Editing Hells Canyon (section)

===Inhabitants===
The earliest known residents in Hells Canyon were the [[Nez Perce tribe|Nez Percé tribe]]. Others tribes visiting the area were the [[Shoshone-Bannock]], northern [[Northern Paiute|Paiute]] and [[Cayuse people|Cayuse]] Indians. The mild winters and ample plant and wildlife attracted human habitation. [[Pictograph]]s and [[petroglyph]]s on the walls of the canyon are a record of the Indian settlements.<ref name="human">{{cite web |url=http://www.fs.fed.us/hellscanyon/life_and_the_land/the_human_story/ |title=Hells Canyon National Recreation Area: The Human Story |department=Forest Service |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture |access-date=December 26, 2010}}</ref>

In 1806, three members of the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] entered the Hells Canyon region along the [[Salmon River (Idaho)|Salmon River]]. They turned back without seeing the deep parts of the canyon. It was not until 1811 that the [[W. Price Hunt|Wilson Price Hunt]] expedition explored Hells Canyon while seeking a shortcut to the [[Columbia River]]. Hunger and cold forced them to turn back, as also did many explorers who were defeated by the canyon's inaccessibility. There remains no evidence in the canyon of their attempts; their expedition journals are the only documentation.<ref name="human"/> Early explorers sometimes called this area Box Canyon or Snake River Canyon.

The early miners were next to follow. In the 1860s, [[gold]] was discovered in river bars near present-day Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, and miners soon penetrated Hells Canyon; however, gold mining there was not profitable. Evidence of their endeavors remains visible along the corridor of the Snake River. Later efforts concentrated on hard-rock mining, requiring complex facilities. Evidence of these developments is visible today, especially near the mouth of the [[Imnaha River]].<ref name="human"/>

In the 1880s there was a short-lived [[Homestead Act|homesteading]] boom, but the weather was unsuited to farming and ranching, and most settlers soon gave up.<ref name="human"/> However, some ranchers still operate within the boundaries of the National Recreation Area.<ref name="human"/>

In May&nbsp;1887, 34&nbsp;Chinese gold miners were ambushed and killed in the area, in an event known as the [[Hells Canyon Massacre]]. No one was held accountable. Groups of white men ambushed the Chinese gold miners because of an Anti-Chinese movement that made its way to Oregon.<ref name=uw>{{cite web |url=http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2015/15.html |title=Lesson Fifteen: Industrialization, Class, and Race: Chinese and the Anti-Chinese Movement in the Late 19th-Century Northwest |series=History of Washington State & the Pacific Northwest |department=Center for Study of the Pacific Northwest |publisher=University of Washington |access-date=12 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Nokes, R. Gregory |year=2009 |title=Massacred for Gold |place=Corvallis, Oregon |publisher=Oregon State University Press |pages=179–181}}</ref>