 The war was precipitated when a young Nlaka'pamux woman was raped by a group of American miners, in the area of Kanaka Bar.The Nlaka'pamux retaliated by killing several of them, decapitating the bodies and dumping them into the river; they eventually were to be found circling in a large eddy near the town of Yale, the main commercial centre of the rush.This alarmed the thousands of miners lining the riverbanks between there and Kanaka Bar.