While most may never get near it, there are those who can still see the Nez Perce women and children who walked it 127 years ago.
Pines on this trail tell a story. Voices bleed through slabs of bark peeled from the trees.
These were the Nez Perce who refused to sign a treaty. After a conflict with settlers, the chiefs knew Canada was their best chance for survival. The U.S. cavalry trailed them in a take-no-prisoners pursuit in what became known as the Nez Perce War.
Notable chiefs and warriors led the Nez Perce, but it was the sorrowful surrender of Chief Joseph, only 40 miles from the Canadian border, that captured a nation's attention.
It's an image that can't be forgotten.
Last week, Wilfred "Scotty" Scott made his 27th trip from the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho to a lonely spot of prairie just north of the Bear Paw Mountains in Montana.
His first homage was in 1977, when he and about 300 other Nez Perce traveled to where Chief Joseph spoke the words: "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."
I've walked the Bear Paw battlefield. And on a recent trail ride with outfitter Harlan Opdahl of Pierce, Idaho, I saw an area where Nez Perce history collides with itself.
Opdahl was leading us to the "Smoking Place." It was on the Lolo Trail, where Nez Perce guides led Lewis and Clark through the Bitterroots in 1806. The Nez Perce wanted to stop there, to pray, and give thanks to the Creator.
A short 70 years later, the non-treaty Nez Perce were fleeing through the same territory toward Canada, where they were hoping to seek shelter with Sitting Bull. My own Lakota great-great-grandparents, Lucy Fights the Thunder and Mathew Poor Buffalo, were already there with the exiled chief.
The Nez Perce faced many hardships as they sought refuge north of the border, what they called the Medicine Line. But they knew the land.
The outfitter pointed out a lodgepole pine. A foot of bark had been stripped from what he called a "culturally modified" tree - an archeological term meaning it was altered by Native people. Stripping the cambium layer of bark reveals a jellylike substance that can be eaten. Nearby, some 200 pines bore similar marks. The U.S. Forest Service has core-dated living trees in the area to the time of the Nez Perce War.
It's only one example, but it might explain how the Nez Perce survived on the trail.
While the land provided sustenance, the Nez Perce further survived by outwitting the cavalry with superior strategic movements. With few warriors, they successfully won battles at White Bird, Big Hole, Clearwater and Camas Meadows. But with Canada in sight, the last battle at the Bear Paw would be the most bitter.
While some 230 Nez Perce did make it to Canada, Chief Joseph surrendered to take care of the weak, the dying and the dead. The cavalry later would send survivors to Oklahoma's Indian Territory.
But even for those who died at the Bear Paw, it was an unfinished journey.
A century later, the battlefield was still a place of strife.
Jimmy Earthboy, an Assiniboine Cree, bore witness to this.
In 1974, he, his wife and a couple from Canada visited the battlefield. As he and the man walked the ground where Nez Perce died, the women took seats nearby.
It would be an unsettling day for all, and they shared the same experience: They all heard screams and blasting cannons.
Earthboy telephoned the Nez Perce tribe.
Scott remembers the words: "Jimmy said: 'Something needs to be done out there. There is a lot of unrest out there, a lot of sorrow out there, a lot of spirits are not at rest.' "
Four spiritual leaders were called upon to pray for healing at the battlefield. That took place in 1977, marking 100 years since Chief Joseph's surrender.
Scotty and other Nez Perce now make annual trips to the battlefield to pray and make offerings to heal. Scott, a Vietnam veteran, said he has returned each year since to gain a better understanding of what happened to his people.
Many non-Natives have tried to do the same.
Darrell Casey of Helena recently completed a solo guitar composition, "Remembering Joseph," to help create a sense of what the Nez Perce experienced as 2,000 soldiers waged war upon them. He is performing the piece in schools and museums, a reminder of Chief Joseph's death 100 years ago last month.
Other non-Natives have traveled to the Bear Paw, one of 17 battle sites along the trail visited by Scott in nearly 30 years. He often meets people hearing the story of the Nez Perce for the first time.
Many cry and say they don't understand why nobody's offered an apology, Scott said.
His tells them: "That's not why we're here. We're not after an apology. We just want to honor our people."
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for Lee Enterprises. She can be reached at (800) 366-7186 Ext. 299 or jodi.rave@missoulian.com
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