Brief
History:
In 1871, the first
white settlers came to the area, crossing
the mountains in search of livestock feed
in the Wallowa Valley.
The county was established on
February 11, 1887, from the eastern
portion of Union County. Boundary changes
occurred
with Union County in 1890, 1900, and
1915. Chief Joseph, 1877
In 1877, the younger Chief Joseph of
the Nez Perce, incensed at the
government's attempt to remove his people
from the
Wallowa Valley, refused to
relocate to the reservation in north
central Idaho. Several regiments of U.S.
Army cavalry troops
were dispatched to force them onto
the reservation. After numerous battles
and a journey of almost two thousand miles
(3,200 km), the Nez Perce fought
their last battle at Bear Paw, just shy of
the Canadian border, when Joseph and the
other
chiefs decided to stop fighting. He
and some of the surviving Nez Perce were
held in prison camps in Kansas and
Oklahoma,
and those who survived that were
relocated to Colville Reservation in
northeast Washington. Approximately half
of the
survivors moved to the Nez Perce
Reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph last
visited Wallowa County in 1902, and died
two
years later.
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