Lapwai, Idaho — Northwest's First Printing Press Arrived on Horseback

A printing press reached the Lapwai Valley in 1839 after crossing an ocean and then traveling inland by horse.

Missionaries used it to print material in the Nimiipuu language.

The first edition of a primer was largely discarded after disagreements over the writing system.

Fragments survived because rejected pages were reused inside the binding of a later edition.

The printing history is remarkable.

The valley's human history is much older.

Lapwai lies at the center of Nimiipuu country and today serves as the seat of government for the Nez Perce Tribe.

Missionary activity, federal policy and settlement profoundly altered life there, but they did not replace the tribal nation.

Modern Lapwai contains schools, homes, businesses and tribal institutions inside a living Indigenous political geography.

The press is an artifact.

The nation is not.