The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-10-27
CHEF JOSEPH.
A NOTED INDIAN PASSES TO THE
HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS.


PORTLAND, ORE, Sept 2e, 1904. Sit
ting quietly by his campfire on the Col
vile Reservation near Spokane, Wash
ington. Chief Joseph passed quietly on
to the happy hunting grounds on We'd
nesday, september 21st. For many
years the cd chief has been pathetic
figure in the northwest, and however
cheaply the welfare and even the life of
poor I.o may be held in the parts of
this country where he is very much in
evidence. 10 one could fail to be i'm
pressed with the native nobility and
grand character of Chief Joseph. To
be sure he was savage, with all the in
fiuence of heredity and environment be-
hind him, and the dead hands of un-
counted ancestors were ever behind
him, pushing him on to deeds of law
lessness and savagery, yet withal he
was man, honorable in warfare and
friendly in peace.
In the story of this remarkable In
dian leader and his people We have but
repetition of the ruthless dispossession
that has been the burden of Indian his
tory on this continent since the first in
vasi0n of Central America and Mexico
by the spanish under CorteZ 1t may
be true that the destruction of the red
race was inevitable as a martydom to
insure the advance and supremacy of
Anglo saxon civilization, but in the
ease u chief Joseph we must drop a
tear to the memory of a brave and hu-
name cl.jef III warfare.
Primarily, the cause for which Chief
JOSEPH fought is one that has com
manGed the admiration Of men since
the dawn Of history and will continue
TO DO 50 until time shall cease its rec
0rds Of human events. Armed resist
ance against dispossession of home-of
the spot which man considers his by
avery right. be lie White, brown, yellow,
red or blacks the highest manifesto
ton Of patriotism, and its character is
not altered because it is exercised by
the uu-utored child Of nature.
If simple devotion to duty-a duty
oequeathed TO him by dying father,
is any evidence of manliness, then
Chief Joseph was manly in the highest
degree His life since 1877 when the
land Of his birth went from him by the
decree OF so the victors belong the
Spois" has been a constant fret, the
chaGng Of proud spirit against what
was to him a rank injustice.
The beautiful Wallowa valley was the
promised land on whose borders his feet
were never more to tread, and wherever
his abiding place, his mind was ever on
the lovely and fertile valley. encircled
with its chain of snow-capped noun
tains reflected in lovely lakes and
streams. In his hereditary home are
vast fields of yellow wheat, prosperous
farmers till the rich soil, and have
erected substantial homes. On the sur
rounding hills thousands of cattle and
millions of sheep crop the rich herb
age Handsome churches are scattered
through the towns and villages and
hundreds of happy-faced school chill
dren crowd the spacious school build
ings OF which the county of Wallowa
is Justly proud.
Yet III the face of all this, and the
fact that the edict of war in 1877 for
ever banished linn from the valley, he
went 10 his grave still striving to re-
cover the old stamping ground as a
home foI the remnant of his once DOW
erful tribe
The wars with the Nez Perces were
n0t bloody OF disastrous until the final
one III ] >71; III fact the tribe had been
very friendly with the settlers and had
done them many klndnesses in the early
days OF the settlement, and many of
the Indian war veterans speak in the
highest terms of the friendliness of the
tribe
By treaty with the Nez Perces June
Ill, 1855, the Indians relnquished title
TO large area, excepting reservation
that included the Wallowa valley, and
odd Joseph subscribed to the treaty.
An spite of the treaty the encroach-
ments of settlers went steadily on, and
"a May, 1867, the land of the valley was
thrown open to settlement. Young
Chief Joseph succeeded to the chief
Saincy on the death of his father in
1871, and one of the first acts of the
new chief was to order the settlers to
leave the valley. For two or three
years things went ON with a great deal
of friction and occasional killings on
both sides. Finally in 1878 there was
conference held at Lapwai in Idaho be-
tween the various Indian chiefs and
representatives of the government.
Joseph refused to go either upon the
,Nez Perces reservation in Idaho, or the
Umatiila reservation in eastern Ore
gon. This being reported to the Secre-
tary of the Interior an order was issued
that oseph's band of Nez Perces should
be permitted to remain in the Wallowa
valley during the summer and autumn,