Plateau Canoes and Horses

Nez Perce Dugout Canoe

Canoe Camp.  The Nez Perce built these canoes for the Lewis and Clark Corps to travel down the Columbia in 1804-05.

Nez Perce fishing in a dugout

Kootenai prow/stern curved up

Kootenai sturgeon-nosed canoe

Pine and birch bark are used for the covering shell, and sewed together with cedar root.  The seams are sealed with pine resin.  They ranged in length from 10 to 14 feet in length, and could carry up to six people with provisions.  They are known for their lightness for portage and stability in rapids.

White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) is the largest and most ancient freshwater fish in North America, growing up to 20 feet in length.. Historically, it inhabited the Columbia River and its tributaries from the Pacific mouth to far upstream into Canada.  A commercial sturgeon fishery began in the 1880's at Kettle Falls but by 1899 it had collapsed.  Sturgeon are long lived and slow growing fish which can become 100 years old.

Re-turn of the sturgeon-nosed and dugout canoes.  October 2015

100 mile Journey of the Coeur d'Alene Canoes (print article)

Rebirth of White Pine Canoe (Sturgeon Nose Canoe - 12 min - 2014)

Canoe Journey and Gathering at Kettle Falls (Dugout Canoe - Felix Aripa - 7 min - 2016)

Horse Josiah Pinkham discusses the influence of the rifle and horse on buffalo hunting.

Mart Josiah Pinkham discusses the temúuheyqt (horse martingale) and the story of the Grizzly Bear beaded-design.

Issapt Josiah Pinkham discusses the process in making 'isáaptakay containers and their use on horse regalia and for trade. 

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