In these beautiful meadows near Lolo Pass General Howard made a five-hour breakfast camp with his cavalry and infantry on August 6. Because of the lush grass, the Nez Perce may have camped here a couple of weeks earlier.
Here was the place where mule and man enjoyed a rest and a breakfast far more satisfying than in inhabited regions which are replete with abundance.
Gen. O.O. Howard
Having finally reached the top of the Bitterroot Mountains at Lolo Pass, you have also reached the traditional eastern limit of Nez Perce territory. Although the boundary of the Nez Perce reservation is over ninety miles behind you, the crest of the mountains was the original border between the two nations of the Nez Perce and the United States, according to the Treaty of 1855. East of here lies aboriginal Salish (Flathead) land.