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Proving Up & Settling Down
Official Selection:
2007 Archaeology Channel International Film Festival, Eugene, Oregon
Second Place, Original Score
2007 Rassegna Internazionale del Cinema Archaeologico, Rovereto, Italy
2007 VII Festival Internacional de Arqueologico de Bidasoa, Irun, Spain
"You never had T.V. or any of that good stuff, and you only thought about 'What am I going to do tomorrow?'" -Ace Barton, former Hells Canyon resident
For more than 9,000 years, Hells Canyon of the Snake River, separating Oregon and Idaho, was home to several Native American Tribes. In the last 200 years, fur trappers, miners, and homesteaders also inhabited North America's deepest river gorge. Now a protected National Scenic Area, numerous historical homesteads, artifacts, and stories remain. Through first-hand accounts of several old-timers who spent time in the Canyon, as well as through historians and archaeologists, we learn the significant contribution this area has made to the cultural heritage of the American West.
Horace Axtell, spiritual leader of the Nez Perce Tribe and descendant of Chief Joseph's Band, recounts his grandmother's journey out of her Hells Canyon homeland, as part of the forced relocation of Joseph's Band by the United States Cavalry in 1877. A little-known story of the massacre in 1887 of 30 Chinese miners by a gang of cattle rustlers seeking the miners' hidden gold emerges. Early 20th Century Hells Canyon residents Violet Wilson, Ace Barton, and Joe Jordan share tales of work and family, isolation and ingenuity, and a deep respect for this place they called home.
Hells Canyon, majestic and nearly inaccessible, comes to life in this film through spectacular scenery, historical photographs, and an award-winning original score. Depicting the courage, stamina, and humor of some of its inhabitants, these stories offer a glimpse of what life was like in one of America's most remote locations.
"So, grandmother told me about the time they had to leave, and there was a lot of sadness, a lot of tears being shed, because of the fact that they knew that they weren't able to come back again. That this wasn't their land anymore. So that journey from around that valley down through the Imnaha River and over into Dug Bar was pretty silent. No laughter, no people hardly talking to one another, very quiet. All you hear was the people that were in command of directing the horses and the cattle and other things being said like orders, which way to turn, which way to go."
-Horace Axtell, Nez Perce Spiritual Leader
"Mother had no idea, she didn't realize there was that much steep ground in the world. And she said it was just like going down into a hole in the ground, and she wondered if she'd ever get out of there. She gradually had to get used to it. But she said, at first, she'd look out, and she'd say "Lord, could you just flatten this out for one day? Just one day, Lord!" -Violet Wilson Shirley, former resident of Hells Canyon
2007 Archaeology Channel International Film Festival, Eugene, Oregon
Second Place, Original Score
2007 Rassegna Internazionale del Cinema Archaeologico, Rovereto, Italy
2007 VII Festival Internacional de Arqueologico de Bidasoa, Irun, Spain
"You never had T.V. or any of that good stuff, and you only thought about 'What am I going to do tomorrow?'" -Ace Barton, former Hells Canyon resident
For more than 9,000 years, Hells Canyon of the Snake River, separating Oregon and Idaho, was home to several Native American Tribes. In the last 200 years, fur trappers, miners, and homesteaders also inhabited North America's deepest river gorge. Now a protected National Scenic Area, numerous historical homesteads, artifacts, and stories remain. Through first-hand accounts of several old-timers who spent time in the Canyon, as well as through historians and archaeologists, we learn the significant contribution this area has made to the cultural heritage of the American West.
Horace Axtell, spiritual leader of the Nez Perce Tribe and descendant of Chief Joseph's Band, recounts his grandmother's journey out of her Hells Canyon homeland, as part of the forced relocation of Joseph's Band by the United States Cavalry in 1877. A little-known story of the massacre in 1887 of 30 Chinese miners by a gang of cattle rustlers seeking the miners' hidden gold emerges. Early 20th Century Hells Canyon residents Violet Wilson, Ace Barton, and Joe Jordan share tales of work and family, isolation and ingenuity, and a deep respect for this place they called home.
Hells Canyon, majestic and nearly inaccessible, comes to life in this film through spectacular scenery, historical photographs, and an award-winning original score. Depicting the courage, stamina, and humor of some of its inhabitants, these stories offer a glimpse of what life was like in one of America's most remote locations.
"So, grandmother told me about the time they had to leave, and there was a lot of sadness, a lot of tears being shed, because of the fact that they knew that they weren't able to come back again. That this wasn't their land anymore. So that journey from around that valley down through the Imnaha River and over into Dug Bar was pretty silent. No laughter, no people hardly talking to one another, very quiet. All you hear was the people that were in command of directing the horses and the cattle and other things being said like orders, which way to turn, which way to go."
-Horace Axtell, Nez Perce Spiritual Leader
"Mother had no idea, she didn't realize there was that much steep ground in the world. And she said it was just like going down into a hole in the ground, and she wondered if she'd ever get out of there. She gradually had to get used to it. But she said, at first, she'd look out, and she'd say "Lord, could you just flatten this out for one day? Just one day, Lord!" -Violet Wilson Shirley, former resident of Hells Canyon