Visiting the grounds around the Nez Perce Museum
Memories from a distant past
Growing up in Lewiston, Idaho, the Nez Perce presence was always evident, if not somewhat hidden. Having read much of the available information on Nez Perce history, my sympathies have always been with the tribe. The Nez Perce was the last of the “free” tribes before they were removed to reservations by the forced relocation policy of the US army. Chief Joseph’s heroic attempted escape with the tribe all over Idaho, Washington and Montana is documented in Hear Me My Chiefs by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter.
Our main goal was to pay a visit to the Nez Perce Museum at Spalding, Idaho, near the Lapwai reservation. We drove around the Nez Perce National Historical Park there where I saw this old Spalding church, established in 1876. Spalding was a missionary who tried to convert the Nez Perce to Christianity. While having mixed feelings, I decided to do this sketch of the old church. I scratched it into the paper with a little excess force using black ink in my quill pen. Then I dropped some color in and splattered it with Payne’s gray using an old stiff brush to give it a feeling of resistance or distress.
SketchTravel
