A model of the first Fort Macleod built on an island.
White Bird was killed by one of his own people.. His shamanic powers failed him when he was unable to heal two sick Nez Perce children.

It appears this was proof to the children's father that white Bird's powers were out of control.

Trek students set up a display in Fort Macleod on the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Mounties in 1974

Chief White Bird remained in Canada and the first year the Nez Perce camped at the east end of the Cypress Hills. But they wee soon homesick. Hungry and in rags, some Nez Perce trickled back to Idaho beginning in the spring of 1878. Some went directly to Idaho. Some spent intervening years with Flatheads or Crees before returning to Idaho. A few stayed in Canada.

Eighty of those nontreaty people who were discovered on the Nez Perce reservation and on other reservations were deported to Oklahoma to join the rest of the prisoners. One exception was Chief Joseph's adolescent daughter, Kap-kap-onmi (Sound of Running Feet). Separated from her father during the attack at the Bear's Paw, she had escaped to Canada with her mother. The following year, she was among the first group which went back to Idaho. She, however, was not allowed to go to Oklahoma and died in Idaho a few years later before Chief Joseph returned from exile.

Due to widespread prairie fires in 1879, the buffalo did not come north. Starving Sioux began leaving for the Dakotas, band by band. Sitting Bull hung on until 1881 when he finally surrendered. After the Sioux left Canada, the Nez Perce had drifted westward towards Fort Macleod.


Timeline

Credits

The Nez Perce Flight to Canada - An Introduction

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