But that peace was fragile. After gold was discovered in the Nez Perce territory, white prospectors began to stream onto their lands. The relationship was soon upended when the United States government took back millions of acres it had promised to Joseph the Elder and his people.
The irate chief denounced his former American friends and destroyed his Bible. More significantly, he refused to sign off on the boundaries of this "new" reservation and leave the Wallowa Valley.