(Three panels outline the history of Tolo Lake)
The Nez Perce name for this lake is Tipahxlee'whum (Tepahlewam or Split Rocks). In early June 1877, five bands of Nimiipuu gathered here for their last taste of freedom before entering the Nez Perce Reservation. The U.S. government had ordered them from their ancestral homelands - and threatened force if they did not comply.
As they spoke of the injustices of losing their land, and the unpunished depredations some settlers and miners committed against their people, the young men grew angrier by the hour. This traditional site, which for Nez Perce had long been a place full of happy memories where they came to harvest camas, play games, sing, race horses and socialize in peace, was now a camp of war.
Tolo Lake was named for a Nez Perce woman who rode twenty miles from Slate Creek to the mines at Florence to warn of impending danger. Her white friends were gathered behind a hastily constructed stockade at Slate Creek in 1877. They could not spare a man to travel so their friend Tolo volunteered to go and spread the word. She was just one of the many on both sides who did not want war.
In Search of Salmon
Nez Perce, or Nimiipuu as they called themselves, knew when they heard the dove call
it meant the salmon had returned to nearby rivers. In the spring of 1806, it was a hungry expedition that camped at Camp Chopunnish (Long Camp) near Kamiah, Idaho. Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark knew they would have to find food if they were to continue their journey. Sergeant John Ordway was detailed to travel along with Privates Frazer and Weiser to the Snake River to trade for salmon with Nez Perce near the mouth of Deer Creek.
Although the exact route is still being debated, Sergeant Ordway and his companions undoubtedly passed north of Tolo Lake on their journey, possibly traveling a trail long used by the Nimiipuu. The Nimiipuu trail going down to the Salmon River is part of a vast network of early trails, parts of which are still visible today. these fish were as fat as any I ever saw; sufficiently so to cook themselves without the addition of grease; those which were sound were extremely delicious; their flesh is of a fine rose colour with a small admixture of yellow. — Meriwether Lewis, June 2, 1806
An Ancient Mystery
When President Thomas Jefferson sent the Corps of Discovery west, their scientific checklist included seeking evidence of mammoths. The explorers little suspected that when Sergeant Ordway journeyed past Tolo Lake, he passed the graveyard of several Columbian mammoths.
In 1994, as sediment was removed from the lake to improve fish habitat, mammoth bones surfaced and eventually over 400 bones were recovered.
How the lake formed over 10,000 years ago, and why the remains of so many long-extinct creatures were concentrated here, remains a mystery. One possible explanation is that the source of Tolo Lake was artesian. Water coming up through the ground would have created a treacherous and unpredictable surface. However the lake was formed, it was obviously a water source for the large mammals. Clay in the soil held the bones of those who died here.
Be sure to see the mammoth replica in Elmers Park at the junction of Highway 95 North and North Pine, next to the Chamber of Commerce in Grangeville.
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