When the surviving nimíipuu were eventually allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest in 1885, those from the Wallowa band were sent to Colville in Washington, not to the Wallowa Valley in Oregon.

The valley has been a continuing source of discussion and negotiation between the Nez Perce Tribe and public and private landowners for decades.

In recent years, collaborative efforts have attempted to create mechanisms for the tribe to maintain a relationship with the valley — land agreements, cultural programs, ceremonial visits — that acknowledge the historical relationship without resolving the fundamental question of dispossession.

Joseph’s death at Colville in 1904, far from the valley his father had told him never to surrender, is one of the bookmarks of this unresolved story.