Nez Perce

Having wandered much of the Western US, I’ve seen a lot of Indian Reservations and most of them have made me cringe. We have corralled these Original Americans into some of the most desolate, barren, worthless land in the West. No so the Nez Perce. This tribe has lived in the Northern Idaho, Western Washington lands for thousands of years and traditionally lived well off the game rich hills and Salmon filled rivers. Around the time of our Civil War, the Nez Perce were herded into a vast Reservation compassing some of their ancestral lands . These lands were guaranteed theirs forever by the US Government. A short time later gold was discovered on the Nez Perce land, and the White Man called the Treaty null and void . After bloody wars and further White encroachment, the Nez Perce ended up with 12% of their original land.

That being said, the Tribe has ended up with prime farm land and abundant game and Salmon on their ” Res “. It’s the most productive, beautiful Indian Reservation I’ve seen in America. While driving through, I stopped at a gas station and saw this Homeland Security post card, obviously tongue in cheek but still poignant. The firearms warning was at a Tribal controlled rest area. ( for Tribe members? local red necks? not sure. I can hardly blame them for any ill feelings towards White Man.