ID: Lawyer got a raw deal

On our way to and from the Wolf Education and Research Center on the Nez Perce nation, we passed over Lawyer's Canyon, named for Hallalhotsoot, or Lawyer. He was born near here in Nez Perce territory, and died the year before the Nez Perce war.

His father greeted Lewis and Clark. As he watched his country being invaded by European - Americans, Lawyer believed that resistance was futile, and sought to negotiate in the treaties of 1855, 1858, and 1863. The American negotiators proclaimed him head chief of the Nez Perces when he was not. When Old Joseph walked out of the 1863 talks, Lawyer was browbeaten into signing the treaty on behalf of all Nez Perce people. For his pains the settlers named a creek and a canyon after him, broke their treaty commitments and decimated his country. As historian Alvin Josephy said:

"Despite the accommodating role he had played, the Americans had repaid him with only small and niggling favors, and in his later years he had lived close to want. ... He had presided over the destruction of the cultural pride, dignity, and heritage of large numbers of Nez Perce."