Everything Everywhere Daily · Thursday, September 24, 2026
Despite an 1855 treaty that was unanimously agreed upon by the Nez Perce, the discovery of gold led the US government to drastically change the terms. In 1863, commissioners drafted a new agreement that reduced the Nez Perce reservation by nearly 90%, seizing gold fields and legitimizing boomtowns through the signature of Chief Lawyer, which the government deemed universally binding.
“By 1863, the gold rush was too lucrative for Washington to ignore, and rather than protecting tribal sovereignty, the federal government moved to dismantle the very treaty that it had signed.”
“In 1863, commissioners drafted a new agreement that slashed the reservation by nearly 90%, seized the gold fields and legitimized the boomtowns.”
“Yet Washington treated Chief Lawyer's signature as universally binding, instantly turning non-signers into illegal squatters on their own ancestral land.”