Séliš and Ql̓ispé

About the Land

The Blackfoot River is called Ṇaáycčstm Sewɫkʷs or Bull Trout's Waters.

It is important to us here at The River House that we not lose our history.

This property sits within the traditional homelands of the Séliš and Ql̓ispé peoples (Salish and Upper Pend d'Oreille) who have called this land home for 14,000 years. This land was appropriated from the original Indigenous inhabitants in the early 19th century. Although we are now privileged to live on this land, we acknowledge the tainted history. We are committed to caring for it in the manner that the original inhabitants did, to learn from native wisdom and to honor the dictate the "we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." (Chief Seattle, https://professorbuzzkill.com/qnq-32/)

The Salish (meaning "the people") were called the "Flathead Indians" by Lewis and Clark when they came upon them in 1806. Although the name is often said to derive from the flat skull produced by binding infant’s skulls with boards, this is a myth. The tribe never practiced head flattening, but instead, were called “flat head” because the tops of their heads were not pointed like those of neighboring tribes who practiced vertical head-binding.

The Séliš and Ql̓ispé peoples made trails for hunting, gathering, and trading. On the mountainside just across the river is an old route that was used for access to fishing sites and to travel to the plains for bison hunting.

With western expansion by White explorers, beaver fur trade and mining industry developed. Demand for railroad transport developed, creating more pressure for greater land acquisition from the Indigenous peoples. There even used to be a railroad on the road across the river. In 1855, the Treaty of Hell Gate ceded 20 million acres to the US Government and relegated the three different tribes (the Salish, Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai) to restricted lands of the Flathead Reservation.

As was repeated in many other treaties between Indigenous tribes and the US Government, native peoples were unfamiliar with the concept of private land ownership and discussions around treaties were poorly translated. This often led to misunderstanding and confusion over the intent and details of the treaty. The final Treaty of Hell Gate forced the tribes to relinquish their territories for payment installments totaling $120,000. The land was then deemed closed to non-Indian settlement. With the ceding of land and forced re-settlement of Indigenous tribes to the reservation, the pattern of oppression and domination continued.

We, personally, have benefited from this brutal history and continue to process our own privilege. As we care for and upgrade the property, preservation of character and our impact on the land are at the heart of it. If you see something on these pages that needs to be addressed, please get in touch with us. 

References:

http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/908

http://www.flatheadwatershed.org/cultural_history/pend_salish.shtml

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/native-americans/