NEZ PERCE

The 'Nez Perce' (pronounced ) are a tribe of Native Americans who live in the Pacific Northwest region (Columbia River Plateau) of the United States. It is estimated that at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition the native people had been in the area for over 10,000 years.^[1] The tribe currently govern and inhabit a reservation in Idaho. The Nez Perce's name for themselves is 'Nimi'ipuu' (), which means simply "the people", or "we the people".^[2] The name "Nez Percé" (meaning "pierced nose") is derived from the French, who named them this for the nose pendants some of them wore.^[3]

Contents

Traditional lands

Chief Joseph's surrender

Notable people

Nez Perce horse breeding program

Fishing

Nez Perce Indian Reservation

Communities

Name, language, and culture

References

Further Reading

External links

Traditional lands

The Nez Perce territory at the time of Lewis and Clark was approximately 17,000,000 acres (69,000 km²). It covered parts of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, in an area surrounding the Snake, Salmon and the Clear Water Rivers. The tribal area extended from the Bitterroots in the east to the Blue Mountains in the west between latitude 45°N and 47°N.^[4]
The Nez Perce, as many western Native American tribes, were migratory and would travel with the seasons, according to where the most abundant food was to be found at a given time of year. This migration followed a predictable pattern from permanent winter villages through several temporary camps, nearly always returning to the same locations year after year. They were known to go as far east as the Great Plains, hunting American Bison and fishing for salmon at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River. They relied heavily on quamash or camas gathered in the region between the Salmon and Clearwater River drainages as a food source.

Chief Joseph's surrender

On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Nation surrendered to units of the U.S. Cavalry. Before this retreat the Nez Perce fought a cunning strategic retreat toward refuge in Canada from about 2,000 Army soldiers. This surrender, after fighting 13 battles and going about 1,300 miles toward Canada, marked the last great battle between the U.S. government and an Indian nation.^[5] After surrendering, Chief Joseph stated his famous quote "Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." The flight path is reproduced by the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.^[6]

Notable people

Probably the best known leader of the Nez Perce was Chief Joseph, who led his people in their struggle to retain their identity in the face of U.S. encroachments on their land. One notable Nez Perce scholar was Archie Phinney (1903–1949); he studied under Franz Boas at Columbia University and produced a published collection of Nez Perce myths and legends from the oral tradition, ''Nez Perce Texts''. Actress Elaine Miles, best known from her role in television's ''Northern Exposure'', is Nez Perce. Silent film actors Jack and Al Hoxie are the sons of a half Nez Perce mother.

Nez Perce horse breeding program

The Nez Perce tribe began a breeding program in 1995 based on crossbreeding the Appaloosa and a Central Asian breed called Akhal-Teke to produce the Nez Perce Horse. This is a program to re-establish the horse culture of the Nez Perce, a proud tradition of selective breeding and horsemanship that was destroyed in the 19th century. The breeding program was financed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Nez Perce tribe and a nonprofit group called the First Nations Development Institute, which promotes such businesses in Indian country.

Fishing

Fishing is an important ceremonial, subsistence, and commercial activity for the Nez Perce tribe. Nez Perce fishers participate in tribal fisheries in the mainstem Columbia River between Bonneville Dam and McNary Dam. The Nez Perce also fish for spring/summer Chinook salmon and steelhead in the Snake River and its tributaries. The Nez Perce tribe runs the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery on the Clearwater River as well as several satellite hatchery programs.

Nez Perce Indian Reservation

The current tribal lands consist of a reservation comprising parts of four counties in northern Idaho; in descending order of surface area they are Nez Perce County, Lewis County, Idaho County, and Clearwater County. The total land area is 3,095.299 km² (1,195.102 sq mi), and the reservation's population as of the 2000 census was 17,959 residents.^[7] Its largest community is the city of Orofino, near its northeast corner.

Communities

★ Craigmont

★ Culdesac

★ Ferdinand

★ Kamiah

★ Kooskia

★ Lapwai


★ Nezperce

★ Orofino

★ Peck

★ Reubens

★ Stites

★ Winchester

Name, language, and culture

"Nez Perce" is the spelling of the name used by the tribe itself, the United States Government, and by contemporary historians. Older historical and ethnological works use the French spelling "Nez Percé," with the diacritic.
In the journals of William Clark, the people are referred to as Chopunnish (). This term is an adaptation of the term cú·pʼnitpeľu (The Nez Perce people) which is formed from cú·pʼnit (piercing with a pointed object) and peľu (people).^[8] Nez Perce oral tradition indicates the name Cuupn'itpel'uu meant “we walked out of the woods or walked out of the mountains" and referred to the time before the Nez Perce had horses. The most common self designation used today by the Nez Perce is Nimi'ipuu.^[2] Nez Perce is a misnomer given by the interpreter of the Lewis and Clark expedition at the time they first encountered the tribe in 1805. It is from the French, "pierced nose." This is an inaccurate description of the tribe. They did not practice nose piercing or wearing ornaments. The actual "pierced nose" tribe lived on and around the lower Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest and are commonly called the Chinook tribe by historians and anthropologists. The Chinook were a salmon people as were the Nez Perce and shared fishing and trading sites but were much more hierarchical in their social arrangements.
The Nez Perce National Historical Park includes a research center which has the park's historical archives and library collection. It is available for on-site use in the study and interpretation of Nez Perce history and culture.^[10]

References

1.
Handbook of North American Indians v.12 Plateau, , James C., Chatters, Smithsonian Institution, ,

2. Nimi'ipuu
3. Loewen, James W; ''Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong''; Page 101
4. Nez Percé Indians, , Herbert Joseph, Spinden, American Anthropological Association, ,
5. USA Government FAQ on Nez Perce flight path http://www.fs.fed.us/npnht/faq/
6. USA government historical trail map and brochure
http://www.fs.fed.us/npnht/brochure/overall.pdf
7. Census of Population
8. Plateau, , Deward, Walker, Smithsonian Institution, ,
9. Nimi'ipuu
10. Nez Perce National Historic Park research center http://www.nps.gov/nepe/historyculture/research-center.htm


★ Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.: ''The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest''. Houghton Mifflin, 1965.

★ L.V. McWhorter: ''Hear Me, My Chiefs! Nez Perce Legend and History''. Caxton Printers, 1992.

★ L.V. McWhorter: ''Yellow Wolf: His Own Story''. Caxton Printers, 1940.

★ John R. Swanton: ''The Indian Tribes of North America.'' Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, Smithsonian Press, Washington D.C., 1969

★ Deward E. Walker Jr.: ''Handbook of North American Indians. Volume 12: Plateau.'' Smithsonian Institution (Hg.). Washington: 1998.

★ Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Brown, Dee, , , , 1970, ISBN 0-330-23219-3

Further Reading

★ Folk-tales of Salishan and Sahaptin tribes, Boas, Franz, , , Published for the American Folk-Lore Society by G.E. Stechert & Co., 1917, Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection

★ The Indian dispossessed, Humphrey, Seth K, , , Little, Brown and Co., 1906, Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection

External links

★ Official tribal site

★ Friends of the Bear Paw, Big Hole & Canyon Creek Battlefields

★ Nez Perce Horse Registry

★ Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission - member tribes include the Nez Perce

★ Nez Perce National Historic Park

★ Nez Perce National Historic Trail