Lewis and Clark compared them to “the best blooded horses of Virginia.”ĭuring the 1800s the Nez Perce culture underwent profound changes. It’s believed the Nimiipuu were the first tribe to selectively breed horses for specific traits and these horses, the appaloosas, were highly prized and greatly cared for. The acquisitions of the horse in the 1700s increased mobility, allowing for more frequent travel in company with their Cayuse and Palouse relatives to the Montana bison grounds and Columbia River fishing sites. The Nez Perce traveled widely on the principal rivers of the region Snake, Clearwater, and Columbia to trade with neighbors. Here they fished the streams, hunted in the woodlands, and gathered the abundant roots and berries of the high plateaus.

Long before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark ventured west, before Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the ‘new world,’ the Nez Perce lived in the prairies and river valleys of north Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The Nez Perce name for themselves is Nimiipuu, which means 'the people.' Maybe the French confused the Nez Perce with another tribe, or maybe there was once a Nez Perce band or individual who had nose piercings. It means 'pierced nose,' but the Nez Perce people say that unlike some neighboring tribes, they have never had a tribal tradition of pierced noses. It comes from the French name for the tribe, Nez Percé (pronounced nay per-say.) Nobody knows why the French Canadian fur trappers called them this in the 18th century. Nez Perce is pronounced 'nezz purse' in English.

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