Before the continent was called America and before settlers came looking for land, the Nez Perce lived and traveled throughout a vast area now known as Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. They followed a semi-nomadic lifestyle tied to the growing seasons of roots, berries, and herbs, and they traveled great distances overland to hunt buffalo in what is now Montana. A favorite and major food source was the camas bulb, called qémes by the Nez Perce. The Camas Prairie, a plateau of approximately 200,000 acres between the Clearwater and Snake rivers in the midst of Nez Perce traditional-use areas, long provided camas, and in late May small unplowed areas still bloom blue with it despite more than a century of cultivation that turned the rolling landscape into fields of wheat, canola, and oats. Camas bulbs, growing about four to six inches beneath the ground, are harvested in a centuries-old tradition by Nez Perce women in August and early September, then carefully prepared and stored. After gold was discovered in Elk City and Florence, thousands of miners crossed the Camas Prairie and created a need for food for mining camps. In 1863 near Mt. Idaho, James Odie made a homemade plow and broke ground for a vegetable garden, and early husbandmen including L.P. Brown, John M. Crooks, Aurora Shumway, and Seth Jones, Sr. planted larger and more productive plots that quickly showed the rich soil could grow grain. From 1863 to 1867, cultivated land increased from 14.5 acres to 9,096.5 acres, permanently reshaping the prairie. Thrashing machines, tramways, and railroads followed, and the Camas Prairie became a dry land grain supplier. Stock raising developed alongside cultivation as demand for meat at mining camps led cattlemen to expand and improve their herds, sheep production flourished, and by 1864 L.P. Brown owned more than 6,000 sheep. Sheep and hog drives through town were common, and by the year 2000 Idaho County had 414,500 grazing acres, showing the continuing economic importance of livestock production.