Clarkston, Washington

“Those people has shewn much greater acts of hospitality than we have witnessed from any nation or tribe since we have passed the Rocky Mountains. In short, be it spoken to their immortal honor it is the only act which deserves the appellation of hospitality which we have witnessed in this quarter.” William Clark, May 10, 1806, writing about their visit with the Nez Perce.

Today we visited the homeland of the Nez Perce and learned of the experiences of Lewis and Clark as they traveled both westbound in 1805 and eastbound in 1806, and how they were helped multiple times by the Nez Perce. We had an early start, disembarking onto a jetboat for a speedy trip up the Snake to its junction with the Clearwater at Clarkston, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho, 465 miles from the mouth of the Columbia. Many of us boarded a motor coach for a trip up the Clearwater Valley while others transferred to a smaller jetboat for a trip up Hell’s Canyon.

On the Clearwater Connections trip, Lin Laughy and Miguel Inzunza described the route and observations of the Corps of Discovery. We enjoyed coffee and biscotti at the location where the Expedition cached their saddles in 1805 as they transferred from horses to canoes. Lin read from the journals at the exact spot where the Corps crossed the Clearwater near their Long Camp of 1806. Next we had the privilege to visit the site where Lewis and Clark met Chief Broken arm at the Treaty Council Camp. In downtown Kamiah we had a delicious lunch at the Hearthland Bakery and Tea House before going a short distance to see a demonstration by Lee Hamilton of survival skills, and tried our hands at cordage-making and fire-starting, with great encouragement from the group. We then headed downriver to the Canoe Camp, where the Expedition fashioned five dugout canoes from ponderosa pines for the 1805 voyage down to the sea.

Those of us on the Hell’s Canyon trip marveled at the high basalt cliffs of a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon and learned of the geologic and cultural history of the canyon. We saw bighorn sheep, freshly-caught steelhead, an osprey, Canada geese, Western grebes, California gulls, and cormorants. We paused for beverages at Cache Creek and later had lunch at Heller Bar.

At the end of the afternoon, both groups met at the headquarters of the Nez Perce National Historic Park at Spaulding where we learned from the Ranger and the exhibits about the history and culture of the Nez Perce people, and their deep connection to the land and river, and their great hospitality when Lewis and Clark passed through their land.