Flathead Tribes

Indians of Montana &gt; Flathead Indians

Alternate Names: Bitter Root Salish

History
The first recorded contact between the Flathead or Salish Tribe and non-Indian explorers occurred in 1806 when the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through what was later to become Montana.

After several requests were made made delegations from the tribe, the Catholics established a mission among the Flatheads in the Bitter Root Valley in the 1840s. That mission, called St. Mary's, closed in 1849, but another mission known as St. Ignatius was established in 1854.

Although Victor, the head chief of the Flathead, signed the Hellgate Treaty in 1855, the Flathead Tribe was allowed to remain in Bitter Root Valley until further surveys were made to determine if there was a better place for a reservation for the tribe, rather than assigning them to the Jocko Reservation.

In 1890, members of the Flathead Tribe were removed from the Bitter Root Valley to the Jocko Reservation, now known as the Flathead Reservation.

The allotment of land to members of the Flathead Tribe was begun in 1904. Following that allotment, nearly 1/2 million acres passed out of tribal ownership as surplus land.

Brief Timeline

 * 1806: Lewis and Clark Expedition made contact with the tribe
 * 1840-1846: Jesuit missionary - Father Pierre Jean de Smet - lived in the area
 * 1841: St. Mary's Mission established by Catholics in Bitter Root Valley
 * 1853: United States terminated its relationship with the sovereign nations of Flathead by the U.S. Congress under House Concurrent Resolution 108.
 * 1854: St. Ignatius Mission established on the Jocko River
 * 1855: Hell Gate Treaty ceded land in Montana and Idaho
 * 1872: Ceded additional land
 * 1890-1891: Removed from Bitter Root Valley to Jocko Reservation

Reservations
The principle reservation occupied by the Flathead Indians is currently called the Flathead Reservation, formerly known as the Jocko Reservation, because of its location on the Jocko River in northern Montana.

The reservation includes land in Flathead, Lake, Missoula, and Sanders Counties in Montana

Additional References to the History of the Tribe and/or Band

 * Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Flathead tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.
 * The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia online also includes some history of the Flatheads.
 * An interesting timeline of tribal history of the Flathead Tribe is also available online.

Tribal Headquarters
Confederated Salish &amp; Kootenai Tribes 42487 Complex Blvd. PO Box 278 Pablo, MT 59855 Ph. 406-675-2700 Toll free 888-835-8766 Fax 406-675-2806 Email - info@cskt.org

Agency Records
The following agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs had jurisdiction over the Flathead for the time periods indicated. BIA agencies were responsible to keep such records as census rolls, allotment (land) records, annuity rolls, school records, correspondence, and other records of individual Indians under their jurisdiction. For details, see the page for the respective agency.

Flathead Agency, 1854-1857, 1861-present Washington East of the Cascades Agency, 1857-1861

Census Records
The Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled annual Indian Census Rolls on many of the reservations from 1885 to 1940. They list the names of individuals, their age, and other details about each person enumerated. For more information about these records, click here.

The following table lists the census rolls for the Flathead Indians:

Correspondence Records
There are several sets of correspondence between the supervising offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the local offices -- agencies, subagencies, etc. The correspondence is often historical in nature, including reports of the conditions among local groups of Indians, hostilities, plans for building facilities, activities of traders or missionaries, etc. Occasionally, there will be names of individuals but little detail about them. For more information about American Indian correspondence, click here.

The following table lists some correspondence relating to the Flathead Indians:

Enrollment Records
In 1905, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs assigned Special Agent Thomas Downs to investigate the enrollment of the Indians of the Flathead Reservation. The National Archives has microfilmed the resulting documents as their Microcopy M1350, consisting of 3 rolls of microfilm. These records are available at the National Archives and their Regional Archives, and at other research institutions, including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The records include census rolls for 1903, 1905, and 1908, as well as applications for enrollment and Agent Downs' field notes. It includes members of all tribes then living on the Flathead Reservation, including the Flathead, Kootenai, Pend d'Oreille, Kalispel, and Spokane tribes.

Land Records
Flathead Allotment Records, 1889 -- List of those signing consents for land transfer.

Montana Flathead Land Patents, 1908 -- Abstracts of names beginning A-D

Those who signed consents to be removed from the Bitter Root Valley to the Jocko Reservation in 1890 are included in a list taken from the book entitled Flathead Indians of Bitter Root Valley. An abstract of the list is also available online.

Treaties
During the latter part of the 18th Century and most of the 19th Century, treaties were negotiated between the federal government and individual Indian tribes. The treaties provide helpful information about the history of the tribe, but usually only include the names of those persons who signed the treaty. For more information about treaties, click here.

Treaties to which the Flathead Indians were a part were:


 * 1855 October 17, Territory of Nebraska, Treaty with the Blackfeet
 * 1855 July 16, at Hell Gate in Bitter Root Valley,Treaty with Flatheads Etc.,

Tribal Office Records
The Tribal Office is responsible for enrollment records, vital records, tribal police records, tribal court records, employment records and many others. They are an entirely different set of records from those kept by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Most of them remain in the Tribal Office. For details, contact that office at the address for the Tribal Headquarters listed above.

Vital Records
Prior to the Indian Reorganization Act, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, through their agencies, may have recorded some vital events. Some were recorded on health forms, such as the "Sanitary Record of Sick, Injured, Births, Deaths, etc." Others were recorded as supplements to the "Indian Census Rolls." Some were included in the unindexed reports and other correspondence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Some vital records for the Flathead Indians include:


 * Flathead Agency, M595, births and deaths, 1924-1934, FHL Film: 576469 and births and deaths, 1927-1937, FHL Film: 576471. FHL Film: 576468 also includes supplemental rolls of the Flathead (Montana) Agency

Important Web Sites

 * Constitution and By-laws of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation
 * State Office of Indian Affairs website for the Confederated Salish &amp; Kootenai Tribes
 * Tribal website for the Confederated Salish &amp; Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation of Montana
 * Wikipedia article for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation
 * Wikipedia article about the Flathead Indian Reservation

Flathead

 * Fahey, John. The Flathead Indians. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974. FHL book 970.3 Sa34f
 * Ronan, Peter. History of the Flathead Indians. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Ross &amp; Haines, [1890]. FHL book 970.3 Sa34r; also on microfiche 6093790.

General

 * Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
 * Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
 * Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.


 * Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean
 * Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America
 * Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau
 * Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands


 * Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978–.


 * Volume 1 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751
 * Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371
 * Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.
 * Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.
 * Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.
 * Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311
 * Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.
 * Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.
 * Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.
 * Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.
 * Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.
 * Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643
 * Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176
 * Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.
 * Volume 16 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746
 * Volume 18 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 19 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 20 -- Not yet published


 * Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
 * Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.