Nez Perce Trail in Montana
The Flight of Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce through Southwest Montana
Stretching 1,170 miles across three states, the Nez Perce National Historic Trail commemorates the route taken by the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) Native Americans in 1877 to avoid being forced onto a reservation by the United States. Starting at Wallowa Lake in Northeast Oregon, the path crosses numerous rivers and scenic mountain passes until it ends at Bear Paw Battlefield in Northern Montana, 40 miles south of the Canadian border. Visitors who follow the trail get to experience a large, geographically diverse portion of the American West including the Snake River Plain, Bitterroot Valley, and Yellowstone National Park. Numerous information signs follow the route informing visitors of its tragic past, hopefully imbuing them with a visceral sense of the difficulties the Nez Perce experienced while fleeing the United States Army.
Since time immemorial, the Nez Perce called massive swaths of modern-day Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Western Montana home. The arrival of white settlers onto their land promoted conflict promoting United States government intervention. Using shady diplomatic tactics, in 1863 they coerced the Nez Perce into signing a treaty. It reduced the size of their reservation by 90% and forced numerous bands to relocate from their ancestral lands to make way for white homesteaders and prospectors. This treaty was not recognized by many tribal bands because each band was politically autonomous. One such “non-treaty” band was the Wallowa Band led by Chief Joseph and resided in the Wallowa Valley in Northeast Oregon.
Tensions between the “non-treaty” bands and United States rose to a boiling in point in 1877. As a result, the United States gave “non-treaty” groups a 30-day deadline to relocate to the federally mandated reservation in Idaho. Recognizing the futility of military resistance, Chief Joseph reluctantly agreed to vacate his homelands. Along the way, young Nez Perce men felt humiliated by the terms of the treaty and out of a desire to avenge murders by whites, raided white settlements. These raids were not sanctioned by Chief Joseph, but he realized that asking for peace at this point was pointless.
Joseph waged an unconventional war against the United States as he fought to retreat. His original goal during the flight of 1877 was to flee to the Crow Reservation in Southern Montana, so he fought to allow his people to retreat east. The first two notable battles were in Idaho, the Battle of White Bird Canyon, and the Battle of Clearwater. In both skirmishes, the Nez Perce won convincingly against undisciplined volunteer American soldiers. These battles allowed the tribe to escape east over Lolo Pass into Southwestern Montana.
Lolo Pass is the first section of the Nez Perce Historic Trail in Southwest Montana. For centuries Lolo Pass was used by numerous Native American nations to traverse the Rocky Mountains. This part of the trail is also part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail because they traversed the pass on route to the Pacific Ocean in 1805.
After crossing the pass, they followed Lolo Creek (Eastbound Highway 12) until it flowed into the Bitterroot River where the tribe then traveled upriver through the Bitterroot Valley toward the Montana-Idaho border (Southbound Highway 93). Throughout this stretch the Nez Perce would have passed by modern LoLo Hot Springs and Traveler’s Rest State Park.
During this stretch, a detachment of soldiers from nearby Fort Missoula were sent to block the tribe’s advance along Lolo Creek. They built up a rough defensive, earthwork fortification and waited for the Nez Perce to arrive. Eventually, the Fort Missoula soldiers learned that the Nez Perce simply walked around the rudimentary fort at night. This military embarrassment came to be known as Fort Fizzle. Today, this location is now a resting place called Fort Fizzle Historic Picnic Area.
Chief Joseph promised the white settlers of the Bitterroot Valley that he and his band would not cause violence and held true to their pledge. They even traded with white merchants in the valley for food and supplies.
One of the most scenic valleys in Montana, the Bitterroot Valley is bordered on its west by the soaring peaks of Bitterroot Range and is the site of several historic places. They include Travelers Rest State Park, a campsite used by various native groups (like the Nez Perce) and is the only archaeologically verified campsite of the Corps of Discovery. Stevensville was the site of the first white missionary post in Southwest Montana. Here the Jesuits established St. Mary’s Mission. Stevensville is also home to the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge and is a favorite of bird and wildlife watchers.
Above the southernmost point of the valley, Highway 93 reaches the Idaho border and Lost Trail Pass Ski area. Here it meets Montana Highway 43 pointing east and takes visitors across the Continental Divide at Chiefs Joseph’s Pass. Here is a popular and well-maintained Nordic ski area.
Upon reaching today’s Montana-Idaho border, they continued to travel east over the Continental Divide at today’s Chief Joseph Pass (Eastbound Montana State Highway 43) at a leisurely pace as they believed the U.S. Army was far behind them and that Montanan’s did not want war with the Nez Perce. As a result, the tribe camped in the Big Hole Basin to cut down timber for tipi poles. There were roughly 1,000 Nez Perce at the Big Hole with 200 being warriors.
Unbeknownst to the Nez Perce, a detachment of soldiers from Fort Shaw, Montana (24 Miles west of Great Falls) were closing in on them quickly and had orders to take no prisoners. In the early hours of August 9th, 1877, soldiers surprise attacked the Nez Perce camp and killed men, women, and children indiscriminately. Once the tribe rallied, they forced the American soldiers to take defensive positions until they fled the area. In total, 31 Americans were killed while 70-90 Indians were killed. Most of the Nez Perce deaths were non-combatants like women and children. The battle changed the tone of the war and resulted in the Nez Perce being notably more violent towards white settlers.
After the battle, the tribe escaped south through the Big Hole Valley passing by modern day Jackson and Wisdom. They then crossed Big Hole Pass and descended into the Grasshopper Creek Valley near the East Pioneer Mountains. Here they passed close by the gold mining town of Bannack. Townsfolk were frightened of the Indians after hearing news of the U.S. Army’s defeat at Battle of the Big Hole. The Nez Perce then crossed back into Idaho over Bannock Pass (Idaho State Highway 29/Montana Secondary Highway 324) which freight wagons used to travel to Montana from Utah. The U.S. Army did not follow and stayed on the Montana side of the border.
Travelers today will find, a few miles beyond the battlefield, the town of Wisdom with lodging and meals available. And east of Big Hole Pass and before following the Nez Perce trail south, a scenic byway leads to Elkhorn Hot Springs, home to Maverick Mountain Ski area and Elkhorn Hot Springs offering, cabins, meals, and hot pools.
With time against them, the tribe raced to beat the United States Army to Yellowstone National Park. Fortunately, the Nez Perce, by the time the U.S. Army crossed the Beaverhead and Centennial Mountains into Idaho through Monida Pass (Southbound I-15), were one day ahead. After learning of the U.S. army camp at Camas Creek near Dubois, Idaho, the Nez Perce orchestrated a raid that crippled the mobility of the U.S. army by stealing their pack mules.
Afterwards, Chief Joseph decided to quickly flee over Targhee Pass (Eastbound Montana Highway 20) into Yellowstone National Park. Before traversing the pass, the tribe would have passed by Henry’s Lake and just a bit west of today’s West Yellowstone, the western entrance into Yellowstone National Park.
While in Yellowstone, Chief Joseph expertly evaded army forces and escaped through the Lamar Valley where they then attempted to contact the Crow. Unfortunately, the Crow decided against helping the Nez Perce to avoid similar retaliation from the United States. The chief then decided the best course of action was to travel north to Canada to escape the United States. They reentered Montana south of Belfry and traveled north, crossing the Missouri River at Cow Island. There, they got into a brief skirmish against a small American force which they successfully repelled. They continued north until they arrived at the Bear Paw Mountains just 40 miles south of the Canadian border.
There, the tribe set up camp making the fateful decision to slow their pace to give their people much needed rest because they believed they had a significant lead over the United States Army. Little did they know another army detachment led by Nelson A. Miles was rapidly approaching their location. On September 30th, 1877, Miles surprised the Indians and attacked them while they were in camp.
This, the Battle of Bear Paw was the final one between the Nez Perce and United States and resulted in Chief Joseph’s surrender. Four hundred thirty-one Nez Perce were captured by the U.S. army, but 233 managed to escape the fighting and flee to Canada where they were welcomed by Sitting Bull of the Lakota. After 1,170 miles of masterfully out maneuvering and evading the United States, they were stopped just 40 miles short of freedom.
Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan of the US Army at the time said “We took away their country and their means of support, broke up their mode of living, their habits of life, introduced disease and decay among them and it was for this and against this they made war. Could anyone expect less?”
Most of the passage of Chief Joseph and his people through the Southwest Montana region is void of human presence. Small outposts well scattered allow a traveler to see the landscape much as it appeared when these Native Americans made their way through it.
