History Tidbits: Nez Perce in Lower Valley

The Wallowa History Center has acquired another historical photography collection. This is the Curtis collection and it contains a photographic reminder of how important the Lower Valley was to the Nez Perce. Benjamin Curtis was a talented early day photographer. His pictures date from about 1900 to the 1940’s and are almost all photographs of a small area of the County, the area between Wallowa and the head of the Wallowa River Canyon sometimes called the Minam Canyon.

The collection includes some very fine pictures of Nez Perce from the Lapwai and Pendleton reservations, mostly from the 1930’s. The Native people came into the valley to fish every summer up until the World War II era.

They had a camp at the Curtis Ranch about a mile below the town of Wallowa. This small area of Wallowa County has yielded many stone tools and artifacts, all verifying this area was a much-used place in our county for native habitation.

Written by Marilyn Hulse, January 2024