Other competent authorities have gone further. One ventured the asseveration that:
Had Joseph led thousands and had he been born of a people and in a place less remote from the main currents of history, his name would resound in our ears like thunder.[216]
As it is, the tale of the Nez Percé retreat, surrender, and burning years of their exile strike a mournful note upon the ears of men.
At Bear Paw a long "trail of tears" began for Joseph and his people. There was the solemn trek to Fort Keogh, thence to Bismarck, on to Fort Leavenworth, and finally to a small Oklahoma reserve. This was virtually a sentence of death for these mountain-bred people.[217] Miles could not make his promise good. Joseph was depressed by the increasing time and distance. Said he, "The Great Spirit Chief who rules above seemed to be looking some other way and did not see what was happening to my people."
Many government officials called upon Joseph ("White men have too many chiefs"). Promises were lightly made ("Look twice at a two-faced man"). Resolutions were circulated ("Big name often on small legs"). The wise chief was learning the ways of his masters.
[Illustration: W. S. Chapman Indian war club and peace pipe.]
Joseph's conqueror became his truest friend. Miles, a general now, kept working to fulfill his vow. Said he:
I frequently and persistently, for seven long years, urged that they be sent home to their own country but not until 1884, when I was in command of the Department of the Columbia, did I succeed in having them returned west of the mountains near their own country.[218]
In 1885, after they had been ravaged by sickness and death, the remnant of the Nez Percé tribe was established on the Colville Reservation in Washington state. Here Joseph's declining years were spent in the companionship of his wives and children, until his death on September 21, 1904. There, among a vast concourse of white and Indian people, Thunder-Traveling-to-Loftier-Heights was gathered to his fathers.
Chapter XII TRAVEL AND ACCOMMODATIONS--NEW BUSINESSES
The narration of trapper and miner visits and the account of final discovery have already described the difficulties of early travel in Yellowstone. Little segments of animal and Indian trails were all that broke the untraveled wilderness. Since no funds were available for any purpose before 1877, the trail building progress made before that date was negligible.[219] Until that time all visitors came on horseback, but while they generally went to the same places their approaches were different. Each outfit carried axes, and at least a modicum of effort had to be expended along the way. Such had been the way of mountain men. They did not expect someone else to build their roads; neither did they expect anyone to tell them where to go or camp. Therefore, it was every outfit to itself; still, companionship claimed its due, and groups sometimes fell into line and traveled together.