The Nez Percés: tribesmen of the Columbia Plateau

History of the Nez Percés, a sedentary fishing tribe in the plateau and mountain country of central Idaho, northeastern Oregon, and southwestern Washington, the Nez Perces were transformed by the acquisition of the horse into a tribe which hunted on the Plains and assimilated much of the buffalo culture. ...They were outstanding horsemen, and perhaps their most notable accomplishments were in horse breeding and in their development, through selective breeding, of that famous spotted horse, the Appaloosa.