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137th Year, No. 17
.com
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Gail
Pelley
Enterprise
New to the
county and
she loves it
ENTERPRISE — Gail Pelley moved
here with her husband, Paul, nearly two
years ago and built a house north of
Enterprise — after falling in love with
Wallowa County.
They lived in their travel trailer for
eight months while their house was
being built. Most recently, they lived
in San Jose, California, and before that,
Florida.
Gail Pelley said they read a book that
talked about Wallowa Lake.
“My husband, whenever he reads
about a place, he likes to look it up,” Gale
said. “So he found pictures of the area.”
They visited two years in a row for
several weeks.
“He just fell in love with the moun-
tains,” she said. “He was originally from
West Virginia and grew up in the moun-
tains and loved the mountains, so … we
bought a lot.”
She’s a retired registered nurse of 40
years and Paul retired from being a certi-
fi ed fi nancial planner.
“We love it here; the people here
have been amazing,” Gail said.
She recently shared her thoughts
about living in Wallowa County.
What’s your favorite thing
about Wallowa County?
It’s hard to pick one, but we haven’t
met anyone here who wasn’t wonder-
ful. The people here are great, the views
are great. We live where we’re looking at
the mountains. It’s very peaceful and not
stressful.
What plans do you have in the
county for this summer?
We’re planning to start volunteering
at the senior center.
What are your thoughts now
that fi re season is here?
My heart goes out to the folks who
have had to evacuate and have lost their
homes. We pray every day for them, but
I’m not a worrier. God’s in charge and I’m
not.
What do you think of the job
the fi refi ghters have been doing?
Every time I see one, I thank him for
working out there to try to take care of
us. … I have great respect for those who
put their lives on the line to try to keep
us safe.
What do you think of all the
crowds and traffi c that come for
Chief Joseph Days?
I plan to not be in the middle of a big
crowd. It’s better to be safe and not sorry.
What’s your advice for people
who are thinking about moving
here?
We try not to tell people too much
about it because we don’t want to see a
lot of traffi c lights show up and keep it
the way it is.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Nez Perce tribal members return to Am’saáxpa by horseback Thursday, July 29, 2021, in a commemoration of the way their ancestors left in
the 1870s. The land was recently reacquired by the tribe.
Nimiipuu bless Am’saáxpa, the place of boulders, during a return ceremony
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
AM’SAÁXPA — In 1877,
Young Chief Joseph of the
Nimiipuu led the Wallowa
Band down Imnaha Canyon to
what is now Dug Bar to cross
the Snake River into Idaho
while being pursued by the U.S.
Army. As the Nez Perce crossed
the Snake, they looked back,
hoping to one day return.
Most never did — in their
lifetimes.
But in recent years, the tribe
has been regaining bits and
pieces of their former home-
land. One of the most recent
acquisitions was the 148-acre
Hayes Farm just west of Joseph,
which the tribe fi nalized its pur-
chase Dec. 9. On Thursday, July
29, tribal members returned on
horseback — just as they left —
to that land called Am’saáxpa:
the place of boulders.
“There was a point where our
elders turned back and thought
they would never come back,
and many never did,” said Nakia
Williamson, the tribe’s cultural
resources director Thursday.
“So … just as our people left on
horses, we wanted to come back
on horseback.”
More than 200 people gath-
ered — many Nimiipuu from
scattered locations at the Lap-
wai, Idaho-based reservation,
but also from Oregon and Wash-
ington — to formally bless the
land they had reacquired.
“This is a good thing with
us riding home,” said Shan-
non Wheeler, vice chairman
of the Nez Perce Tribal Exec-
utive Committee. “There will
be a lot of healing that will be
happening here. From the time
of … leaving, we still feel that
pain today. … We still carry that
with us, but we also can release
that, too, because we are com-
ing home and this is a big part
of who we are. There are other
places our people have moved
— over 70 villages throughout
the region and along the water-
ways — we’re very glad we
have the opportunity at this time
to be able to come home.”
Tears of sorrow
“I woke up this morning and
looked at the mountains, the
valley, the streams, the lake —
it’s such a beautiful country that
we have here,” NPTEC Chair-
man Sam Penney said. “The
Treaty of 1855 preserved rights
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Nez Perce tribal elder Allen Pinkham expresses the heartfelt feeling he had Thursday, July 29, 2021, as
the tribe gathered for the Return to Am’saáxpa to bless land just west of Joseph recently reacquired by
the tribe.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Nez Perce tribal members, escorted by tribal police, make their way
down Wallowa Avenue in Joseph during the Return to Am’saáxpa
Parade on Thursday, July 29, 2021. Am’saáxpa, or the place of
boulders, is the former Hayes Farm just outside of town that once
again belongs to the tribe.
for Nez Perce members: hunt-
ing, fi shing, gathering, property
rights that were guaranteed to
the Nez Perce Tribe — forever.
Then we had the 1863 Treaty,
which is commonly called by
the Nez Perce people, the ‘steal
treaty,’ which reduced the reser-
vation to its current size.”
The 1855 Treaty, signed
by the U.S. government and
numerous Nimiipuu chiefs —
including Old Chief Joseph,
who is buried near the foot
of Wallowa Lake — set aside
7.5 million acres of the tribe’s
ancestral lands in Idaho, Ore-
gon and Washington and the
right to hunt and fi sh on lands
ceded to the U.S. government.
But after the discovery of gold
near Pierce, Idaho, and increas-
ing encroachment by white
settlers on Nez Perce lands,
the 1863 Treaty reduced the
reservation to about 750,000
acres.
Many of the Nimiipuu
rejected the 1863 Treaty,
dividing the tribe into treaty
and nontreaty Nez Perce. Old
Chief Joseph was of the lat-
ter group, since the “steal
treaty” did not include the
Wallowa Valley — the home
of his band. Before dying in
1871, he told his son and suc-
cessor to never give up their
homeland.
Although Young Chief
Joseph tried to maintain peace
and keep the Wallowa Val-
ley for his people — including
a negotiation held at Am’saáxpa
— he and his band were ulti-
mately forced out, leading to the
Nez Perce War of 1877. Never
considered a war chief, he was
highly valued as a camp chief
for his wisdom and charisma,
numerous historical sources say,
according to historylink.org.
Still, Joseph did his best to lead
his band to safety, with the goal
of joining Chief Sitting Bull and
his Lakota Sioux in Canada out
of reach of the U.S. Army.
See Blessing, Page A15