on ridges and south-facing slopes. Human history The area was home to the Wallowa band of the Lower Nez Perce. The Nez Perce lived in the canyons and burned trees to create meadows for the horses that they obtained around 1730. In 1834, Captain Bonneville crossed through the mountains and met with the lower Nez Perce on his way to Fort Walla Walla. In the 1840s, people began to move west, bringing settlers through the land. The Nez Perce began to trade with these settlers. A settlement in the mountains was built in 1861. In 1863, a new treaty was signed that relinquished lands that granted by an 1855 treaty, turning them over to the American government. This same year, the settlers in the mountains moved to present-day La Grande. These lands included the Wallowa Valley, home of Chief Joseph. The government first opened the Wallowa Valley to settlement in 1867. Surveyors began to come through and would continue until 1869. The Wallowa Valley was partitioned in 1873, with one half for the Nez Perce and the other for settlers. Two years later, in 1875, the government banned the Nez Perce from the valley. The first road into the valley, a toll road, was constructed the same year. The U.S. Government attempted to force the removal of the Nez Perce in 1877; however, this angered the natives, who chose instead to raid the settlers, leading to the Nez Perce War. Logging came in the late 1880s, using streams and rivers to transport the wood. A dam was constructed on Wallowa Lake in 1884 to help irrigate the valley. In 1908, the first railroad into the valley was completed. Rail lines were built to the upper valley by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1919, allowing for safer transportation of logs. The dam beneath Wallowa Lake was replaced by a concrete dam in 1916, and a new dam was completed in 1929. References External links Wallowa–Whitman National Forest: U.S. Forest Service Wallowa Avalanche Center Category:Landforms of Wallowa County, Oregon Category:Mountain ranges of Oregon Category:Wallowa–Whitman National Forest