PIERCE (The First)

Elias D. Pierce, a former army captain and veteran of the California gold rush, first journeyed to the Clearwater country in the 1850s. During several trips to the Spalding mission he traded with the Nez Perce, and often slipped into the reservation to do look around. He had become obsessed with opening a new mining region in the forbidden lands of the Nez Perce reservation.

For years Pierce schemed about how he could get into the Clearwater country and uncover it's riches. Finally in 1860 he made his big move. He smuggled a prospecting outfit into the camp of his Nez Perce host Wislanaeqa. In February they went panning on the North Fork of the Clearwater River and found gold!

Most Nez Perce opposed opening the reservation to mining and settlers were worried trespassing miners could provoke war. Even so, Pierce was able to gather a group of a dozen prospectors from his base in Walla Walla and head back to the Clearwater country in August of 1860. Using a difficult, circuitous route the party finally reached the remote Canal Gulch at the end of September. There in the rich placers of Oro Fino creek the discovery of gold would launch a major rush to the Clearwater. No Nez Perce objections could stop the flood of miners that would begin pouring into the area.

The mining camp established near that first strike became the town of Pierce. Unlike most gold camps, the town of Pierce survived, and is still an active community today. Its historic county courthouse is the oldest public building in Idaho.