For many generations, the Nimi'ipuu or Nez Perce crossed the Clearwater River at this flat, shallow stretch, wading or riding horses from shore to rocky shore in late summer through late winter and using rafts or canoes during high water or to transport goods. The Clearwater begins in the seven- and eight-thousand-foot peaks of the Bitterroot Mountains, and when Captain Clark traveled to the village of Chief Twisted Hair on an island upstream, he asked where the "big water," the Columbia River, was; the Nez Perce answered "Koos koos kee," meaning "This is the smaller water," a name entered into the journals, though the actual name was Kaih-kaih-koosh, signifying Clearwater. When the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through in September 1805, Native Americans provided lessons in canoe construction, and their Canoe Camp lay across the river about four miles downstream. After gold was discovered in the Pierce area, miners and suppliers flocked to the region, and several ferries were established to carry pack trains and individuals across the Clearwater, including the nearby Reed ferry, a cable ferry rigged with ropes and pulleys and moved by the force of the current. Ferrying was easy in low water, but spring flows brought dangerous driftwood from the mountain forests. As Orofino grew, the need arose for a dependable all-season crossing, leading to bridges over the river, including old metal spans and a modern concrete bridge built in the 1990s. An 1861 newspaper article also recorded Wish-la Nocha on the South Fork, a ferry operator with many cattle and horses who had been a youngster when Lewis and Clark came through We-ipe and the Koose-kieh-kieh and remembered feeling their sincere handshake.