This month’s theme:The Nez Perce War

ContentsFeature Fun PageFamous People Next MonthFrom the Attic Prospector Page

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Feb.-March, 2009

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Lucky Noah

Howdy Prospectors

In the mid 1800’s the NezPerce tribe was known for itsfriendliness. If you know the

story of Lewis and Clark inIdaho, you might remember thatthe Nez Perce people treated thevisiting explorers with generosityand respect. Later, the tribeworked closely with missionariesand government officials whocame to their land. Unfortunatelythough, like many other westerntribes, this original good willwould change.

In 1860, a prospectornamed E.D. Pierce found gold onthe Nez Perce reservation. This

discovery led to a rush of settlementon the tribe’s land. Many of thenew visitors traded their commonsense for greed. Even though theyknew it was against the law, peoplebegan to settle on Nez Perce landand crowd out the tribe.

The U.S. government realizedthere was a serious problem. Ifsomething wasn’t done soon, theNez Perce people and the settlersmight begin to fight. Instead offorcing the new settlers to leave, thegovernment’s solution was toreduce the Nez Perce lands even

The Nez Perce WarUnfortunately, gold miners

don’t always have thebest historic reputation.

When people discover gold,sometimes they throw theirmanners and common sense outthe window. They get so busythinking about how rich they aregoing to be that they forget torespect their neighbors. Whengold was discovered in Idaho inthe 1860’s prospectors rushedhere to try their luck. Some ofthese people claimed land thatwas already owned by the NativeAmericans. The U.S. Govern-ment tried to step in and solve theproblem, but unfortunately thismade things worse. This conflictbetween the new settlers andIndians turned into one of themost famous wars in Idahohistory. Here’s the sad tale of theNez Perce War.

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further. Nez Perce leaders did not

govern like the leaders of the UnitedStates. There wasn’t one chief incharge of the entire tribe like apresident or king. Instead therewere many chiefs who were eachleaders of small bands of Indians.This difference would lead to moretrouble.

When the United States triedto reduce the Nez Perce tribe’sland, they negotiated mostly with thechiefs who would be hurt least by anew agreement. A few of the NezPerce bands had adapted the waysof the missionaries and worked asfarmers. A newtreaty wouldcenter thereservation onland thesefarmers alreadycontrolled.There wereother Nez Percethough, whodidn’t want tobecome farmersand still livedtheir traditionallifestyle. Theyfelt that a newtreaty would be a bad idea. Insteadof a large reservation that includedmost of their ancestral homeland, theentire tribe would be forced to livein one small area. The U.S. Gov-ernment knew they couldn’t get thewhole tribe to agree to the deal, sothey only dealt with the chiefs thatwere on their side. A new treatywas signed without the consent ofmany of the Nez Perce leaders.

In a short time the agreementled to a tense situation. The United

States government insisted all theNez Perce move back to the new,smaller reservation. But many of thetribe’s leaders like Chief Joseph,Chief White Bird, Chief LookingGlass, and Chief Toohoolhoolzotedid not agree. Finally, in the summerof 1877 the fragile peace broke andviolence erupted.

Angered by the treatment oftheir people, two young Nez Percewarriors attacked and killed a groupof settlers (some of whom hadcheated or fought with the tribe inthe past). Hearing of the murders,

pass was a disaster for the military.The Nez Perce quickly gainedcontrol of the steep battlefield andsent the soldiers running. The nextbig battle on the Clearwater Riverwas fought to a standstill. Realizingthe strength of the U.S. Army, theNez Perce decided to move eastacross the treacherous BitterrootMountains. They hoped they couldleave the Army behind and live withtheir old allies, the Crow, who livedon the other side of the mountainrange. Little did they know, thedifficult passage across the Bitter-roots was only the beginning of theirlong journey.

Almostimmediatelyupon crossingthe mountainsthey cameacross a smallgroup ofsoldiers whohad set up ablockade. TheNez Perceeasily maneu-vered aroundthe soldiers andcontinued ontheir way. The

next battle of the war was one of theworst. As the tribe was camped onthe Big Hole River in Montana,General John Gibbon attacked witha large force of soldiers and citizenvolunteers. The Army struck atdawn, while most of the tribe wasstill asleep. Many woman andchildren died in the fierce surpriseattack. Although the Nez Percesuffered large losses, they were ableto regroup and force the soldiers toretreat.

the U.S. Army reacted swiftly.General Oliver O. Howard gatheredtogether a group of soldiers tocapture the Nez Perce and forcethem onto the reservation. Eventhough chiefs like White Bird,Joseph, and Looking Glass haddifferent opinions of the situation,they banded together to defend theirpeople.

The first battle at White Bird

The Nez Perce drive away the Army’shorses at the Battle of Camas Meadows

The Indians moved throughthe Lemhi Valley with the Army inpursuit. The next battle would be abig victory for the Nez Perce. Atthe battle of Camas Meadows, asmall group of Nez Perce warriorscircled back and snuck into theArmy’s camp. Instead of attackingthe soldiers, the target was theirhorses. The stealthy Nez Perce menbroke through the stockade andstole over two hundred horses andmules. This clever move was a bigblow to the army’s supplies andtransportation.

Although both sides wereweary from the long chase, the warcontinued. The Army followed thetribe as they wound their waythrough the area thatbecameYellowstone National Parkand stayed close behind as theIndians headed north. The NezPerce strategy had changed. Realiz-ing that theArmy wouldn’tgive up andwith no helpfrom theirallies, the triberushed towardthe Canadianborder. Afterthe famousBattle of LittleBig Horn theyear before,the Canadiangovernmenthad givenSitting Bull, theSioux leaderwho defeatedGeneral

Armstrong Custer, a safe place tolive. The Nez Perce thought that ifthey could make it across theborder, they could join the Sioux.Although they would be far fromhome, at least their families wouldbe safe and the tribe would nolonger be pursued by the Army.

The tribe pushed north, butthe Army stayed close on their heels.Finally, within a day or two ride ofthe border, the two sides fought theirfinal battle. On September 30,Colonel Nelson Miles caught up tothe Indians on the edge of the BearPaw Mountains. The Nez Percewere surprised, but quickly spranginto action. They dug pits andditches with whatever tools they hadand built stone barricades to protectthemselves from the soldiers’ guns.The battle was long, stretching outover five days, and the Nez Percewere tired. Food had run out. The

weather was cold and wet and therewasn’t any fuel to make fires. Theonly two chiefs left alive were WhiteBird and Joseph. Joseph knew thatif the tribe kept fighting it wouldmean more death and misery. Hemade the decision to try to negotiatea truce and end the war.

Although Chief White Bird anda few others escaped to Canada,Joseph and the remaining Nez Percemade a deal with Colonel Miles.The tribe agreed to stop fighting andreturn to the reservation the U.S.government had created. Unfortu-nately, the government broke theirpromise. Joseph and his remaininggroup were relocated to Oklahomainstead, where they spent eight yearsseparated from their homeland andthe rest of the tribe. Eventually, thegroup was allowed to return west,but Joseph and his family wereforced to stay on a different reserva-

tion in Wash-ington.

OnSeptember21st, 1904,Chief Josephdied in exile. Itwas a sadending to a verytragic chapter inour country’shistory.

The Nez Perce hide in hand-dug pits atthe Battle of the Bear Paws.

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Famous People

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Many U.S. Army leadersinvolved in the Nez PerceWar. Colonel Nelson

Miles, Colonel John Gibbon,Colonel Samuel Sturgis, and Cap-tain Charles Rown all commandedsoldiers during the conflict. Themilitary leader most connected tothe war, though, was General OliverO. Howard.

General Howard didn’t beginhis career in Idaho. Like manymilitary leaders of the time, hefirst fought in the Civil War.General Howard commandedUnion troops at some of theCivil War’s most importantbattles; like Bull Run, Antietam,and Gettysburg. In the Battle ofthe Seven Pines Howard wasseriously wounded. Hiswounds were so severe that thedoctors had to amputate hisarm.

After the Civil War,conflict between settlers andNative American tribes in theWest began to worsen. Likemany other Civil War leaders,

General Howard moved west tohelp control the Indian uprisings.

General Howard was presentat the beginning of the Nez PerceWar. His quick temper in earlynegotiations might have made a badsituation worse. During discussionswith a group of Nez Perce leaders,General Howard was angered bythe tone and words of ChiefToohoolhoolzote. Instead of calmly

dealing with the Chief, GeneralHoward had Toohoolhoolzotelocked up for the remainder of themeeting. This action was veryinsulting to the Nez Perce leadersand may have added to the badfeelings between the two groups.

When the war broke out,General Howard was in commandof the Army’s troops. He led thesoldiers in the Battle of the

Clearwater, but after the NezPerce escaped across theBitterroot Mountains, he hadtrouble keeping up. For therest of the war, Howard’stroops worked hard, but couldnever quite catch up with thetribe.

At the final Battle of theBear Paws, it was anothercommander, Colonel NelsonMiles, who negotiated a trucewith the Nez Perce. Eventhough Howard and his menhad traveled hundreds of milesin pursuit of the Nez Perce,Colonel Miles got most of theglory.

General Oliver O. Howard

From the Attic

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After five days of fiercefighting at the Battle of theBear Paws, the U.S. Army

and Nez Perce tribe began tonegotiate a truce. Many Nez Percehad died in the months of war andonly Chief Josephand Chief White Birdremained as leaders.Of the two, ChiefJoseph came for-ward to represent hispeople in negotia-tions with the Army.His short speech toGeneral Miles is stillremembered todayas the sad ending tothis tragic war. Thespeech was re-corded by LieutenantC.E.S. Wood whowitnessed the event.Although it is pos-sible that Lt. Woodchanged somewords, most believethat it is a faithfulaccount of what wasspoken on that day.

Tell General Howard I know hisheart. What he told me before Ihave in my heart. I am tired offighting. Our chiefs are killed.Looking Glass is dead. The oldmen are all killed. It is the young

men who say yes or no. He wholed the young men is dead. It iscold and we have no blankets.The little children are freezing todeath. My people, some of them,have run away to the hills and

have no blankets, nofood; no one knowswhere they are,perhaps freezing todeath. I want timeto look for mychildren and see howmany of them I canfind. Maybe I shallfind them among thedead. Hear me, mychiefs, I am tired;my heart is sick andsad. From wherethe sun now stands,I will fight no moreforever.

Chief Joseph’s Speech

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The Fun Page

The Hand Game

Many Native Americantribes across the centraland western portions of

the United States play a version ofthe hand game. Nobody is quitesure when and where the gamestarted, but today it is a very popu-lar pastime. People compete inhuge tournaments across the West,sometimes gambling large amountsof money on the outcome of thegames. The basic rules of the handgame are simple, but it takes a lot ofpractice to be a good player.

Each player starts out with twosticks or rocks that are small enough

to hide in one’s hands. One of theobjects is marked and one is blank.Each player also needs an equalamount of counting sticks (tooth-picks work well). Tournamentplayers might start out with as manyas thirty counting sticks, but ten eachis good to start. Players sit directlyacross from each other and taketurns playing. One player takes hissticks or rocks and begins to switchthem between his hands. The playercan do anything he wants to concealthe placement of the objects, evenhiding them behind his back. Whenhe is ready, he holds out both of hisclosed fists. The other player then

has to guess which hand holds themarked object. If the guess iscorrect the guesser wins one of heropponent’s counting sticks. If theguess is wrong the guesser gives upone of her counting sticks. Playcontinues until one side has all of thesticks.

You can also play in teams.For example, two rows of threepeople each can sit across fromeach other. The game is still thesame, but teammates take turnsconcealing the object and guessing.

The hand game is almost alwaysaccompanied by singing and drum-ming. The loud rhythm gets theplayers’ hearts pounding and makesthe game more exciting. Ask yourteacher if you can try a hand gametournament in your class.

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Next Month’s Activities

Well, we’ve told you all weknow about theNez Perce War, now it’s

your turn. This month you can pickfrom one of the activities listedbelow or make up your own projectand send it to our ProspectorHeadquarters. We’ll take someof your best work and print it innext month’s magazine. Re-member to include your name,the town and school where youare from, and the name of yourProspector Club. We can’t waitto see what you come up with!

Mapping the War: The NezPerce War covered a lot ofgeography. The Nez Percecrossed rivers, mountains, andplains in three different states.One of the ways you can betterunderstand a historical event isto make a map. The map canhelp you organize your thoughtsand visualize where the storytook place. Can you make amap of the Nez Perce War? Do alittle research and try to find the paththe Nez Perce took as they tried toelude the Army. Remember toinclude major geographic featureslike mountains and rivers and markwhere the battles took place.

Remembering the War:Historically, the Nez Perce peoplehad a completely oral culture. In anoral culture, history isn’t writtendown. Instead it is passed fromgeneration to generation by speakingand listening. In most Indian cul-

tures this is done throughstorytelling, but throughout historysongs and poems were also used.See if you can write a song or poemto pass on the story of the NezPerce War. Research some of thepeople and places involved in theconflict and imagine that you must

pass on that information to the nextgeneration in a way that can bespoken around a campfire. Wecan’t wait to see what you come upwith!

Other Indian Conflicts:Unfortunately, the United StatesGovernment has a long historyof going to war with Indiannations. The Nez Perce Warwas one of the most famous, butthere were many others. Forinstance, the Bannocks, theSioux, and the Apache all foughtwith the U.S. Government atone time or another. Do a littleresearch into another Indianconflict. Tell us why it startedand what the final outcome was.Write a few paragraphs aboutwhat you learned and share yourknowledge with the rest of theProspectors.

Send in your work by May 10th to:Prospector Club/Lucky NoahIdaho State Historical Museum610 North Julia Davis DriveBoise, ID 83702Or email it to us atkurt.zwolfer@ishs.idaho.gov

From the Prospectors

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Michaela HeinmanRiverside Elementary

Boise

Alex ShippRiverside Elementary

Boise

Lila HuntRiverside Elementary

Boise

Addison PenningtonRiverside Elementary

Boise

Luxury Train Cars

Bailey SchieveRiverside Elementary

Boise

Jasmine DelgadoRiverside Elementary

Boise

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Karissa KaypaghianRiverside Elementary

Boise

Megan BuszIdaho Virtual Academy

Nampa

Joelle MayoRiverside Elementary

Boise

Natalie BrunerRiverside Elementary

Boise

-Dear Marie: I still can’t believe it! Isaw a live train crash! I don’t knowwhether to be happy, sad, angry,mad, overjoyed, or what. But, boy,am I glad I wasn’t on it!Our farm isbuilt out in the middle of nowhere bya sharp bend in the railroad tracks. Even though there is a railroad, wedon’t ever see trains around here. One day, I had just finished feedingthe chickens when I heard a train! Iran over to say hello, but my legstook me away! For they must haveknown that trouble lurked! I wasback at the house, watching the traingo around the bend, from thedoorsteps. As I watched,THUMP! The train landed on itsside. And I was just standing there,silent. It smelled of gas, rotten eggs,smoke, and it was just plain AW-FUL! The conductor led all thepeople out. I think the train wasgoing too fast for the bend. Awoman came over to talk to me.Her name was Mrs. McIntire. Shetold me, “I thought the conductor fellasleep.” And I said, “I’ll go talk tohim.” So I did, and said, “Mrs.McIntire said she thought you fellasleep!” He just said, “I was wideawake trying to slow the train!” “Oh,” I said. I hope they’ll beokay. Sincerely,Megan

One day while driving mytrain, we had very badweather. We were going

down a very big hill. Then I felt thespeed rising fast. I asked my menwhat was happening, but all they didwas stare out the window with looksof fear on their faces. I saw millions

It was a foggy winter in the late1800’s when I was driving anamazing train right next to a

mountain. I could just barely seeanything in view. Everyone on thetrain was listening to the radio theywere having a wonderful time.

I was driving at a mediumpace when all of a sudden; a greatbig landslide came crashing right ontop of the train. Everyone startedscreaming at the top of their lungs.We rolled a couple of times. Whenthe train finally stopped, I feared thateveryone on the train had died!Luckily, I was wrong.

One by one, people started

I am Alice Markinson. At thetime I was only 11. It was anice sunny day. They were

going downhill, when suddenly Iheard the sharp screech of metal.Then the train started to tip fromside to side. Confusion and scream-ing filled the air. I was terrified anddidn’t know what to do or if myfamily was okay because they wereon a different part of the train. Thestrong aroma of blood was in the air.I thought quickly on what to do. Iwould go the closest window on theside it wasn’t falling. Suddenly itswayed very big. It was my chance.I just needed to get to a window. Ifit was closed I would be ready tobreak it open. I ran to the windowterrified the window would belocked. I picked up a plate and ashard as I could I chucked it at thewindow which left a loud clang. Ilooked out and the ground wasmoving so much faster than normal.I thought the swaying was badenough. Suddenly there was a loudcrash. I looked out the window andsaw that my train hit another anddebris was flying everywhere.Without thinking, I jumped.

Witness to a Crashof rocks tumbling down the hill. Itwas a landslide. The speed wasrising. I did not know what to do.The hill was getting steeper. We hadpassengers. All their screams rangin my ears. Then it got worse. Wewere not able to switch to the nexttrack so the tracks ended. A fewseconds later we were off thetracks. We were spinning wildly outof control. As soon as the spinningended we tipped over. Luckily,there were no deaths, but therewere plenty of injuries. There wasplenty of moaning as I struggled toget out of the tipped train. I sawdust flying everywhere. It took me awhile to notice the huge tower ofrocks. I had plenty of wounds andscratches. Afterwards, all thepeople were at least happy to seetheir relatives and friends alive in thestation. Lastly, I have learned thattrains can be dangerous so I neverdrove a train again to avoid all theinjuries.

walking out of the train dizzily.Some of them were unharmed andothers were badly injured. I made afire so everyone could get warm.After about an hour, another traincame by and helped everyone!

McKayla DeLoreyRiverside Elementary

Boise

Pictures and Text bySchyler Voshell

Riverside ElementaryBoise

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Boise’s old Union PacificRailroad depot was built in1925. On April 16, 1925

the first transcontinental train arrivedat the station. By 1968 U.P. had allbut one passenger train left in Boise,the Portland Rose. The UnionPacific ended service here in 1971.In 1996 Boise City took control ofthe building and it’s now used forweddings and parties.

The Boise Train Depot is ahistoric Spanish style structure. It was designed by

New York architects. The buildingwas opened in 1925. The Boisetrain depot includes the great hallthat is 3,542 square feet. The BoiseTrain Depot hosts corporate parties,fund-raising events, weddings,receptions, businesses, breakfasts,lunches, and dinners. The BoiseTrain Depot, the great hall, and thebell tower are open from 2-6 p.m.,Mondays, except holidays. Theadmission is free. The Boise TrainDepot is located at 1104 RoyalBoulevard, Boise, Idaho 83706.

The Boise Train Depot no longeruses trains.

The Boise Train Depot isvery beautiful inside, but there is alsoplenty to explore outside. In front ofit there is Platt Gardens which hassome cool rocks to climb on. Thereis a small man-made cave and frogpond. To make reservations call384-42228. It still stands heretoday and is a very interesting placeto learn about.

Boise Depot

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Union Pacific History

Photos and Text byJacan Habersetzer

Riverside ElementaryBoise

The Union Pacific railroad hasa lot of history in Idaho andmy family has a lot of history

with it as well. My grandpa and mygreat-grandpa both worked for theUnion Pacific Railroad in Nampa,Idaho

My great-grandpa startedworking for the Union pacific in1945. He worked for them for 33years before returning on May, 31978. He worked for a division ofthe union pacific railroad called thePacific Fruit Express. They weremore in charge of hauling produceacross the country, mostly to NewYork. When he first started in1945, there were no mechanical

refrigeration cars. They had to useice. Each car carried 11,500pounds of ice to keep the producecold. My great-grandpa checkedproduce loads and added ice. Thecars mostly carried potatoes, onion,and plums. Sometimes they alsocarried apples, pears, and lettuce.Later he worked in the officechecking the paperwork for eachload. He worked the night shift andchecked about 600 cars a night.

My grandpa worked forUnion Pacific for 7 years betweenworking at the Old Idaho Peniten-tiary and the new state prison. Likemy great-grandpa, he also workedfor the Pacific Fruit Express. He

was a welder and repaired traincars. He also did a lit bit of carpen-try work. Sometimes it took monthsto repair a car while other times itonly took days. In his spare time,he could make little things out ofmetal. He made belt buckles, anairplane, and one time he made alock. He even made a pig for mymom when she was a little girl.

I think it was interesting tointerview my grandpa and my greatgrandpa and hear their stories. Ialso like the little pig that mygrandpa made and my mom saved.