Editing Snake River (section)

===Conquest and conflict===
[[Image:Fort Boise showing exterior walls, Snake River near the mouth of the Boise River, Idaho, 1849 (AL+CA 1475).jpg|thumb|right|The first [[Fort Boise]] (illustration by Major Osborne Cross, c. 1849) was an key supply point on the Oregon Trail.|alt=Sketch of a square walled fort on a low hill above a waterway; in the foreground are a boat and a person fishing]] 
As the flow of settlers increased, the Nez Perce and their neighbors the [[Cayuse people|Cayuse]] and [[Walla Walla people|Walla Walla]] came under pressure to cede portions of their territory. Tensions flared in 1855 after tribes were coerced into relinquishing huge amounts of territory in the [[Treaty of Walla Walla]].<ref name="Treaty Period"/> In retaliation for [[Edward Steptoe|Lt. Col. Edward Steptoe]]'s defeat at the 1858 [[Battle of Pine Creek]], a force led by [[George Wright (general)|Col. George Wright]] entered the lower Snake River country in 1859 and constructed Fort Taylor at the confluence of the Tucannon River below present-day [[Starbuck, Washington]]. Over several months Wright fought the natives along the river, killing their horses and destroying stored food.<ref name="Petersen and Reed">{{cite web|url=https://damsense.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/CCC_aHistoryOf-LSRdevelopment_OCR.pdf|title=Controversy, Conflict and Compromise: A History of the Lower Snake River Development|publisher=DamSense|author=Petersen, Keith C. |author2=Reed, Mary E.|date=|accessdate=January 6, 2024}}</ref>{{rp|37}} The sternwheeler ''[[Colonel Wright (sternwheeler)|Colonel Wright]]'' was commissioned to haul supplies up the Snake River to Fort Taylor. Captained by veteran Oregon river pilot Len White, the ''Wright'' was the first steamboat to run on the Snake River and the Columbia above [[The Dalles, Oregon|The Dalles]].<ref name="Williamson 1997"/>{{rp|75–76}}<ref name="Petersen and Reed"/>{{rp|37}}

Two years later, [[Elias D. Pierce]] discovered gold to the east on Nez Perce treaty land.<ref name="Petersen and Reed"/>{{rp|42–43}} As thousands of fortune seekers flocked to the area, the city of Lewiston was founded in 1861, in violation of the 1855 treaty. The US government sided with the settlers, and pressured some Nez Perce leaders into signing a second treaty which shrank their reservation by 90&nbsp;percent. Many Nez Perce including [[Chief Joseph]]'s band refused to leave, calling the new treaty the "thief treaty".<ref name="Treaty Period"/> In March 1863, the [[Idaho Territory]] was split from Oregon, and Lewiston became its capital. More than 60,000 prospectors and others entered the Lewiston Valley by 1863.<ref name="Petersen and Reed"/>{{rp|43}} Many new steamboats were pressed into service, including the ''Spray'', ''Cascadilla'', ''[[Tenino (sternwheeler)|Tenino]]'', ''Okanogan'', and ''[[Nez Perce Chief (sternwheeler)|Nez Perce Chief]]''. The river's rapids posed a major navigation hazard, and from November to April the river was generally too low for ships. Despite these challenges, the water transport of freight and passengers was greatly profitable.<ref name="Petersen and Reed"/>{{rp|43}}

Up river, the Shoshone and other tribes were also becoming increasingly wary of settlers; in 1854 a Shoshone war party attacked a wagon train in the Boise Valley, and the U.S. Army mounted a counterattack, the [[Winnas Expedition]]. The situation became so unstable that Fort Boise was abandoned, and the Army had to escort wagon trains through the area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=22328|title=The Ward Massacre|publisher=The Historical Marker Database|date=|accessdate=December 14, 2023}}</ref> While early settlers had simply passed through this area on their way to Oregon, gold strikes brought renewed interest in the 1860s. The Army rebuilt Fort Boise further east of the original site in 1863. A military detachment was stationed there to quell any further violence; however, tensions continued to increase, and more wagon trains and mining parties were attacked. Starting in 1864, the [[Snake War]] was fought across much of southern Idaho, with numerous battles between the U.S. Army and the Shoshone, Bannock and Paiute.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/0236.pdf|title=The Snake War, 1864–1868|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society|work=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series|year=1966|accessdate=December 14, 2023}}</ref> By 1868, exhausted after years of fighting, [[Pocatello (Shoshone leader)|Chief Pocatello]] and many others surrendered and relocated to the [[Fort Hall Indian Reservation]] on the Snake River in southeast Idaho.<ref>{{cite book|author=Treuer, Anton|title=Atlas of Indian Nations|publisher=National Geographic Books|isbn=9781426211607|year=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQbaCwAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{rp|226}}

[[Image:American Falls, Idaho with view of Union Pacific Railroad, between 1910 and 1920 (AL+CA 1499).jpg|thumb|left|280px|A train crosses the Snake River at American Falls, c. 1915. Railroads first reached the Snake River Plain in the 1880s.|alt=A painted postcard shows a train crossing a bridge above a wide waterfall and turbulent river.]]
Tribal resistance would continue for years to come. In 1877 the US government attempted to force the remaining Nez Perce onto their reservation, at which point Chief Joseph's band and several others opted to seek refuge elsewhere. After a treacherous crossing of the Snake at [[Dug Bar]], Hells Canyon on May 31,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/nepe/planyourvisit/visit-dug-bar.htm|title=Visit Dug Bar|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|work=Nez Perce National Historic Park|date=|accessdate=December 11, 2023}}</ref> the Nez Perce were pursued by the Army for over {{convert|1000|mi|km}} east, through Yellowstone before turning north through Montana, fighting several battles along the way. On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph surrendered to US forces. thus ending the [[Nez Perce War]]. The survivors were distributed to various reservations across the western US.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usgs.gov/index.php/observatories/yvo/news/flight-nez-perce|title=The Flight of the Nez Perce|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey|date=July 18, 2022|accessdate=December 11, 2023}}</ref> In 1878, an uprising occurred in response to overcrowding and food shortages at the Fort Hall Reservation, leading to the [[Bannock War]]. The US army defeated the Bannock and their Paiute allies and proceeded to restrict travel in and out of the reservation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/412|title=1878 Bannock War and Chief Buffalo Horn|publisher=Intermountain Histories|author=Richardson, Camilla|accessdate=December 11, 2023}}</ref>

While Lewiston was now well connected by river, travel to Boise and other points upstream on the Snake River remained difficult due to the formidable obstacle of Hells Canyon. In 1865, Thomas Stump attempted to pilot the ''Colonel Wright'' up Hells Canyon, making it {{convert|80|mi|km}} upriver before hitting rocks in a rapid, forcing their retreat.<ref name="Petersen and Reed"/>{{rp|45}} On the Snake River above Hells Canyon, several steamboats were built at great expense (as manufactured parts such as engines had to be hauled in overland), the first being the ''[[Shoshone (Snake River sternwheeler)|Shoshone]]'' in 1866. However, running the upper Snake proved unprofitable, due to lack of demand. The owners of ''Shoshone'' decided to move her to the lower Snake River, and in April 1870, they made the first successful river descent of Hells Canyon, a harrowing ride that skirted disaster several times.<ref name="Williamson 1997"/>{{rp|85–88}} In 1895 the steamboat ''Norma'', which had been built to haul copper ore on the Snake River above Hells Canyon, also made the run under similar circumstances.<ref name="USFS Hells Canyon"/><ref name="Williamson 1997"/>{{rp|167–172}}

In the 1870s, Boise (to which Idaho's capital was moved in 1866) expanded rapidly as growth slowed in Lewiston. Gold drew more than 25,000 prospectors to the Boise Valley, and a new city quickly grew around the U.S. Army post at Fort Boise.<ref name="Long 2021">{{cite web|url=https://www.historylink.org/file/10443|title=Salmon in the Pacific Northwest|author=Long, Priscilla|publisher=HistoryLink|date=January 7, 2021|accessdate=December 12, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Idaho irrigation"/> With Hells Canyon impractical for river navigation, interest grew in connecting the area by rail. By 1884, the [[Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company]] (later integrated into [[Union Pacific Railroad|Union Pacific]]) had connected [[Portland, Oregon]], to the Union Pacific line at [[Granger, Wyoming]], via [[Huntington, Oregon|Huntington]] and [[Pocatello, Idaho|Pocatello]]. Boise, initially bypassed due to a steep grade, was connected three years later.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://utahrails.net/pdf/UP-Idaho-Division_1871-1981.pdf|title=A Brief History of Union Pacific Railroad's Idaho Division|publisher=Utah Rails|date=|accessdate=December 12, 2023}}</ref> In addition to commerce, the railroad also opened the Snake River region – which just a few years ago had been seen as a remote, rough frontier – to recreation. The Union Pacific heavily promoted tourism in places like Shoshone Falls, [[Payette Lake]] and [[Soda Springs, Idaho]]. Countering the reputation of southern Idaho as a wasteland, a brochure described Shoshone Falls: "Shoshone differs from every other waterfall in this or the old country. It is its lonely grandeur that impresses one so deeply; all of the other historic places have the adjuncts of civilization, and one is almost overshadowed by a city while in their presence."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Tourists in Wonderland: Early Railroad Tourism in the Pacific Northwest|journal=Columbia Magazine|volume=7|number=4|year=1994|author=Schwantes, Carlos A.|url=https://www.washingtonhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/tourists-in-wonderland.pdf|accessdate=December 12, 2023}}</ref>