Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 6 CH A PT ERS PEOPLE OF THE LAND 9 BEING NEZ PERCE FEAST OF FISH 11 BEING NEZ PERCE FIERCE FIGHTERS 13 FOLLOWING THE SEASONS 17 BEING NEZ PERCE DEFENSELESS AGAINST DISEASE 19 BEING NEZ PERCE DO THEM NO HURT 25 FROM CONTACT TO CONFLICT 27 BEING NEZ PERCE CHIEF JOSEPH’S WAR 29 BEING NEZ PERCE BATTLE OF THE BIG HOLE 31 WAR AND EXILE 35 BEING NEZ PERCE JUST SAY NO TO MINING 37 BEING NEZ PERCE NEZ PERCE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK 43 T R A DI T ION A L STORY COYOTE AND THE MONSTER 44 R ESOU RCES ENDNOTES 46 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 47 READ MORE 47 WEBSITES 47 INDEX 48 c Non-treaty Nez Perce of the 1870s on page 3 horseback-riding Nez Perce pictured here c
N E Z P E RCE c PEOPLES of NORTH AMERICA c Introduction F or thousands of years the Nez Perce Indians ranged over the Columbia PLATEAU in what is now the northwest ern United States Their homeland stretched from the Bitterroot Mountains in the east to the Blue Mountains in the west In between was nearly every landscape imaginable Grasses flow ers and edible plants bowed in the breeze on the high flat prairies while sagebrush and rabbitbrush poked up from the floors of deep desert-like canyons Gentle rolling hills carpeted by grasses gave way to high mountain slopes tangled with pine fir and hemlock Deer elk and pronghorn roamed the land and SPAWNING salmon fought their way upstream through clear cold rivers churning with mountain snowmelt The Nez Perce traveled through this country on foot and later horseback moving with the seasons to reap the natural bounty The Nez Perce called themselves Nimiipuu meaning The People or The Real People French traders named them Nez Perce for pierced nose Perhaps they either saw some Nez Perce wearing nose piercings or misinterpreted the tribe’s name in the Indian sign language In addition to a new name Europeans brought a new culture to the Nez Perce one that some accepted and others rejected Those who rejected it eventually found themselves at odds with the U S Army After the fighting subsided divisions between the groups remained and today the Nez Perce live on two separate reservations But at both the people continue to celebrate aspects of their traditional culture Between the Blue Mountains and Snake River are the Wallowa Mountains of Oregon 6
Nez Perce
A history of the people and events that influenced the North American Indian tribe known as the Nez Perce, including Chief Joseph and conflicts such as the Battle of the Big Hole.
