Kate and Sue McBeth, Missionary Teachers to the Nez Perce

1861

. . . With the coming of spring, Cain knew, more prospectors would be invading the reservation than either he or the army could contain. After discussions with his superiors, Cain concluded that to avoid a war he would have to get the Nez Perces to agree to amend the 1855 treaty, giving the prospectors the right of access to, and use of, the mining district. In April 1861, accompanied by Edward R. Geary, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon and Washington, he met with Lawyer and a large group of his followers at Lapwai. . . .

. . . In violation of the 1855 treaty, almost a thousand miners were already on the northern part of the reservation, with thousands more on their way. More settlements were springing up on the Indians’ lands, and merchants, adventurers, and camp followers were pouring in to set up canvas-walled shops and saloons. Though some whites ran into groups of Nez Perces who tried angrily to bar their way, the Indians’ opposition was ineffective and was usually ended quickly by Lawyer or one of his headmen, who were beginning to prosper by selling services, livestock, and food supplies to newcomers. At the crossing of the Snake at present-day Lewiston, one headman named Reuben had gone into partnership with William Craig and was operating a ferry and warehouse for the incoming whites.

The mining area encompassed Nez Perce hunting, fishing, and gathering grounds, but no permanent village sites, and Geary and Cain found Lawyer realistic about what was happening and not overly anxious to evict the miners. For "a big price," the head chief informed the agents, he would let the prospectors share the region of the mines. He settled for $50,000, and on April 10, he and 49 of his followers signed an ambiguously worded agreement with Geary and Cain, opening the reservation roughly north of the Clearwater River and the Lolo Trail to whites, but reserving it also "for the exclusive use and benefit of the Indians." No whites were to be allowed elsewhere on the reservation. At the same time, Lawyer reminded the two agents that the Nez Perces had not yet received any of the funds or services that were already promised them by the 1855 treaty, and Geary promised to speed them up.

The new agreement was made quickly obsolete. As soon as the rush had begun, a new agency for the Nez Perces had been established on the site of Spalding’s mission at the mouth of Lapwai Creek, but the subagent stationed there either could not, or would not, stem the frenetic mining expansion. On May 13, the stern-wheeler Colonel Wright, which had come up the Snake, unloaded passengers and goods on the south bank of the Clearwater at its junction with the Snake, and a tent city, given the name Lewiston for Meriwether Lewis . . . sprang into existence. Lawyer protested the violation of the month-old agreement but acquiesced when he was given some "composition" and a promise that no permanent structure would be built, an assurance that was soon forgotten.

That same month, prospectors, exploring far up the Clearwater and its South Fork, invaded the countries of Lawyer’s anti-white opponents deep within the reservation’s southern reaches and made sensational new strikes north of the Salmon River. It started a series of new stampedes onto Indian lands, and such towns as Elk City and Florence came into existence. As whites overran Nez Perce Country, . . . anti-white headmen, including Eagle From The Light, White Bird, and Koolkool Snehee (Red Owl), protested and threatened to drive the miners away. But the situation had gotten beyond them. Members of their own bands, as well as those of Lawyer’s followers, were being corrupted and changed swiftly by the inrush. In many of the villages and bands, Nez Perce culture and ways of life were altered almost overnight as some Indians participated in the excitement and boom economy. They supplied labor and food to the miners, visited their camps, helped them with pack trains, served as guides and messengers, ate the miners’ food, drank their liquor, and wore their clothes. The whites paid them with gold dust, cash, trinkets, liquor, and favors, and though none grew wealthy by white standards, a number of Nez Perces, particularly among Lawyer’s followers who lived close to the main avenues of mining activity, benefited materially. (pp. 99-101)