Nez Perce Country

Welcome to Nez Perce Country

Welcome to Nez Perce Country The Nez Perce Country of northeastern Oregon, southeastern Washington , and north-central Idaho is a land steeped in America’s western heritage. Once it was home only to the Nez Perce Indians, but with the passage of time other people came to this land. The flow of new inhabitants began as a trickle with Lewis and Clark’s “Corps of Discovery ” in 1805–1806. The trickle grew in time as others came here for a variety of reasons. First came the trappers, traders, and missionaries, and then, after a discovery of gold, the trickle became a torrent of miners, loggers, farmers, and people just seeking adventure or running from some past adventure. The different interests, goals, and aspirations of these individuals and groups blended or came into con- flict here as a young nation, the United States, expanded westward in the nineteenth century. Today Nez Perce National Historical Park in north-central Idaho commemorates these people and their history. The park is like the story itself—a complex mosaic. Authorized by Congress in 1965 and expanded in 1992, it comprises thirty-eight sites—nine administered by the National Park Service and twenty-nine managed by state, tribal, local, or other federal agencies. The sites, like beads on a loosely strung necklace, are found throughout an area covering some 31 200 square kilometers (12 000 square miles). The thread linking these sites together is the history of the Nez Perce people, a people aware of their past, proud of their culture, and an active part of the present. Whether you are traveling through this beautiful land in your automobile or vicariously in your armchair, both the Nez Perce and the National Park Service welcome you to Nez Perce Country. Nez Perce Country ...