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The 208

The story of the Seven Devils Mountains as told by the Nez Perce Tribe

It is a story that has a deep meaning that goes back thousands of years.

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BOISE, Idaho — The state of Idaho is riddled with Native American place names like Lapwai, Kamiah, Kooskia and Weippe.

The culture and heritage runs deep in the Gem State.

Speaking of deep, there is probably no story or landmark in Idaho that has a deeper meaning in how it began. At least according to Nez Perce lore.

In this Get to Know Idaho segment, we learn the origin story of the Seven Devils mountain range.

Formed about 150 million years ago, the Seven Devils Mountains have seen some history.

But their history is much more colorful when told through the tales of the Nez Perce Indians.

“What the legend kind of refers to is kind of a story or rendition of seven beasts that were devouring Nez Perce children years ago,” said Nakia Williamson, Cultural Resources Program Director of the Nez Perce Tribe.

The story goes these seven giants would head east out of the Blue Mountains of Oregon to inflict their terror on the tribe. So, the last leader of the Nez Perce asked Coyote for help.

“Coyote was able to formulate a plan to trap these seven monsters that were devouring our people at that time, so he dug seven large holes and he filled it with magma, liquid hot magma at that particular time, and he set up a trap and he called a challenge to the monsters and they came and they answered that challenge, and were consumed as they fell into those seven large pits,” Williamson said.

Coyote continued to cover them up with more lava and debris, petrifying them in place.

“Of course, those seven beings, those seven mountains turned into what we now know as sesacemac or the Seven Devil Mountains, that's our Nez Perce word for those mountains,” he said.

Coyote wasn't finished.

He then struck the ground to open a canyon at their feet to keep more giants from crossing over. Which is why we have Hells Canyon.

So here the Seven Devils rest, rising nearly 8,000 feet above the Snake River.

And while geology is not lost on the Nez Perce, these origin stories live on side by side with science.

"These stories are ways in which we teach ourselves, teach our young people our relationship to the landscape and this life that we carry on," Williamson said.

Williamson tells us there is also a story that puts the creation of the Nez Perce people in the Hells Canyon area prior to the Seven Devils. And these stories vary depending on the band of the tribe you ask.

Since the Nez Perce people, whose history goes back nearly 12,000 years, they once lived over a stretch of land that covered central Idaho, northeastern Oregon, southeastern Washington, and western Montana.

An area that ranges about 17 to 20 million acres.

Their current reservation in Idaho is 750,000 acres.

RELATED: Nez Perce Tribe trying to reestablish eel-like fishes in Idaho river

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