MODERN AND ANCIENT INTERPRETATIONS OF THE GEOMORPHOLOGY OF NEZ PERCE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

A geoscience education program based on Nez Perce (NP) oral histories as they relate to the origin of geomorphic features was developed while employed as an interpretive park ranger at the Nez Perce National Historical Park headquarters in Idaho. This geoscience education program compares interpretations of geomorphic features based on these oral histories with interpretations of the same features based on modern scientific investigations. The first oral histories chosen involved the origin of the Columbia River (CR) and Hells Canyon (HC) of the Snake River because of the importance of the two rivers in NP history and culture.

The oral history and scientific interpretations for the origin of the CR and HC have many similarities and differences. The primary similarity of the two interpretations for the CR both attribute flooding from the drainage of a large lake located or dammed in Idaho as an important factor in forming the current path of the river. The modern interpretation calls on Glacial Lake Missoula (GLM) as the origin of the floods, while the NP believe the flood resulted from the actions of the Coyote, a mystical being in their culture. The two interpretations for the origin of HC both discuss noisy and ground shaking events that contributed to shaping the deep canyon. The modern interpretation states that the catastrophic nature of the Lake Bonneville (LB) flood would have been noisy and ground shaking, while the oral history also attribute it to the actions of the Coyote.

Aspects of the oral histories for the origin of the CR and HC may have been based on eyewitness accounts of the GLM and LB floods. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the NP have lived in the Snake River valley for at least 11,000 years and possibly longer. Evidence of earlier valley habitation would have been destroyed or buried by these floods. Based on this archaeological evidence and geologic evidence that demonstrates the GLM floods ended approximately 12,000 years ago, it is very probable the NP were eyewitnesses. First person accounts of the LB flood are less probable because geologic evidence demonstrates it occurred approximately 15,000 years ago. The NP strong spiritual beliefs and different perspective of geomorphology led to interpretations that assigned the Coyote as the force behind the formation of these two river systems.