Treaties and Changes

IF WE EVER OWNED THE LAND WE OWN IT STILL, FOR WE NEVER SOLD IT...

View to North Fork Imnaha Valley from Tenderfoot Pass (Photo by Daniel Brown) — **View to North Fork Imnaha Valley from Tenderfoot Pass** *(Photo by Daniel Brown)*

…Suppose a white man should come to me and say, ‘Joseph, I like your horses, and I want to buy them.’ I say to him, ‘No, my horses suit me, I will not sell them.’ Then he goes to my neighbor, and says to him, ‘Joseph has some good horses. I want to buy them, but he refuses to sell.’ My neighbor answers, ‘Pay me the money, and I will sell you Joseph’s horses.’ The white man returns to me and says, ‘Joseph, I have bought your horses, and you must let me have them.’ If we sold our lands to the Government, this is the way they were bought.” — Hinmató·wyalahtq’it (Young Chief Joseph), Nez Perce, 1879

Approximate Nez Perce band locations, 1877

  Many bands of Nez Perce once inhabited an expansive 14 million acres. Land, language, family, and religion connected them, yet each band prospered under the leadership of their own selected headman.

Halahucú·t, aka Lawyer, headman of the úyeeme band, was a devout follower of Reverend Henry Spalding’s Christian teachings. In order to push through the Treaty of 1863, government officials claimed Halahucú·t as “Head Chief,” and, when most bands living outside the boundaries of the new reserve refused to sign, they claimed his signature to represent all Nez Perces. 

Wal’wá·ma headman Tıwi·teqıs (Old Chief Joseph) did not sign. He had once been loyal to Spalding, but was disillusioned by this reduction of land to 10% of what he had agreed to when signing the Treaty of 1855.

“If any respect is to be paid to the laws and customs of the Indians, then the treaty of 1863 is not binding upon Joseph and his band, [and] ... the Wallowa valley is still a part of the Nez Perce reservation.”

— Report of T.B. Odeneal, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, ca. 1865