Nez Perce

Wallowa Valley, the summer homeland of the Joseph Band Nez Perce, was part of the expansive Nez Perce Reservation established by the treaty of 1855. After gold was discovered in the region, the U.S. eliminated the reservation in the Wallowas in 1863. The Joseph Band remained until 1877, when increasing white settlement brought orders that they abandon their ancestral homeland. Violent conflict followed as the Joseph Band joined other Nez Perce and Palouse bands in a historic 1,170 mile retreat. After five months of elusive flight, with his people exhausted, freezing, and heavily outnumbered, Joseph surrendered, declaring, “From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.” The promises made by the generals at the surrender were broken, and the Nez Perce were never allowed to return home, though Chief Joseph pleaded their case until his death in 1904.

Enterprise, Oregon · United States