Howard Camp
Both the Nez Perce and General Howard’s troops camped here during the 1877 flight.
Howard and his menfrequently wrote about how the Indian horses had eaten all the feed, leaving nothingfor their horses when theyarrived.
Near Howard’s Camp, and at other points along the trail system, there are trees showing the scars of bark peeling, primarily on lodgepole pine. Scientists can determine when trees were peeled by taking core samples and counting rings. Indians and trappers peeled the trees as a food source as earlyas the 1630s. General Howard’s troops peeledtrees during their pursuit of the Nez Perce across these mountains.
One of Howard’s soldiers recorded this practicein his diary:
“...Our American horses were not used to the fodder of the native Cayuse. We carried no forage. If we should chance upon one of the li le mountain valleys where there should be grass, we found it either trampled down by Joseph’s ponies or destroyed in some other way. Manyisthe time we have cutbarkfrom the tree for our horses.”
– Private William Connolly
