From Washington To You
Portrait of Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, known as Chief Joseph.
Photograph from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. National Archives 523606. Public domain.

From Washington to you

Chief Joseph

Nespelem · Okanogan County · died September 21, 1904

Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt led the Wallowa band. After the 1877 flight he was refused a return to Oregon and died on the Colville Reservation on September 21, 1904.

NPS identifies Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, known as Chief Joseph (March 3, 1840–September 21, 1904), as a leader of the wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce. After the United States tried to force the Nez Perce from the Wallowa Valley, he led roughly 750 Nez Perce and Palouse people toward Canada. NPS says they traveled more than 1,170 miles across present-day Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. He surrendered on October 5, 1877.

A Lake Roosevelt page says he did not sign the 1855 treaty, following his father. After surrender, survivors were sent to Oklahoma. In 1885, with help from Chief Moses, Joseph and most of his people were sent to the Colville Reservation, across from Fort Spokane. He died September 21, 1904, after repeated denials of a return to Oregon.

NPS says he is buried on the Colville Reservation near Lake Roosevelt, a unit of Nez Perce National Historical Park. The park’s Nez Perce Cemetery place page, managed by the Colville Confederated Tribes, says the cemetery is a culturally sensitive active cemetery: exact locations will not be provided, and visitation is not encouraged. This pin is the town of Nespelem, not the grave. The sources below are National Park Service pages.

  • History
  • Indigenous History & Place

Sources (3)

Last reviewed: September 21, 2026

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