The Hellgate Treaty signed at Council Grove near Missoula in 1855 created the Jocko, or Flathead, Indian reservation and was interpreted by the U.S. government as requiring the Pend’Oreille, Kootenai, and Salish tribes to cede all their other lands in western Montana. The Bitterroot Salish disagreed with the federal government's interpretation and believed that the treaty preserved their right to live in the Bitterroot. The Salish fight to protect their right to stay in their homeland, under the leadership of Chief Charlo, is a moving and, ultimately unsuccessful, example of diplomacy--of a passionate attempt to turn a very painful encounter into a workable one. And the tribe's exodus from their traditional homeland was a bitter turning point in their history. The historical events in this saga illustrate the complexities and cultural frameworks underlying European Americans' exploration and settlement of the American West.
Secondary Sources
Bigart, Robert, ed. Life and Death at St. Mary’s Mission. (Pablo, MT: Salish Koontenai College Press, 2005).
Evans, Lucylle H. St. Mary’s in the Rocky Mountains: A History of the Cradle of Montana’s Culture (Stevensville, 1990).
Missoula, Missoulian, August 28, 1941.
Toole, K. Ross Toole. Lecture, “Apostasy” (University of Montana, 1962). Montana Historical Society Research Center video library.
“Relations with the United States Government,” Challenge to Survive, History of the Salish Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation. Unit III: Victor and Alexander Period, 1840-1870. Salish Kootenai College Tribal History Project (Pablo, MT: Salish Kootenai College Press, 2008): 9-28. Read online.
Primary Sources
Bigart, Robert and Clarence Woodcock, In the Name of the Salish & Kootenai Nation: the 1855 Hell Gate Treaty and the Origins of the Flathead Indian Reservation (Pablo, MT: Salish Kootenai College Press, 1966).
Ronan, Margaret, Girl from the Gulches: The story of Mary Ronan, ed. Ellen Baumler (Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 2003), Book 3.
Dunbar, Seymour and Paul C. Phillips, The Journals and Letters of Major John Owen, Pioneer of the Northwest 1850-1871, (Portland, ME: Southworth Press, 1927).
Missoula Missoulian, September 10, 1911.
Primary and Secondary Sources on the Web
Transcript of the Hellgate Treaty
Letter from Chief Victor to Territorial Governor Sidney Edgerton, April 25, 1865
Chief Charlo biography
Vertical Files at the Montana Historical Society
Charlot, Chief (Slem-Hak-Kah “Little claw of Grizzly bear”)
Salish Indians
Victor (Salish Chief)
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