A little history

This morning I've decided to share a story that I wrote for the Appaloosa Journal back in February. It's been on my mind the past couple of days because parts of the story (specifically about the initial causes of Chief Joseph's flight from his homeland in 1877 from the U.S. Cavalry) remind me of what long timers around here are feeling right now.

Our homeland, just like that of Chief Joseph's Nez Perce and the Kalispel of this area, has been usurped for the bottom-line interests of anonymous outside masses moving in. It's happening with insensitivity for local people's emotional attachments to their homes and special landmarks and with a sense of callousness, from those imposing the "needed" change, that hurts to the core.

Historical significance and respect for the local culture seem to rank at the bottom of the barrel in comparison to the NEED to make way for a future that promises to permanently scab up every hillside in this area with homes for the rich and destroy all vestiges of the lifestyle that has been so dear to the residents who've called this home for so long.

Unfortunately, what we're experiencing now seems to just go with the cycle of history. And, besides my thoughts, this story presents some fascinating information about what those who came later are trying to do to remove the emotional scars inflicted so long ago. I wonder if that will happen here.

Appaloosa/Trail Heritage Unite Cultures

by Marianne Love

for the Appaloosa Journal

February, 2005

Beginning in the 1700s and extending for more than 100 years, the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) Trail, served as the route for Nez Perce hunters, riding their beautiful spotted horses, to reach the buffalo plains of Montana. That changed in 1877 when a portion of the trail turned into an avenue of death, sadness and huge losses for the Nez Perce and the very creatures responsible for their pride---their colorful horses, later called Appaloosas.

According to historians, Appaloosas first appeared in the Southwest with the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the 1600s. Eventually, the horses made their way to the land of the Nez Perce in present-day Oregon, Washington and Central Idaho, where they were selectively bred and trained as hunting or war horses.

These “lofty, elegantly formed, active and durable” animals along with their owners’ innovative horsemanship, caught the attention of Corps of Discovery explorer Meriwether Lewis when his group was welcomed by the tribe in 1805.

Ironically, the Lewis and Clark expedition (1805-06) indirectly led to the demise of their hospitable Indian hosts as news spread to the East of the abundant Western lands. White settlement around the Nez Perce homeland and discovery of gold at Pierce, Idaho, in 1860, precipitated a series of violent incidents and misunderstandings. Through treaties, the U.S. government also swallowed huge amounts of their reservation.

Loss of Nez Perce Horses and Culture

By 1877, Nez Perce bands, who had earlier refused to sign treaties with the government, finally relented to leave their home and relocate to the tiny reservation in Lapwai, Idaho. As the move began, young warriors, resenting their people’s treatment, killed some white settlers.

This incident set off the four-month 1,180-mile flight of non-treaty Nez Perce from the U.S. Cavalry. The conflict began June 15, 1877, and ended with Chief Joseph’s famous surrender speech on Oct. 5 at Bear’s Paw in Northeastern Montana. The surrender occurred just 40 miles from their goal of asylum in Canada. The Nez Perce had lost nearly half of their 750 people and hundreds of their horses. Horses and tribal members were scattered, inflicting a severe blow to their culture. Some Nez Perce never returned home, while others, after imprisonment in Leavenworth, Kans., or within an Oklahoma, reservation, filtered their way back to the Northwest.

Modern Efforts to Preserve Heritage

The tribe’s Appaloosas remained all but lost until the 1920s-‘30s when a group of white horsemen in the Pacific Northwest worked together to revive the breed. They gathered what Appaloosas they could find, out-crossed them with Arabians to bring back refinement lost when missionaries had crossed them with draft breeds. They also published articles in Western magazines to encourage rebuilding herds and to create a breed registry. The Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) was first incorporated in 1938 by Claude Thompson, his wife Faye, Ernest Kuck, breed historian, Dr. Francis Haines; and Frank G. Dick. The organization’s first stud book was compiled in 1947 with 338 horses listed. The breed has grown to 600,000-plus and extends throughout the world

For nearly 40 years, significant efforts have focused attention on the Nez Perce story and its connection to the Appaloosa. Ever cognizant of the breed’s heritage, the ApHC, under leadership of longtime executive secretary George Hatley, launched the first-ever Chief Joseph Trail Ride in 1965. Each year, for 13 years, riders follow a segment of the trail, retracing the steps and hearing stories of Chief Joseph and his people. The Nez Perce National Historic Park, created in 1965, now features 38 historical markers in four states. In 1986, the U.S. Forest Service established the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) National Historic Trail (NPNHT), “to honor the heroic and poignant attempt by the Nez Perce Indians to escape capture by the U.S. Army . . . .”

Over the past four decades, Nez Perce and whites, through a common love for Appaloosas and a desire to understand each other’s culture, have worked tirelessly to use the spotted horses and the trail as uniters. Three organizations, the Nez Perce Historic Trail Foundation (NPHTF), the U.S. Forest Service, under guidance from NPHT administrator Sandi McFarland and, most recently the ApHC/Chief Joseph Trail Riders have joined forces to raise money, secure ownership, and to promote education, including web sites and informative displays---all to perpetuate the Nez Perce National Trail and its historical significance.

In November, 2004, the NPHTF collaborated with Fort Leavenworth in Kansas to officially certify the site as an extension of the Nez Perce Historic Trail. In addition to the ceremony attended by several Nez Perce elders, a symposium at St. Mary’s College featured speakers offering perspectives on both sides of the1877 war. Plans call for sites where Nez Perce were confined in Oklahoma to receive similar certification.

“Separation resulting from the events of 1877 through 1886 created wounds that endure today,” says NPHTF president Paul Wapato of Spokane, Wash. “We consider that part of our mission is to provide opportunity for these dispersed descendants to gain appreciation of their common heritage.”

Longtime Chief Joseph trail administrator Jim Evans of Salmon, Idaho, recently assumed duties as NPHTF executive director. His office is located in Salmon’s Sacajawea Center, which commemorates the Lewis and Clark expedition.

“We want to have a designated ‘people and horse’ route that follows the original trail as closely as possible,” he says. “I proposed to the ApHC that we join in a partnership with the Nez Perce Foundation to make sure we can travel the trail for another 39 years.”

Though much needs to be done to complete the ambitious historic trail plan and to heal wounds, all parties involved believe that events coinciding with these activities will provide understanding and prevent similar sad chapters from ever happening again. At the core of these lofty goals lie three basic passions as expressed by Rosa Yearout, NPHTF director and long-time Appaloosa owner from Lapwai. At a recent foundation meeting in Lewiston, Yearout reminded board members, “It deals with the land, the horses, and our Mother Earth.”