Catlin, John B: Part 4, Section D – Stevens Perfidy – Old Joseph’s Map – Colville Gold – Yellow Serpent Killed – Battle of Seattle – Sheridan’s Report – White Savagery – 2nd. Council – Bloody Cloth – Spokane Wars

STEVENS’ PERFIDY – OLD JOSEPH’S MAP In, Let Me Be Free, author David Lavender wrote that Old Joseph had recognized the prospect of losing his coveted Wallowa Valley during the treaty process. He had prepared “a parchment map, sixteen by eighteen inches, drawn in pale green ink that delineated the Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 4, Section C – Nez Perce Treaty – 1855 – Isaac Stevens – Treaty Parley and Lawyer – The Nez Perce ‘Solon’ – Yellow Serpent and Kamiakin – Speaking Hard – Yellow Serpent – Speak Straight – Old Looking Glass – “My People, What Have You Done?”

NEZ PERCE TREATY – 1855 – ISAAC STEVENS In June, 1855, the Nez Perces were included in a series of Indian treaties negotiated by Washington Territorial Governor, Isaac I. Stevens. The town of Stevensville, Mt. is named for him. He made ten separate treaties with numerous Northwest tribes over a Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 4, Section B – Word Reaches Missoula – War in Idaho – Extinguish – Land Titles, Indians, & Treaties – Steal Treaty – Indian Resistance – The Powerful Klickitats – Lane’s Dramatic Episode – Kamiakin’s Idea – Table Rock Treaty

WORD REACHES MISSOULA – WAR IN IDAHO By June 29, 1877 word had reached Missoula that an Indian conflict was in progress in Idaho. The news took several days to reach Missoula. The battle of White Bird Canyon, near present day Grangeville, Idaho occurred twelve days earlier, on June 17, Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 4, Section A – The Big Corral – Fort Skalkaho – Firing Grasshoppers – Missoula County Politics – Father Higgins Dies – Missoula’s New Post – Indian Problems 1877 – Missoula County Garden of Eden – Increasing Insolence of the Indian

JOHN CATLIN, THE MISSOULIAN, AND A PRELUDE TO WAR THE BIG CORRAL – FORT SKALKAHO After John Catlin’s failed mining experience at Gold Creek he traveled to the Bitterroot valley in the summer of 1868. Here he farmed and ranched in what was known as ‘The Big Corral,’ south of Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 4 – The Missoulian, and A Prelude to An Indian War

Indian Life – 1855 First, imagine their life if you can – dealing with the rapacious whites and belligerent intruders, all the while attending to the basics of survival in a hostile environment – sickness and diseases; starvation, injuries, predators and pests – the vagaries of nature – fire, floods, Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 3 – Catlin Finds a Home – Intro

PART 3 – Catlin Finds a Home Following is a startling description of Montana, its pioneers, and the Bitterroot Valley written over 100 years ago.  It may help explain John Catlin’s fondness for Montana. (See The Province and The States: Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota – Vo 6, 1904, Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 2 – Catlin Goes West

PART 2 – Catlin Goes West As John Catlin noted, he participated in the Grand Review of The Armies in Washington D.C. at the conclusion of the Civil War. Held on May 23rd. and 24th., 1865, the ceremony not only celebrated the victorious Union Army, it also marked the end of mourning Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 1 – The Civil War

John B. Catlin One of Missoula’s most interesting pioneers, John B. Catlin, is among a select few who could claim a connection with the acclaimed Lonesome Dove saga. Lonesome Dove author, Larry McMurtry, acknowledged in an interview in 2001 that he based part of the book on Nelson Story who drove a Read More