Catlin, John B: Part 4, Section G – Lewiston A Violation – Inverted Conquest – Nation Dissolved – Dreamers – Old Joseph Dies – Murder Unpunished – General Howard – Lapwai Commission – Leave Mr Washington Alone – Toohoolhoolzote – Deadline – War Begins

LEWISTON IDAHO – A VIOLATION As noted earlier, the activity near the new towns of Orofino and Lewiston (as well as in most other prominent gold strike communities) would have been remarkable. By late 1861 some of the Nez Perce people were taking advantage of the circumstances for their own Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 3, Section D – Blackfoot City – Carpenter Bar – Montana’s Largest Nugget – Calamity Jane – Frontier Woman – Mary Ronan’s Amazing Tale – Riding Story’s Little Donkeys

Blackfoot City – Carpenter Bar – Largest Gold Nugget – Calamity Jane Below is a description of the Blackfoot City mining area available at the Montana Abandoned Mine Lands web site: Located about 25 miles west-northwest of Helena near the town of Avon is the Ophir District. The district lies Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 3, Section C – Cousins – Rough Trip to Skalkaho – Fogarty Hanging – Missoula “Nothing there” – Johnny Grant’s “Bug Juice” – Looking for Work – Fearfully Hard Winter – Dan Baker’s “Yellow Journalism”

Cousins In his interview with A. L. Stone above, Catlin mentioned that his cousins, named Elliott, lived in the Bitter Root and that he wanted to visit them after returning from the coast.  Eventually, Catlin would settle near these cousins in the Bitterroot, close to what is present day Hamilton, Montana. Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 3, Section B – Gold Creek – U. S. Treasury Report

John Catlin’s biography from Progressive Men Of Montana continued: They arrived in Virginia City, Mont., in December, 1866, where Mr. Catlin remained for a time, then with five other men he took a stock of supplies to near the mouth of Divide creek in Deer Lodge county, where they erected Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 3, Section A – Catlin Finds a Home

Finding A Home A. L. Stone wrote a second article about John Catlin appearing in The Missoulian on January 20, 1912: The general eastern idea of Montana, even now, is pretty vague. And this condition exists in spite of the publicity which has been given our state and its resources, Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 4, Section F – Idaho Gold – The Last Nail – Tales by William Goulder – On the Banks of the Clearwater – Army of Sluicers – Orofino to Florence – Snowblind and Packing Liquor – A Little Empire – Lords Paramount – Very Sadly Out of Luck

IDAHO GOLD – THE LAST NAIL In early October 1860 the discovery of gold at Canal Gulch – in soon to be Idaho Territory – served to provoke greater calamity for the Nez Perce nation than any other event before that. Just as in Oregon and California, the mining population Read More

Catlin, John B: Part 4, Section E – General Harney’s Changes – Walla Walla Opened – New Steamboat – Tribes Pacified – Kamiakin Surrenders – De Smet Letter – John Owen Difficulty – De Smet Terminated – Occupation Twenty Years Away – Upper Montana Reservation

GENERAL HARNEY SPELLED CHANGE In September of 1858 General William S. Harney was appointed commander of the newly created Department of Oregon. It signaled the start of a new chapter in the Plateau Indian story. It also served to appease the voices that spoke increasingly for the dispossession of all Northwest Read More

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