by Rich Wandschneider | Apr 7, 2026 | Chief Joseph, Indigenous cuisine, Iran, Joseph Band, Nespelem, Nez Perce
I woke up this morning with a pit in my stomach, an ache for my friends, family, country, and indeed the world. And this after a wonderful weekend in Nespelem, Washington at a First Foods Feast with the walwa ma—sometimes called the “Joseph”—band of the Nez Perce...
by Rich Wandschneider | Mar 27, 2026 | Alice Flether, Chief Joseph, Dawes Act, lorin mooruck
In 1888, a man named George Trumam Kercheval published “Lorin Mooruck; and Other Indian Stories.” The book’s preface is written by Bishop of Minnesota H. P. Whipple, and in it he laments the treatment of Indians, says that in his own visits in Indian Country he has...
by Rich Wandschneider | Oct 13, 2025 | C.E.S. Wood, Chief Joseph, Erskine Wood, Mardi Wood, Nespelem, Nez Perce, O.O. Howard, Thunder in the Mountains
And what a crowd! Many the descendants of the legendary C.E.S. Wood. Readers of Nez Perce history might remember that C.E.S. was aide-de-camp to General O.O. Howard in the Nez Perce War of 1877, and is credited with taking down Chief Joseph’s speech at war’s end at...
by Rich Wandschneider | Sep 23, 2025 | Chief Joseph, Nez Perce, Nez Perce Homeland, Nez Perce treaty, Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland, Wallowa, Wallowa Country, Wallowa County, Wallowa Lake
Last week on Wednesday I got up early, looked at Wallowa Lake’s east moraine and the mountain to the west now called Mount Joseph, and hit the road for an appointment in La Grande. It was a gorgeous day, bright, green with first tinges of browns and yellows. Light...
by Rich Wandschneider | Apr 26, 2025 | Chief Joseph, Colville Reservation, Colville tribes, First Foods, Indian religion, Nex Perce history, Nez Perce, Nez Perce Homeland, Nez Perce treaty, Nez Perce Tribe, Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland, Nez Perce War
Last weekend four of us from Wallowa County made the long highway drive to Nespelem, Washington for the annual Nez Perce root feast. After a service of drumming, singing and testimony, we sat for a huge feast of “first foods.” Wild foods from water and salmon through...
by Rich Wandschneider | Apr 13, 2025 | Chief Joseph, Eisenhower, Gaza, genocide, Israel, Nez Perce, Omar El Akkad
When tourists look at our wall display at the Josephy Center that tells a very brief story of the walwa ma, or Joseph, Band of the Nez. Perce Indians, they often shake their heads and say something like “It’s terrible what we did to Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce.”...
