The Nez Perce who fought at Canyon Creek had already traveled nearly a thousand miles since June, when several bands refused relocation from their ancestral lands along the Wallowa River in northeast Oregon to a reservation on Idaho's Clearwater River. Their journey had taken them east through Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming territories, over the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains. They had fought several battles, defeating or holding off every U.S. Army force sent against them. The Nez Perce leadership, particularly Looking Glass, believed that after crossing the next mountain range or defeating the latest army, they would find a peaceful new home. But that hope kept proving false.

After passing through Yellowstone National Park and eluding Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis's forces, the Nez Perce followed the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River north into Montana. Their route was shaped by one crucial assumption: they would find asylum among the Crow, their longtime friends who lived near the Yellowstone. Looking Glass met with representatives of both Crow bands at the Clark's Fork. But the Crow understood what helping the Nez Perce would mean for their own people. They rejected the appeal. Some Crow warriors even joined the Army as scouts, their eyes on capturing the Nez Perce's large horse herd. The Nez Perce now faced a stark reality: their only hope for safety lay with Sitting Bull in Canada, still hundreds of miles to the north.

The Yellowstone River's north bank rises in cliffs roughly 500 feet high, and Canyon Creek offered the only passage through. From the Yellowstone, the creek ran through open country for about eight miles before the cliffs closed in on either side. There, the creek split into three forks, each running through a canyon only a few hundred feet wide. These narrow passages, separated by steep flat-topped ridges 200 feet high, stretched for five miles before opening onto the prairie above. It was perfect defensive terrain. Colonel Sturgis commanded 360 men in six cavalry companies, reinforced with 50 additional cavalrymen, two mountain howitzers, and scouts from Bannock and Crow tribes. But the soldiers advanced cautiously, well aware of the Nez Perce reputation for military prowess and marksmanship.

The gale-force winds that swept Canyon Creek that September day threw off the aim of soldiers and warriors alike, helping explain the low casualties on both sides. While the cavalry engaged Nez Perce warriors on the ridges bordering the creek, the women, children, and the precious horse herd escaped through the valley floor. Lieutenants William Jones Nicholson, George D. Wallace, and John Chowning Gresham distinguished themselves in the fighting, earning official commendation from Captain Frederick Benteen. But by nightfall, the Nez Perce had once again slipped away. Their flight would continue for another month before ending in tragedy at Bear Paw, just 40 miles from the Canadian border.

Today, the Canyon Creek battlefield is preserved as part of Nez Perce National Historical Park, one of 38 sites across four states that tell the story of the Nee-Me-Poo and their epic 1877 journey. The canyons and benches around Canyon Creek look much as they did that windy September day nearly 150 years ago. The ridges where warriors bought time for their families still rise above the creek. The narrow passages that funneled the escaping horse herd still wind toward the open prairie. In the landscape itself, the story endures.