City of Joseph, Wallowa County, Oregon

City of Joseph Wallowa County, Oregon

Mapped Location

City of Joseph: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

Information

General information on City of Joseph

Feature Type: Incorporated

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for City of Joseph

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name	Description
City of Joseph	Official
Joseph	Official

Origin Notes and History of City of Joseph

References to City of Joseph that document the origin of its place name

JOSEPH, Idaho County.—Named for Chief Joseph of the Non-Treaty Nez Perces (q.v.). Most things, among whites, that are mysterious or weird are named for the Devil, as "Seven Devils," or his abode, "Hell," as "Hellgate." Hundreds of geographical names are thus derived. Likewise, anything that is mysterious or weird to the Indian mind is designated "Thunder," as in Thunder Mountain (q.v.). Joseph possessing a somber nature was designated accordingly, so that his Indian name, "Hinmaton," meant in English, "The thunder that passes through the earth and water." "Joseph" was a baptismal name given Chief Joseph's father by Rev. Henry H. Spalding (q.v.) and it became a tribal name to him who should succeed to the chieftainship. In the Nez Perce War of 1877 he was war chief of the tribe and after their defeat by Gen. O. O. Howard at the battle of Clearwater, he advised his tribe to remain upon the lands of their inheritance and fight it out there, giving up their lives only on the soil of their homes. But other counsel prevailed. He then led the tribe, consisting of men, women and children, a distance of 1500 miles, it requiring the services of forty companies of soldiers and hundreds of volunteers and scouts for three months to capture them, and so masterly was this retreat conducted that he became known as the "Xenephon of the red men." Afterwards he became reconciled to civilization and discouraged the vices and aided in the education of his tribe, yet it is said that he was ofttimes seen to brood over his campfires as if he observed some mournful scene within its consuming flames. The account of this war and its results by the Indians of this tribe is very pathetic and is quite beyond description.—HANDBOOK of American Indians.

John E. Rees, B. Sc. in Idaho Chronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography

Rees, John E., Idaho Chronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography, 1918 W.B. Conkey Company, pp. 82-83 | Idaho Chronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography

Wallowa County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2017-01-15