Salish Men Near Tipis (1903 Flathead Reservation, MT)
University of Washington Digital Collections
The Flathead Indian Reservation is located in western Montana, it is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles Tribes - also known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation (1) (http://www.charkoosta.com/about1.html). The Reservation was created through 1855 Treaty of Hellgate and includes parts of four Montana counties: Lake, Sanders, Missoula, and Flathead (2) (http://www.lakecounty-mt.org/planning/pdf/chapter%206.pdf). The Flathead Indian Reservation is an area of 1,250,000 acres (5,058 km�) of forested mountains and valleys just west of the Continental Divide in Montana (3) (http://www.ohwy.com/mt/f/flathdir.htm).
Unlike most other tribes in Montana, the Bitterroot Salish migrated from the west. The Kootenai are native to the state. Archaeological evidence shows that native Americans inhabited Montana more than 14,000 years ago, and artifacts indicate that Kootenai have roots in the area's prehistory. The Kootenai inhabited the mountainous terrain west of the Continental Divide, venturing only seasonally to the east for buffalo hunts. The Kootenai were divided into two main groups. One band lived to the northeast and had a lifestyle based on bison hunting. The other band lived in the mountainous west and had a lifestyle focused on rivers and lakes. The Salish occupied territory in Washington, Idaho, and western Montana but ventured as far east as the Bighorn Mountains. As the tribe moved east, it had to change from a lifestyle based on salmon fishing to one more dependent on native plants and buffalo. During the 1700s, these two tribes – the Salish and the Kootenai – shared common hunting and gathering grounds (4) (http://montanakids.com/db_engine/presentations/presentation.asp?pid=170&sub=Tribal+Histories).
Points of interest
Flathead Indian Museum, St. Ignatius
Flathead Lake State Park
The National Bison Range/Pablo National Wildlife Refuge, Moiese
Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge and State Wildlife Management Area, Ronan
The Flathead Watershed includes all the land that drains into Flathead Lake and the Flathead River - a huge area stretching west from the Continental Divide to the Salish Mountains and from across the Canadian border in the north to the Clark Fork River in the south.
The Flathead River is the largest tributary of the Clark Fork River and headwaters of the Columbia River.
The Flathead National Forest administers the largest amount of public lands in the watershed, approximately 60% of forested lands in the North, Middle and South Forks of the Flathead, and the Swan and Stillwater drainages.
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