144-688: Is bordered by the Salish Mountains on its eastern side and northern end and bordered by the Cabinet Mountains on its western side. These mountains rise above elevations of 1,500 to 1,600 m (4,900 to 5,200 ft). The Camas prairie region is sparsely populated and lies within the Flathead Indian Reservation . The two main populated places within this region are Camas ( Ktunaxa : ya·qa·kmumaǂki ) and Perma ( Ktunaxa : kxunamaʔnam ) The basin in which

1232-536: Is in the historic territory of the large Wallowa Band. The Homeland has owned 320 acres (130 ha) and a visitor center since 2000, to "enrich relationships among the descendants of indigenous people and the contemporary inhabitants of the Wallowa Valley ... [and to] preserve and celebrate the customs and culture of the indigenous inhabitants." A Methodist church was established in Wallowa in 1877, and in 2021

1320-501: Is named for the city of Missoula in the upper reaches of the Clark Fork watershed. The mountains surrounding the city show the strandlines from the lake nearly 20,000 years ago. At its largest extent, Lake Missoula's depth exceeded 2,000 feet (610 m) and may have held 600 cu mi (2,500 km ) of water, as much as Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined. The surface area covered 3,000 sq mi (7,770 km ) and

1408-527: Is now called Weippe Prairie . The explorers were favorably impressed by the Nez Perce whom they met. Preparing to make the remainder of their journey to the Pacific by boats on rivers, they entrusted the keeping of their horses until they returned to "2 brothers and one son of one of the Chiefs." One of these Indians was Walammottinin (meaning "Hair Bunched and tied," but more commonly known as Twisted Hair). He

1496-577: The Appaloosa horse in the 18th century. Prior to first contact with European colonial people the Nimiipuu were economically and culturally influential in trade and war, interacting with other indigenous nations in a vast network from the western shores of Oregon and Washington , the high plains of Montana , and the northern Great Basin in southern Idaho and northern Nevada . French explorers and trappers indiscriminately used and popularized

1584-657: The Blackfoot Confederacy (Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi) (’Isq’óyxnix/Issq-oykinix - "Blackfooted People") (composed of three Blackfoot speaking peoples – the Piegan or Peigan (Piikáni) , the Kainai or Bloods (Káínaa) , and the Siksika or Blackfoot (Siksikáwa) , later joined by the unrelated Sarcee (Tsuu T'ina) and (for a time) by Gros Ventre or Atsina (A'aninin) (H'elutiin)). The feared Blackfoot Confederacy and

1672-752: The Blackfoot River east of Missoula. A second reach, up the Clearwater River , joins the Blackfoot River at Clearwater. This basin joins the Clark Fork at Bonner . Upper valleys of the Clearwater-Blackfoot River basins run 394 miles (634 km) from Seeley Lake , eastward to Browns Lake along Montana Route 83 and Montana Route 200. The Clark Fork of the Columbia River has its headwater near Butte , 130 miles (210 km) east of Missoula. Lake Missoula reached up

1760-537: The Camas Prairie Railroad , known as the "railroad on stilts" due to its numerous trestles , most of which were timber. Breakheart Pass , a 1975 film starring Charles Bronson , was filmed on portions of the railroad on the Camas prairie. The railroad ceased operations in the late 1990s. In southern Idaho, east of Mountain Home , the high plain of Camas County around Fairfield is locally called

1848-514: The Clearwater River (in Kamiah and east of Lewiston ), health clinics, a police force and court, community centers, salmon fisheries, radio station, and other institutions that promote economic and cultural self-determination . Their name for themselves is nimíipuu (pronounced [nimiːpuː] ), meaning, "we, the people", in their language, part of the Sahaptin family. Nez Percé

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1936-637: The Columbia River Gorge approximately 40 times during a 2,000 year period. The cumulative effect of the floods was to excavate 210 cubic kilometres (50 cu mi) of loess , sediment and basalt from the channeled scablands of eastern Washington and to transport it downstream. These floods are noteworthy for producing canyons and other large geologic features through cataclysms rather than through more typical gradual processes . In addition, Middle and Early Pleistocene Missoula flood deposits have been documented to comprise parts of

2024-807: The Crow but, upon the Crow's refusal to offer help, the Nez Perce tried to reach the camp in Canada of Lakota Chief Sitting Bull . He had migrated there instead of surrendering after the Indian victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn . The Nez Perce were pursued by over 2,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army on an epic flight to freedom of more than 1,170 miles (1,880 km) across four states and multiple mountain ranges. The 250 Nez Perce warriors defeated or held off

2112-623: The Idaho Panhandle (at the present-day location of Clark Fork, Idaho , at the east end of Lake Pend Oreille ). The height of the ice dam typically approached 610 metres (2,000 ft), flooding the valleys of western Montana approximately 320 kilometres (200 mi) eastward. It was the largest ice-dammed lake known to have occurred. The periodic rupturing of the ice dam resulted in the Missoula Floods – cataclysmic floods that swept across eastern Washington and down

2200-559: The Iron Confederacy (Nehiyaw-Pwat) (named after the dominating Plains and Woods Cree (Paskwāwiyiniwak and Sakāwithiniwak) and Assiniboine (Nakoda) (Wihnen’íipel’uu), an alliance of northern plains Native American nations based around the fur trade, and later included the Stoney (Nakoda) , Western Saulteaux / Plains Ojibwe (Bungi or Nakawē) (Sat'sashipunu/Sat'sashipuun - "Porcupine People" or "Porcupine Eater"), and Métis ) and

2288-478: The Nez Perce Horse . They wanted to restore part of their traditional horse culture, where they had conducted selective breeding of their horses, long considered a marker of wealth and status, and trained their members in a high quality of horsemanship. Social disruption due to reservation life and assimilationist pressures by Americans and the government resulted in the destruction of their horse culture in

2376-791: The Nez Perce War of 1877, and Dawes Act of 1887 land allotments, the Nez Perce remain as a distinct culture and political economic influence within and outside their reservation. As a federally recognized tribe , the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho govern their Native reservation in Idaho through a central government headquartered in Lapwai known as the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee (NPTEC). They are one of five federally recognized tribes in

2464-650: The Pacific Coast (’Eteyekuus) ("Big Water"). Before the 1957 construction of The Dalles Dam , which flooded this area, Celilo Falls (Silayloo) was a favored location on the Columbia River (Xuyelp) ("The Great River") for salmon (lé'wliks) -fishing. The Columbia Basin Initiative aims to improve salmon-fishing for the tribe. The Nez Perce had many allies and trading partners among neighboring peoples, but also enemies and ongoing antagonist tribes. To

2552-608: The Salmon and Clearwater River drainages. Most of the area is agricultural and the northern section is within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation . Similar to the opening of lands in Oklahoma , the U.S. government opened the reservation for white settlement on November 18, 1895. The proclamation had been signed less than two weeks earlier by President Cleveland . The area was home to the second subdivision of

2640-755: The Snake (Weyikespe) , Grande Ronde River , Salmon (Naco’x kuus) (" Chinook salmon Water") and the Clearwater (Koos-Kai-Kai) ("Clear Water") rivers. The tribal area extended from the Bitterroots in the east (the door to the Northwestern Plains of Montana) to the Blue Mountains in the west between latitudes 45°N and 47°N. In 1800, the Nez Perce had more than 70 permanent villages, ranging from 30 to 200 individuals, depending on

2728-737: The Snake Indians (various Northern Paiute (Numu) bands (Hey’ǘuxcpel’uu) in the southwest and Bannock (Nimi Pan a'kwati) - Northern Shoshone (Newe) bands (Tiwélqe/Tewelk'a, later Sosona') in the southeast), to the east lived the Lemhi Shoshone (Lémhaay), north of them the Bitterroot Salish / Flathead (Seliš) (Séelix/Se'lix), further east and northeast on the Northern Plains were the Crow (Apsáalooke) (’Isúuxe/Isuuxh'e - "Crow People") and two powerful alliances –

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2816-607: The U.S. Cavalry . During the surrender negotiations, Chief Joseph sent a message, usually described as a speech, to the US soldiers. It has become renowned as one of the greatest American speeches: "...Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." Chief Joseph went to Washington, D.C., in January 1879 to meet with the President and Congress, after which his account

2904-778: The glaciofluvial deposits , informally known as the Hanford formation that are found in parts of the Othello Channels, Columbia River Gorge, Channeled Scabland , Quincy Basin, Pasco Basin, and the Walla Walla Valley . The age of these deposits is demonstrated by the presence of multiple interglacial calcretes interbedded in these glaciofluvial deposits, sequences of sediments with normal and reverse magnetostratigraphy , optically stimulated luminescence dating, and unconformity truncated clastic dikes . Based upon these criteria, Quaternary geologists estimated that

2992-880: The "Camas Prairie". The Camas Prairie covers the floor of the Camas Prairie Basin in Sanders County . This basin is a distinct north–south oriented elliptical basin that is drained by Camas Creek into the Flathead River at Perma, Montana. Both the prairie and basin are surrounded by north-south trending mountain ranges except where Camas Creek drains into the Flathead River. The basin is about 7 by 13 km (4.3 by 8.1 mi) in dimensions with an area of about 90 km (35 sq mi). The center of this relatively flat basin lies at elevations just below 850 m (2,790 ft). The basin

3080-647: The 19th century. The 20th-century breeding program was financed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services , the Nez Perce tribe, and the nonprofit called the First Nations Development Institute . It has promoted businesses in Native American country that reflect values and traditions of the peoples. The Nez Perce Horse breed is noted for its speed. The current tribal lands consist of

3168-570: The Camas prairie lies is a low-relief valley surrounded by mountains composed of metasedimentary strata that belong to the Prichard Formation of the Belt Supergroup . These strata are intensively folded and thrust faulted . The basin is filled with undifferentiated Cenozoic red, greenish, and bluish siltstone and mudstone and volcanic rock . A few sandy and gravelly beds are also present. These strata outcrop at

3256-531: The Clark's Fork to Cabinet, Montana, and southward around the mountain to Bayview, Idaho on the south tip of Lake Pend Oreille in Farragut State Park . Here, the ice sheet stood over 2,000 feet (610 m) and 25 miles (40 km) south of Lake Missoula. The Clark Fork's drainage is a network of valleys among high mountain ranges. Lake Missoula formed through this region of western Montana . It

3344-564: The Nez Perce encampment the following spring, again hungry and exhausted. The tribe constructed a large tent for them and again fed them. Desiring fresh red meat, the party offered an exchange for a Nez Perce horse. Quoting from the Lewis and Clark diary, Fletcher writes, "The hospitality of the Chiefs was offended at the idea of an exchange. He observed that his people had an abundance of young horses and that if we were disposed to use that food, we might have as many as we wanted." The party stayed with

3432-656: The Nez Perce for a month before moving on. The Nez Perce were one of the tribal nations at the Walla Walla Council (1855) (along with the Cayuse , Umatilla , Walla Walla , and Yakama ), which signed the Treaty of Walla Walla. Under pressure from the European Americans , in the late 19th century the Nez Perce split into two groups: one side accepted the coerced relocation to a reservation and

3520-618: The Nez Perce had seasonal villages and camps to take advantage of natural resources throughout the year. Their migration followed a recurring pattern from permanent winter villages through several temporary camps, nearly always returning to the same locations each year. The Nez Perce traveled via the Lolo Trail (Salish: Naptnišaqs – "Nez Perce Trail") (Khoo-say-ne-ise-kit) as far east as the Plains (Khoo-sayn / Kuseyn) ("Buffalo country") of Montana to hunt buffalo (Qoq'a lx) and as far west as

3608-501: The Nez Perce when the team encountered the tribe in 1805. Writing in 1889, anthropologist Alice Fletcher , who the U.S. government had sent to Idaho to allot the Nez Perce Reservation, explained the mistaken naming. She wrote, It is never easy to come at the name of an Indian or even of an Indian tribe. A tribe has always at least two names; one they call themselves by and one by which they are known to other tribes. All

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3696-545: The Nez Perce's traditional hunting and fishing areas spanned from the Cascade Range in the west to the Bitterroot Mountains in the east. Historically, in late May and early June, Nez Perce villagers crowded to communal fishing sites to trap eels, steelhead, and chinook salmon, or haul in fish with large dip nets. Fishing took place throughout the summer and fall, first on the lower streams and then on

3784-661: The Pleistocene cannot be estimated with any confidence. Although Lake Missoula likely was the source of many of the Ancient Cataclysmic Floods, the fragmentary nature of the older deposits within the Hanford formation makes precise determination of the precise origin of the floods that deposited them very difficult. The Cordilleran ice sheet originating in British Columbia expanded out of

3872-502: The United Methodist Church returned a small parcel of land and the church building to the Nez Perce Tribe. The Tamkaliks Celebration is a powwow named after the Nez Perce word for where you can see the mountains. It began in 1991 to welcome the Nez Perce back home to the Wallowa Valley. In addition, the Colville Indian Reservation in eastern Washington contains the Joseph band of Nez Percé. The Triassic gastropod Cryptaulax nezperceorum Nützel & Erwin, 2004, found on

3960-422: The United States Government in its official dealings with them, and contemporary historians. Older historical ethnological works and documents use the French spelling of Nez Percé , with the diacritic . The original French pronunciation is [ne pɛʁse] , with three syllables. The interpreters Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau of the Lewis and Clark Expedition mistakenly identified this people as

4048-566: The basin have not been dated using radiometric dating methods. The lack of absolute dates prevents the construction of a reliable geochronology for Lake Missoula lake drainage events in the Camas prairie basin and correlation of the giant current ripples with bedforms and sedimentary deposits outside of it. The exposed gravel deposits underlying the giant current ripples at Camas prairie exhibit at least two beds of gravelly deposits that are indicative of deposition by separate Missoula floods. They are separated by an erosional unconformity with

4136-489: The black huckleberry or " cemi'tk " is the official state fruit and the Indian arrowwood or " sise'qiy ", the Douglas fir or " pa'ps " is the state tree of Oregon and the ponderosa pine or " la'qa " of Montana, the Chinook salmon is the state fish of Oregon, the cutthroat trout or " wawa'lam " of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, and the West Coast steelhead or "heyey" of Washington. The Nez Perce believed in spirits called weyekins (Wie-a-kins) which would, they thought, offer

4224-403: The canyon opens out and continues to the east 49 miles (79 km) with the river paralleled by Interstate 90 to as far as Ninemile, where it opens out into the Missoula basin. A western branch of this basin runs up the St. Regis River another 32 miles (51 km) along with Interstate 90 to near Riverbend . The Flathead basin abutted the south face of the ice sheet. For most of this period,

4312-491: The dietary calories, with winter survival depending largely on dried roots, especially Kouse , or " qáamsit " (when fresh) and " qáaws " (when peeled and dried) ( Lomatium especially Lomatium cous ), and Camas , or " qém'es " (Nez Perce: "sweet") ( Camassia quamash ), the first being roasted in pits, while the other was ground in mortars and molded into cakes for future use, both plants had been traditionally an important food and trade item. Women were primarily responsible for

4400-609: The following bands were also counted to the Nez Perce (which today are viewed as being linguistically and culturally closely related, but separate ethnic groups): The semi-sedentary Nez Percés were Hunter-gatherers , living in a society in which most or all food is obtained by foraging (collecting wild plants and roots and pursuing wild animals). They depended on hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild roots and berries. Nez Perce people historically depended on various Pacific salmon and Pacific trout for their food: Chinook salmon or " nacoox " ( Oncorhynchus tschawytscha ) were eaten

4488-501: The former inlets. Correspondingly, the size of the gravels comprising them decreases south (downcurrent) from boulder and cobble gravels to pebble gravels. Their foreset bedding is poorly defined and their dip varies from 14 to 23 degrees. In addition to the gravel dunes and antidunes, delta-like , expansion bars accumulated below each of the former subaqueous inlets. They consist of foreset beds that consist of boulder-cobble-pebble gravels. The Pleistocene deposits and bedforms in

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4576-1266: The gathering and preparing of these root crops. Camas bulbs were gathered in the region between the Salmon and Clearwater river drainages. Techniques for preparing and storing winter foods enabled people to survive times of colder winters with little or no fresh foods. Favorite fruits dried for winter were serviceberries or " kel " ( Amelanchier alnifolia or Saskatoon berry ), black huckleberries or " cemi'tk " ( Vaccinium membranaceum ), red elderberries or " mi'ttip " ( Sambucus racemosa var. melanocarpa ), and chokecherries or " ti'ms " ( Prunus virginiana var. melanocarpa ). Nez Perce textiles were made primarily from dogbane or " qeemu " ( Apocynum cannabinum or Indian hemp ), tules or " to'ko " ( Schoenoplectus acutus var. acutus ), and western redcedar or " tala'tat " ( Thuja plicata ). The most important industrial woods were redcedar, ponderosa pine or " la'qa " ( Pinus ponderosa ), Douglas fir or " pa'ps " ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ), sandbar willow or " tax's " ( Salix exigua ), and hard woods such as Pacific yew or " ta'mqay " ( Taxus brevifolia ) and syringa or " sise'qiy " ( Philadelphus lewisii or Indian arrowwood ). Many fishes and plants important to Nez Perce culture are today state symbols:

4664-525: The giant subaqueous bedrooms that formed on the bottom of Lake Kuray-Chuya during the Altai flood in Siberia, Russia. These giant bedforms, which are rare or unknown outside of theoretical and experimental studies, preserved a unique record of the paleohydraulology of a Missoula Flood associated with the catastrophic emptying of Lake Missoula. Nez Perce people The Nez Perce ( / ˌ n ɛ z ˈ p ɜːr s , ˌ n ɛ s -/ ; autonym in Nez Perce language : nimíipuu , meaning "we,

4752-536: The glacial ice reached south to Polson , covering the entirety of Flathead Lake . The basin drains from the Polson Moraine at the south end of Flathead Lake, south to Ravalli , with a major lobe up the Little Bitterroot River and a minor basin on Camas Creek near Perma . The basin extends from Missoula , west to Ninemile and up the Ninemile Creek valley. This 39-mile-long (63 km) valley broadens from 5 miles (8 km) at Ninemile to 10 miles (16 km) at Missoula. The central part of this basin around Missoula

4840-427: The higher tributaries, and catches also included salmon, sturgeon, whitefish, suckers, and varieties of trout. Most of the supplies for winter use came from a second run in the fall, when large numbers of Sockeye salmon, silver, and dog salmon appeared in the rivers. Fishing is traditionally an important ceremonial and commercial activity for the Nez Perce tribe. Today Nez Perce fishers participate in tribal fisheries in

4928-414: The land of the Nez Percé tribe, has been named in their honour. Lake Missoula Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. The lake measured about 7,770 square kilometres (3,000 sq mi) and contained about 2,100 cubic kilometres (500 cu mi) of water, half

5016-405: The mainstream Columbia River between Bonneville and McNary dams. The Nez Perce also fish for spring and summer Chinook salmon and Rainbow trout/steelhead in the Snake River and its tributaries. The Nez Perce tribe runs the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery on the Clearwater River, as well as several satellite hatchery programs. The first fishing of the season was accompanied by prescribed rituals and

5104-511: The most industrious. The museum at the Nez Perce National Historical Park , headquartered in Spalding, Idaho , and managed by the National Park Service , includes a research center, archives, and library. Historical records are available for on-site study and interpretation of Nez Perce history and culture. The park includes 38 sites associated with the Nez Perce in the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, many of which are managed by local and state agencies. In 1805 William Clark

5192-798: The most, but other species such as Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus or Lampetra tridentata), and chiselmouth were eaten too. Other important fishes included the Sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka ), Silver salmon or ka'llay ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ), Chum salmon or dog salmon or ka'llay ( Oncorhynchus keta ), Mountain whitefish or " ci'mey " ( Prosopium williamsoni ), White sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus ), White sucker or " mu'quc " ( Catostomus commersonii ), and varieties of trout – West Coast steelhead or " heyey " ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ), brook trout or " pi'ckatyo " ( Salvelinus fontinalis ), bull trout or " i'slam " ( Salvelinus confluentus ), and Cutthroat trout or " wawa'lam " ( Oncorhynchus clarkii ). Prior to contact with Europeans,

5280-504: The mountains and southward. A tongue of ice pushed down the Purcell Valley or Purcell Trench , reaching south beyond Lake Pend Oreille . This Purcell Lobe blocked the natural outlet of the Clark Fork River . Including its tributaries, Clark Fork represented western Montana's most important river system. The ice mass that effectively dammed Clark Fork was about 2,000 feet (610 m) deep and extended for at least 10 miles; some say it extended as much as 30 miles. The ice dam reached east up

5368-428: The name "Nez Percé" for the Nimíipuu and nearby Chinook . The name translates as " pierced nose ", but only the Chinook used that form of body modification. Cut off from most of their horticultural sites throughout the Camas Prairie by an 1863 treaty (subsequently known as the "Thief Treaty" or "Steal Treaty" among the Nimiipuu), confinement to reservations in Idaho, Washington and Oklahoma Indian Territory after

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5456-419: The north of them lived the Coeur d’Alene (Schitsu'umsh) (’Iskíicu’mix), Spokane (Sqeliz) (Heyéeynimuu/Heyeynimu - "Steelhead [Eating] People"), and further north the Kalispel (Ql̓ispé) (Qem’éespel’uu/Q'emespelu, both meaning "Camas People" or "Camas Eaters"), Colville (Páapspaloo/Papspelu - "Fir Tree People") and Kootenay / Kootenai (Ktunaxa) (Kuuspel’úu/Kuuspelu - "Water People", lit. "River People"), to

5544-402: The north the Flathead River basin became an expansive body of water, creating an island of Red Sleep Mountain (in the CSKT Bison Range ) and extending north 286 miles (460 km) to Polson at the basin of the Flathead Ice Lobe and 286 miles (460 km) up the Little Bitterroot River to Niarada some 132 miles (212 km) above the Flathead Rivers mouth at the Clarks Fork. The water

5632-484: The northern edge of the Camas Basin, the fields of giant current ripples extend south (downcurrent) from four mountain passes that were once submerge inlets into the flooded Camas Basin. Southward, these fields of giant current ripples spread out and merge on the basin floor. These sedimentary bedforms are best seen in aerial images and at low sun angles. These giant current ripples are large-to-very-large subaqueous gravel dunes and antidunes . Although they once covered

5720-402: The northwest lived the Palus (Pelúucpuu/Peluutspu - "People of Pa-luš-sa/Palus [village]") and to the west the Cayuse (Lik-si-yu) (Weyíiletpuu – "Ryegrass People"), west bound there were found the Umatilla (Imatalamłáma) (Hiyówatalampoo/Hiyuwatalampo), Walla Walla , Wasco (Wecq’úupuu) and Sk'in (Tike’éspel’uu) and northwest of the latter various Yakama bands (Lexéyuu), to the south lived

5808-458: The oldest of the Pleistocene Missoula floods happened before 1.5 million years ago. The older Pleistocene glaciofluvial deposits within the Hanford formation are fragmentary in nature because they have been repeatedly eroded and largely removed by subsequent Missoula floods. Because of the fragmentary nature of older glaciofluvial deposits, the exact number of older Missoula floods, which are known as Ancient Cataclysmic Floods , that occurred during

5896-518: The opening of Native American lands in Oklahoma by allowing acquisition of surplus by non-natives after households received plots, the U.S. government opened the Nez Percé reservation for general settlement on November 18, 1895. The proclamation had been signed less than two weeks earlier by President Grover Cleveland . Thousands rushed to grab land on the reservation, staking out their claims even on land owned by Nez Perce families. The Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland at Wallowa in northeast Oregon

5984-438: The other refused to give up their fertile land in Washington and Oregon. Those willing to go to a reservation made a treaty in 1877. The flight of the non-treaty Nez Perce began on June 15, 1877, with Chief Joseph , Looking Glass , White Bird , Ollokot , Lean Elk ( Poker Joe ) and Toohoolhoolzote leading 750 men, women and children in an attempt to reach a peaceful sanctuary. They intended to seek shelter with their allies

6072-486: The people had ever seen and the women thought them beautiful." She wrote that the Nez Perce "were kind to the tired and hungry party. They furnished fresh horses and dried meat and fish with wild potatoes and other roots which were good to eat, and the refreshed white men went further on, westward, leaving their bony, wornout horses for the Indians to take care of and have fat and strong when Lewis and Clark should come back on their way home." On their return trip they arrived at

6160-422: The people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest . This region has been occupied for at least 11,500 years. Members of the Sahaptin language group , the Nimíipuu were the dominant people of the Columbia Plateau for much of that time, especially after acquiring the horses that led them to breed

6248-435: The pursuing troops in 18 battles, skirmishes, and engagements. More than 100 US soldiers and 100 Nez Perce (including women and children) were killed in these conflicts. A majority of the surviving Nez Perce were finally forced to surrender on October 5, 1877, after the Battle of the Bear Paw Mountains in Montana, 40 miles (64 km) from the Canada–US border. Chief Joseph surrendered to General Oliver O. Howard of

6336-553: The remains or artifacts of contemporaneous humans have been found associated with Lake Missoula. The Clark Fork River flows into Lake Pend Oreille at 2,062 feet (628 m). This reach follows Montana Route 200 up the Clark Fork River canyon, 92 miles (148 km) to Paradise , then follows the Clark Fork, then 49 miles (79 km) through the Paradise-St. Regis Canyon along Montana Highway 135 . At St. Regis ,

6424-399: The reservation's population at the 2000 census was 17,959. Due to tribal loss of lands, the population on the reservation is predominantly white, nearly 90% in 1988. The largest community is the city of Orofino , near its northeast corner. Lapwai is the seat of tribal government, and it has the highest percentage of Nez Perce people as residents, at about 81.4 percent. Similar to

6512-662: The season and social grouping. Archeologists have identified a total of about 300 related sites including camps and villages, mostly in the Salmon River Canyon. In 1805, the Nez Perce were the largest tribe on the Columbia River Plateau , with a population of about 6,000. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Nez Perce had declined to about 1,800 due to epidemics , conflicts with non-Indians, and other factors. The tribe reports having more than 3,500 members in 2021. Like other Plateau tribes ,

6600-547: The shoreline attained an elevation of 4,200 feet (1,300 m). The lake spread through the Clark Fork River basin, reaching east of Missoula, 259 miles (417 km) to Gold Creek ; northeast up the Blackfoot River 270 miles (430 km) to Lake Alva; 253 miles (407 km) and east of Ovando 270 miles (430 km). Two large lobes formed to the south and north. To the south the Bitterroot Valley filled as far as Sula, Montana , 286 miles (460 km). To

6688-796: The state of Idaho. The Nez Perce only own 12% of their own reservation and some Nez Perce lease land to farmers or loggers. Today, hatching, harvesting and eating salmon is an important cultural and economic strength of the Nez Perce through full ownership or co-management of various salmon fish hatcheries, such as the Kooskia National Fish Hatchery in Kooskia or the Dworshak National Fish Hatchery in Orofino . Some still speak their traditional language. The Tribe owns and operates two casinos along

6776-452: The surface around the perimeter of the basin. Within the basin, they are cover by 15 to 30 m (49 to 98 ft) of Quaternary deposits that accumulated within glacial Lake Missoula . The Camas prairie is well-known for the large fields of Late Pleistocene giant current ripples that cover a substantial part of its surface. They were created during one of the many times when glacial Lake Missoula drained when its ice dam failed. From

6864-596: The time before the Nez Perce had horses. The Nez Perce language , or Nimiipuutímt, is a Sahaptian language related to the several dialects of Sahaptin . The Sahaptian sub-family is one of the branches of the Plateau Penutian family, which in turn may be related to a larger Penutian grouping. The Nez Perce territory at the time of Lewis and Clark (1804–1806) was approximately 17,000,000 acres (69,000 km ) and covered parts of present-day Washington , Oregon , Montana , and Idaho , in an area surrounding

6952-525: The tribes living west of the Rocky Mountains were called "Chupnit-pa-lu", which means people of the pierced noses; it also means emerging from the bushes or forest; the people from the woods. The tribes on the Columbia river used to pierce the nose and wear in it some ornament as you have seen some old fashioned white ladies wear in their ears. Lewis and Clark had with them an interpreter whose wife

7040-573: The various Teton Sioux (Lakota) (Iseq'uulkt - "Cut Throats") and their later allies, the Cheyenne (Suhtai/Sutaio Tsitsistas) (T'septitimeni'n - "[People with] Painted arrows"), were the main enemies of the Plateau peoples when entering the Northwestern Plains to hunt buffalo. Because of large amount of inter-marriage between Nez Perce bands and neighboring tribes or bands to forge alliances and peace (often living in mixed bilingual villages together),

7128-545: The verb -piní , "to come out (e.g. of forest, bushes, ice)". Finally, with the suffix of -pelú , meaning "people or inhabitants of". Together, these three elements: cú - + - piní + pelú = cú·pʼnitpeľu , or "the People Walking Single File Out of the Forest". Nez Perce oral tradition indicates the name "cú·pʼnitpeľu" meant "we walked out of the woods or walked out of the mountains" and referred to

7216-540: The volume of Lake Michigan . The Glacial Lake Missoula National Natural Landmark is located about 110 kilometers (68 mi) northwest of Missoula, Montana , at the north end of the Camas Prairie Valley, just east of Montana Highway 382 and Macfarlane Ranch. It was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1966 because it contains the great ripples (often measuring 25 to 50 feet (7.6 to 15.2 m) high and 300 feet (91 m) long) that served as

7304-453: Was a Nez Perce gathering place, where camas roots were harvested for thousands of years. Several nontreaty bands gathered at Tolo Lake in early June 1877 in anticipation of moving to the Nez Perce reservation. In response to the forced move and other hostile actions, several young Nez Perce people took actions that precipitated the Nez Perce War . Camas prairies are found over a large area, mostly privately owned, that extends many miles between

7392-543: Was a Shoshone or Snake woman and so it came about that when it was asked "What Indians are these?" the answer was "They are 'Chupnit-pa-lu ' " and it was written down in the journal; spelled rather queerly, for white people's ears do not always catch Indian tones and of course the Indians could not spell any word. In his journals, William Clark referred to the people as the Chopunnish / ˈ tʃ oʊ p ə n ɪ ʃ / ,

7480-460: Was deep (average - 800 feet (240 m)): maximum - 2,100 feet (640 m)), dark and murky with sediment. Fish fossils have not been found in deposits of Lake Missoula. Possibly, glacial sediment, rock flour , suspended in the turbid lake water which created an hostile aquatic habitat for fish. In addition, fossils of large mammals ( megafauna ), i.e.; mammoths , mastodons and bison which may have roamed nearby, not been found. Similarly, neither

7568-626: Was published in the North American Review . The route of the Nez Perce flight is preserved by the Nez Perce National Historic Trail . The annual Cypress Hills ride in June commemorates the Nez Perce people's attempt to escape to Canada. In 1994 the Nez Perce tribe began a breeding program, based on crossbreeding the Appaloosa and a Central Asian breed called Akhal-Teke , to produce what they called

7656-428: Was the father of Chief Lawyer , who by 1877 was a prominent member of the "Treaty" faction of the tribe. The Nez Perce were generally faithful to the trust; the party recovered their horses without serious difficulty when they returned. Recollecting the Nez Perce encounter with the Lewis and Clark party, in 1889 anthropologist Alice Fletcher wrote that "the Lewis and Clark explorers were the first white men that many of

7744-413: Was the first known Euro-American to meet any of the tribe, excluding the aforementioned French Canadian traders. While he, Meriwether Lewis and their men were crossing the Bitterroot Mountains , they ran low of food, and Clark took six hunters and hurried ahead to hunt. On September 20, 1805, near the western end of the Lolo Trail , he found a small camp at the edge of the camas-digging ground, which

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