Idaho Natives

July 13, 2010.

As I travel down the rivers of Idaho each week, I sometimes feel there are hidden eyes watching us. I like to believe they are the spirits of the ancient people who lived in these canyons before modern society. At least, we certainly see evidence of these people on our river trips.

There have been Native Americans in the Snake and Salmon River watersheds for over 10,000 years. Known as the Nez Perce (who call themselves, “Nimíipuu,” meaning, “The People”) and Shoshone-Bannock (descendents of the Mountain Sheepeaters) tribes, these people lived off the land and took advantage of the fish, game and native, edible plants found in the river corridors.

There is evidence along the river of the native inhabitants excavating pit houses in the ground and covering them with branches and poles for weather protection. We try to show respect to these places on our trips by not walking on or camping in them. Communities would tend to establish villages along the river at the mouth of small streams where fishing was good, and alluvial fans (debris washes) provide flat, sandy places to build houses and lodges.

There are many sites with pictographs and petroglyphs that we visit on our hikes. We cannot be sure of the meanings of these pictures, but it is probable that their purpose was not trivial, but to possibly record history, communicate with each other, or ask things from their gods. Pictographs along the Salmon River tend to be red, made with a paint the Native Americans made by mixing ground rocks containing iron oxide or hematite with animal fat – perhaps fat or brain material. These rock art sites are very sacred to Native Americans, and we are careful not to disturb them, or touch the pictographs as it could cause harm from the oils on our skin. Unfortunately, not all visitors show the same respect. In several spots, it is obvious that pictographs have been chipped off as souvenirs. This is a disgusting act – insulting to both the native people and their deeper claim to the land and their cultural history, but also to all visitors who are deprived of the opportunity to witness the recordings of our country’s original people.

The Nez Perce tribe’s reservation is just outside of Lewiston, the base for OARS trips on the Snake, Owyhee and Salmon rivers. There is a museum we sometimes visit that has a great movie about the Nez Perce and their history, as well as many artifacts and displays that give us a deeper understanding of this tribe and how their ancestors lived.

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