I frequently and persistently, for seven long years, urged that they be sent home to their own country but not until 1884, when I was in command of the Department of the Columbia, did I succeed in having them returned west of the mountains near their own country.[218] In 1885, after they had been ravaged by sickness and death, the remnant of the Nez Percé tribe was established on the Colville Reservation in Washington state. Here Joseph’s declining years were spent in the companionship of his wives and children, until his death on September 21, 1904. There, among a vast concourse of white and Indian people, Thunder-Traveling-to-Loftier-Heights was gathered to his fathers. Chapter XII TRAVEL AND ACCOMMODATIONS—NEW BUSINESSES The narration of trapper and miner visits and the account of final discovery have already described the difficulties of early travel in Yellowstone. Little segments of animal and Indian trails were all that broke the untraveled wilderness. Since no funds were available for any purpose before 1877, the trail building progress made before that date was negligible.[219] Until that time all visitors came on horseback, but while they generally went to the same places their approaches were different. Each outfit carried axes, and at least a modicum of effort had to be expended along the way. Such had been the way of mountain men. They did not expect someone else to build their roads; neither did they expect anyone to tell them where to go or camp. Therefore, it was every outfit to itself; still, companionship claimed its due, and groups sometimes fell into line and traveled together. A perusal of old journals shows that packsaddle trips were always thrilling. It was by pack horse that the presidential party of August, 1883 visited the Park. It traveled three hundred and fifty miles, making nineteen camps during its sojourn. The personnel included the following: President Chester A. Arthur, Secretary of War Robert T. Lincoln, Senator George Graham Vest, General Phil H. Sheridan, General Anson Stager, Colonel Michael V. Sheridan, Colonel J. F. Gregory, Captain Philo Clark, Governor Schuyler Crosby (Montana), Judge Rawlins, and Official Photographer Frank Jay Haynes.[220] They had a grand time, and thereafter Yellowstone never lacked friends in high places.