When I woke up, I headed south in Joseph toward the lake, and came across more Nez Perce historical information. At the south end of the Wallowa Valley (where Joseph is), the wal'waama band gathered to begin a sorrowful journey, leaving their homeland. They were driven out in 1877 and went 1170 miles, joining up with other Nez Perce bands along the way. They crossed extremely rugged mountain terrain and battled with the military in their attempt to safely reach Canada. Many died. Some reached Canada. Others sought refuge in the Blue Mountains or were imprisoned in Oklahoma. "I was a small girl then, and I didn't understand... I remember being so worried, because I had a new pair of moccasins, and I didn't want to ruin them crossing the river," (excerpt from a 6 year old girl). This was their route:
This is Old Chief Joseph's grave site and cemetery. Joseph was born in the late 1700s and was the principal leader of the Wallowa Nez Perce. He was a key player in the 1855 treaty negotiations and refused to sign the "Steal Treaty" of 1863, which reduced their reservation size by 90% and ceded all of Wallowa County to the US.
Joseph was a beautiful, small town. Motels were pricey overall ($85+), but the scenery here, and in the canyons nearby, made it worth the price.
They had a lot of statues by the buildings off of the main road that added to the town's beauty. Here are a few of them:
Despite the rain and fog, I decided to take my chances and drive up the old rocky road to the Hells Canyon Overlook. The road goes up to 7000 ft above sea level and and drops off to the Snake River, 1200 ft above sea level. Across the river are sheer cliffs almost 9400 ft tall in Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains.
Unfortunately, you cannot see the canyon well due to the fog. Some day I'd like to come back to check it out and go white water rafting or kayaking in the Snake River below. Hells Canyon is the largest gorge in North America. There is a 4 chapter story written in the cliff's stone (see below).
The Hells Canyon Scenic Byway then switchbacked down into the canyon and snaked along the river for a while.
You can see how wide the canyon is!
This is the Hells Canyon Dam.
Getting back to mining... More than a century ago, miners in the Seven Devils Mine faced a hopeless problem of hauling copper ore to this canyon for shipment to smelters. They tried a steamboat and a railway - both of which failed. Finally they used large ore trucks to solve their problem.
At the top of this hill 3-5000 years ago, prehistoric men had a rock quarry where they made a variety of stone tools. They hunted deer and other game, collected plant foods, and fished in the river.
There was also a sign near here that said "Caution - Snake Area". I got excited! I had been trying to find a rattlesnake (or other snake - I'm not picky) that wasn't roadkill without luck. However, after looking around, I found none. :-( Maybe next time...
The weather continued to be dreary, as there were thick gray clouds, light rain, and lots of fog blanketing the rolling hills.
Pretty close to Twin Falls were Fossil Beds, where bones of zebras, beaver, otter, pelicans, and other animals and birds are found from almost 3.5 million years ago! Lava flows pouring out into the plains met and dammed up sedimentary deposits washed in here, making lakes and swamps. The climate used to be wetter and the plains were tree-dotted grasslands, where zebra-like horses used to graze.
In the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, there were bones of the Hagerman Horse. This horse was adopted as Idaho's state fossil in 1988. Even though it's called a horse, it was actually closer in bone structure to an Africa zebra.
This is a female mastodon skull.
Unfortunately, the monument had no fossils to see or hike to outside of the Visitor Center, but there were a few scenic lookouts that I drove through in the monument. There were also no "dinosaurs", but evidence of zebras, mastodons, camels, ground sloths, and other odd creatures that you would not expect to find here.
Native Americans lived near the Snake River for thousands of years and were mobile due to migration patterns of animals for their food. They hunted mammoth, bison, and horses. Some groups lived in the valley during the winter and fished salmon. Spring and early summer were spent in higher elevation meadows hunting small animals and harvesting camas and root crops. Late summer and fall were spent in the foothills and mountains yielding berries, seeds, root, and fish that could be stored and consumed during the winter months.
The rock layers in the bluff along the river consist of sediments - sand, clay, and silt. These layers settled in ancient flood plains. This process occurs slowly taking many inches to build just a few inches. During floods, however, it can form rapidly, trapping plants and animals in the sediment. Fossils are buried in these layers.
This canyon was once traversed by Indians making their way from camps on the bluffs where they prepared grass seed for flour. At Salmon Falls (a half mile from here), they fished with traps, hooks, and projectiles. The Indians here were peaceful, but too many travelers made game scarce and fouled the water sources and camps. Some Indians were killed by Emigrants, though there is no evidence of a fight started by these Indians.
Over 400,000 people headed out on wagon roads like the Oregon Trail and Emigrant Trail. The 7 month, 1600 mile journey had to be started by May in order to avoid having to go through the mountains in the beginning of winter.
From the fossil beds, I drove over the Perrine Bridge, named after Ira Perrine, that crosses the Snake River.
"Before there were potatoes, there was gold."
Gold was discovered below Shoshone Falls in 1869. The following summer, hundreds of prospectors entered the canyon, searching the rocky slopes and sand bars for fine gold called "flour gold". Three mining camps were established. In 1871, the gold yields began to diminish, so the miners sold their claims to the Chinese, who worked the mines until the early 1880s. These mining camps paved the way for the development of the modern agricultural communities.
Both here and on top of the falls by Dierkes Lake were a number of marmots - very large, fat squirrel-like creatures.
I drove through Hunt, ID. This was a relocation camp for over 9000 Japanese-Americans between 1942 and 1945. Until they could resettle in other places, they lived in wartime barracks in the dusty desert, where they helped meet a local farm labor crisis, planting and harvesting crops. In 1945, the US Supreme Court decision was that these US citizens could no longer be held this way and their camp became Idaho's largest ghost town.
The Minidoka National Historic Site is bare at this time, with just a few buildings remaining. There were barbed wire fences all the way around and posts with people with machine guns. Although most internees were US born citizens loyal to the country, they were denied their civil, constitutional, and human rights. They were no longer free. The canal was their tie to home, as many of them remember fishing and swimming in the waters near their homes of OR, ID, and Alaska.
"Last night I walked to the river bank... The clouds reflected in the water were beautiful, and the sagebrush on the plain was red with the sun. I cried and prayed to God while gazing at the setting sun." - Louis Feset
This farm house was built in one day as part of a farm demonstration project. Over 11,000 people turned out to watch the home be built.
This building is where fire crews and engines stood ready to respond to camp emergencies. Once the farm-in-a-day was built, the fire station was turned into a farm building.
Here are a few other remaining buildings.
As I drove to my last stop of the day - the Shoshone Ice Caves - I marveled at how the sun played through the clouds. It looked like a piece of heaven was trying to break through. :-)
Although a website said the ice caves were open until 6 PM, they were closed. I talked to a guy who owned the place (who also lived there). He said you need enough people in your group (at least 4) to make it financially worth while. If you don't have 4, you can wait and hope more people show up, otherwise you just waste your time. I did not find this to be customer friendly and thought it a poor business model. Needless to say, I will not be returning here!
As the sun set and I drove back to Boise for the evening, I enjoyed watching the bright oranges and pinks come through the clouds.
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