Yikes! Why didn the Indians try to kick the settlers out?
A lot of the credit for keeping the peace goes to Dr. John McLoughlin of the Hudson’s Bay Company, whose word was law for twenty years until Americans began arriving in great numbers. McLoughlin was a wise man and often generous to those in need, even penniless American settlers. Lewis and Clark — not to mention Sacajawea — also deserve credit for their skill and good luck in dealing with the Indians. The good relations begun in 1805 between whites and the Nez Perce tribe when the Lewis and Clark expedition passed through their lands lasted for 70 years. The Nez Perce did well during a time when their neighbors were decimated by disease, alcoholism, and skirmishes with the settlers, and by the 1870s they were the last major tribe left intact in the region. Sadly, that ended when the government decided that the Nez Perce would be better off on a reservation after gold was discovered on their land.
