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The Clearwater River basin is rich in American history. It is the location of a turning point in our nation's westward discovery. However, it is the rich history of one of the area's indigenous peoples that is hugely responsible for the completion of this journey. The Clearwater Historical Museum in Orofino, Idaho is dedicated to the preservation of this history.
During the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the company met with such hardship trekking through the Bitterroot Mountains there some question whether the venture would continue. Through the help of the Nez Perce Indians, the company survived, and the expedition was able to continue. Let's look at this tribe of Native Americans so important in U.S. history.
Long before the first European stepped foot in what is the Pacific Northwest, a group of indigenous peoples inhabited the region. There is evidence that the Niimíipuu, or "the people" or "the walking people" have called the area home for more than 10,000 years.
The Niimíipuu were a member of the Sapahtian language group of Native American tribes. Their influence in the Pacific Northwest spanned millions of wilderness acres. The tribe known as the Nez Perce today spoke a variation of the Sapahtian language called Niimiipuutímt.
Their language is one of numerous dialects of the region spanning what is today the entire western part of the United States. When first discovered by European settlers, the Nez Perce were a hunter-gatherer tribe of peoples with many friendly acquaintances and few enemies.
Archaeological artifacts uncovered in the area are helping to understand the dramatic level of influence that the Nez Perce had on the entire region encompassing the western plains. While their influence was most prevalent from the Bitterroot Mountains west, it stretched potentially from Canada into northern Mexico.
Over 100 centuries of existence, changed at the start of the 19th century. There had been encounters with various European fur traders, but the landing of the Corps of Discovery in 1805 launched a new chapter in Nez Perce history.
While they were instrumental in what could have been the eventual failure of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, some historians it marked the beginning of the downfall of the Nez Perce. Less than 70 years later, the Nez Perce would be decimated by the same part of American History they may have saved.
Ultimately, as part of the Manifest Destiny, conflict between the Nez Perce and the U.S. Army ensued. The result is called the Nez Perce Flight of 1877. It was a flight that would last more than months and cross over 1,000 miles of wilderness terrain.
Many of the conflicts are part of the National Park Service. There is a dedicated section with the Clearwater Historical Museum for the Nez Perce. Here their importance to the westward expansion, along with their heartbreaking decline, is preserved.
There is limited information about the actual expanse of the Sapahtian language-based Native American tribes prior to the beginning of the 19th century. At the time Lewis and Clark entered the Clearwater River basin, the territory roamed by the Nez Perce was over 17 million acres.
Their region of influence covered most of the area that is currently the states of Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho. The area contained four major rivers and their primary tributaries, the Snake River, Grande Ronde River, Salmon River and the Clearwater River.
The territory of the Nez Perce extended westward from the brim of the Bitterroot Mountains. It is in this area, the area today which makes up a vast portion of Clearwater County, Idaho, where American history meets Nez Perce history.
While the tribe's historical significance on the area surrounding the Clearwater River basin dates back centuries, the bands of Nez Perce that lived just west of the Bitterroot Mountains were the ones who embraced members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The Kimmooenim Band met the expedition as they struggled with exhaustion and near starvation coming through the Bitterroots. There are Nez Perce accounts of tribal leaders meeting French Traders during the 18th century.
However, the September 1805 meeting with William Clark and Meriwether Lewis is the first documented meeting of the Nez Perce with Euro-Americans. During an emergency hunt for food, a small band of the expedition wandered near the end of the Lolo Trail.
It was here that Lewis and Clark made friends with the tribal chief Twisted Hair. Twisted Hair was the father of Chief Lawyer, possibly the most prominent leader in Nez Perce history. Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery remained with the Nez Perce along the Clearwater River for over a month.
Here, the Corps of Discovery, with the help of the Nez Perce, perfected a series of specialized canoes for the remainder of their journey to the Pacific Ocean. Approximately four miles from the Clearwater Historical Museum in Orofino is Canoe Camp.
The Corps of Discovery would return to the area on their return from reaching the Pacific Ocean in 1806. Records show that Lewis and Clark, including the members of their expedition, spent more time with the Nez Perce Indians than any other group on their historic journey.
Nez Perce tribal lands today consist almost exclusively across the Camas Prairie area to the south of the Clearwater River. The Nez Perce Reservation extends through four Idaho counties including, Lewis, Nez Perce, Idaho and Clearwater Counties.
The estimated number of Nez Perce descendants in this part of the country is roughly 18,000. The reservation encompasses an area just over 1,100 square miles. Orofino, Idaho is the largest town near the Nez Perce Reservation, home of the Clearwater Historical Museum.
Orofino has the largest percentage of native Nez Perce residents outside of the actual reservation seat of Lapwai. The presence of the Nez Perce today is but a flicker of how vast their influence was for centuries. However, their importance in American history will never be lost, preserved at the Clearwater Historical Museum and through the National Parks Service.