This is the story of the so-called Inland Empire of the Northwest, that rugged and majestic region bounded east and west by the Cascades and the Rockies, from the time of the great exploration of Lewis and Clark to the tragic defeat of Chief Joseph in 1877. And at the center of this history - perhaps even more relevant today than at the original publication of this classic volume - is the confrontation of the Indian and non-Indian during this nation's, and this region's, formative period. Heroic characters and dramatic events abound here. Explorers, fur traders, miners, settlers, missionaries, ranchers, and above all a unique succession of Indian chiefs and their tribespeople bring into focus one of the permanently instructive chapters in the history of the American west.