The Flathead Salish

They prefer to be called the Salish, but throughout their proto-history the people were called the Têtes-Plates. Having learned about the people from French traders, Lewis and Clark at first called them the “flat head” nation but after meeting the people at Ross’ Hole, they called them Tushepaw—likely their spelling of a Lemhi Shoshone word for ‘people with shaved heads’.[2]Prior to 1800, Salish territory went as far east as present-day Billings, Montana, well within the lands of the Crows. Traders at the Knife River Villages likely learned about the Salish during the … Continue reading They never flattened their heads and the name for the tribe in several other indigenous languages, including Plains Sign Language, support ‘shaved heads’ or ‘shaved sides’.[3]Malouf, 312. To assist in navigation and searches, this website sometimes refers to them as Flathead Salish and sometimes Flatheads and Pend d’Oreilles. Their language family is Salishan.

The first whites to encounter the Salish in person were expedition members at Ross’ Hole. Although the journalists had much to say about the encounter, the Salish have said far more.[4]The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition produced by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (University of Nebraska Press, 2005. See also The Discovery Writers, Lewis & Clark in … Continue reading On this website, several elders share their perspective in the article Meeting the Salish. Ron Therriault is interviewed in L&C through Salish Eyes and the story behind Charles M. Russell‘s iconic painting is provided in Ross’ Hole by Patricia Burnham.

At the invitation of the Salish along with the Iroquois working in the fur-trade, Father Pierre De Smet, established the first mission among the Plateau nations, St. Mary’s Mission. After the Steven’s 1855 treaty, the Salish and Pend d’Oreilles would need to move north to the Jocko River, and the mission’s location would follow. Charlo and his small band, would take years before leaving their homes in the Bitterroot Valley.

Selected Pages and Encounters

    Montana’s Indian Country

    Changes after the expedition

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    Beginning with the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, the U.S. government set the vast area north of the Missouri (approximately 20 million acres) aside as the “Blackfeet Hunting Ground” for the Blackfeet and other tribes—Cree, Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, and Sioux.

    Indian Horses in the PNW

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    One of the reasons Clark had so much difficulty in purchasing horses at The Dalles in the spring of 1806 is that he was at the very northwestern edge of their dispersal across North America.

    L&C through Salish Eyes

    An interview with Ron Therriault

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    Ron Therriault, past council chairman of the Salish-Kootenai Confederated Tribes: “I like to think of the time … We’re looking at 1805 and Lewis and Clark … to look at the people as they were at that time. What were the stories?”

    Flag Presentations

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    Lewis and Clark usually distributed flags at councils with the chiefs and headmen of the tribes they encountered—one flag for each tribe or independent band.

    August 31, 1805

    Leaving the Lemhi

    Tower Creek, ID The expedition leaves early in the morning and soon arrives at the fish weirs where Sgt. Gass has been camped. They pick him and one man up, buy several salmon, and head down the Salmon River. They turn up Tower Creek and in four miles, make camp.

    September 4, 1805

    Meeting the Salish Flatheads

    Ross’ Hole, MT After a cold, wet, and hungry night atop the Lost Trail divide, the men thaw their frozen sailcloth, wrap the packs, and load the horses. They then descend to present-day Ross’ Hole where Salish Indians provide a warm welcome.

    Ross’ Hole

    The story behind Russell's painting

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    The story behind Charles M. Russell’s 1912 painting of the expedition meeting the Bitterroot Salish at Ross’ Hole, one of the great works of Western American art.

    Meeting the Salish

    Multiple perspectives

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    The story of Lewis and Clark meeting the Flathead Salish on 4 September 1805 at Ross Hole is told by one expedition member, four Salish Indians, and one western artist.

    September 5, 1805

    Council with the Salish Flatheads

    Ross’ Hole, MT A Salish council is held using five different languages: Salish-Shoshone–Hidatsa–French–English. Gifts are exchanged, and then horse-trading commences.

    September 6, 1805

    To the Bitterroot River

    East Fork Bitterroot River, MT The captains record common Salishan words, and then climb out of the Ross’ Hole valley. They climb Sula Peak to reach the East Fork of the Bitterroot River which runs north. At supper, the thirty-three members share parched corn, berries, and two grouse.

    September 11, 1805

    The Northern Nez Perce Trail

    Lolo Creek, MT After looking for two stray horses, the expedition finally heads up the Indian trail following Travelers’ Rest Creek (present Lolo Creek). They stay at an Indian campsite where Indians have stripped bark from ponderosa pine trees to gather food.

    September 14, 1805

    Colt Killed Creek

    Colt Killed Camp, Lolo Trail, ID The horses and their packers climb and descend high ridges and cross creeks that eventually merge to form the Lochsa River. At Colt Killed Creek, they eat some portable soup.

    June 23, 1806

    Three Nez Perce guides

    While waiting at Weippe Prairie for mountain snow to melt, the hunters imitate bleating fawns to call in the does. Three Nez Perce guides arrive, and all is made ready to cross the Bitterroot Mountains.

Notes

Notes
1 Randel Metz, “Acclaimed Western Photographer: Edward H. Boos,” Denver Public Library,https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/acclaimed-western-photographers-edward-h-boos, accessed 11 October 2021.
2 Prior to 1800, Salish territory went as far east as present-day Billings, Montana, well within the lands of the Crows. Traders at the Knife River Villages likely learned about the Salish during the Crows’ annual visits there. Carling I. Malouf, Handbook of North American Indians: Plateau Vol. 12, ed. Deward E. Walker, Jr. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1998), 298.
3 Malouf, 312.
4 The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition produced by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (University of Nebraska Press, 2005. See also The Discovery Writers, Lewis & Clark in the Bitterroot (Stevensville, Montana: Stoneydale Press, chapter 4.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.