Salish

Quinaielt Tribe

Quinaielt Indians. A Salish tribe on Quinaielt river, Washington and along the coast between the Quileute and the Quaitso on the north (the latter of which probably formed a part of the tribe), and the Chehalis on the south.  Lewis and Clark described them in two divisions, the Calasthocle and the Quiniilt, with 100 and 1,000 population, respectively.  In 1909 they numbered 156, under the Puyallup school superintendency. For Further Study The following articles and manuscripts will shed additional light on the Quinaielt as both an ethnological study, and as a people. For their treaty with the United States, see … Read more

Puyallup Tribe

Puyallup Indians. An important Salish tribe on Puyallup River and Commencement Bay, west Washington. According to Gibbs, their designation is the Nisqualli name for the mouth of Puyallup River, but Evans says the name means ‘shadow,’ from the dense shade of its forests. By treaty at Medicine Creek, Wash., Dec. 26, 1854, the Puyallup and other tribes at the head of Puget Sound ceded their lands to the United States and agreed to go upon a reservation set apart for them on the sound near Shenahnam Creek, Wash. In 1901 there were 536 on Puyallup Reservation, Wash.; in 1909, 469.

Salish Tribe

Salish Indians. (Okinagan: sälst, ‘people’). Formerly a large and powerful division of the Salishan family, to which they gave their name, inhabiting much of west Montana and centering around Flathead lake and valley. A more popular designation for this tribe is Flatheads, given to them by the surrounding people, not because they artificially deformed their heads, but because, in contradistinction to most tribes farther west, they left them in their natural condition, flat on top. They lived mainly by hunting. The Salish, with the cognate Pend d’Oreille and the Kutenai, by treaty of Hell Gate, Montana, July 16, 1855, ceded … Read more

Suquamish Tribe

Suquamish Indians. A Salish division on the west side of Puget Sound, Washington.  According to Paige they claimed the land from Appletree cove in the north to Gig Harbor in the south.  Seattle, who gave his name to the city, was chief of this tribe and the Dwamish in 1853. Population 441 in 1857, 180 in 1909.

Nooksak Tribe

Nooksak Indians (‘mountain men’).  The name given by the Indians on the coast to a Salish tribe, said to be divided into three small bands on a river of the same name in Whatcom County, Washington.  About 200 Nooksak were officially enumerated in 1906, but Hill-Tout says there are only about 6 true make Nooksak.  They speak the same dialect as the Squawmish, from whom they are said to have separated.

Salishan Indian Dialects

The Salishan dialects may be grouped as follows: Dialects of the Interior Lillooet in west British Columbia Ntlakyapamuk (Thompson Indians) in south west British Columbia Shusowap in south central British Columbia Okinagan in south east British Columbia, extending into the United States, the subdivisions of which are Okinagan proper Colville Nespelim or Sanpoil Senijextee (Snaichekstik) of the Arrow lakes and Columbia river below the lakes Flathead in eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana, subdivisions of which are Spokan Kalispel or Peud d’Oreilles Salish or Flathead Skitswish or Coeur d’Alènes in nothern Idaho Columbia groups in the west part of the interior … Read more

Sinkiuse – Sinkyone Tribe

Sinkiuse Tribe, Sinkyone Tribe, Sinkiuse Indains, Sinkyone Indians. A former division of Salish, under Chief Moses, living on the East side of Columbia River from Ft. Okinakane to the neighborhood of Point Eaton, Washington.  Hale classed them as a division of the Pisquows. Population 355 in 1905, 299 in 1908, 540 (with others?) in 1990. In the summer of 1878,the citizens of the eastern portion of Washington Territory were alarmed by the excitement among the Indians, growing out of the outbreak of the Shoshones; and in some places measures for self-protection were deemed necessary. Chief Moses and his band, numbering … Read more

Spokane Tribe

Mr. and Mrs. Three Mountain, Washington State, circa 1920

Spokan Tribe, Spokan Indians, Spokane Indians. A name applied to several small bodies of Salish on and near Spokane River, north east Washington.  According to Gibbs the name was originally employed by the Skitswish to designate a band at the forks of the river, called also Smahoomenaish.  by the whites it was extended to cover several nearly allied divisions, which Gibbs enumerates as follows: Sin-slik-ho-ish, Sintootoolish, Sma-hoo-men-a-ish (Spokenish), Skai-schil-t’nish, ske-chei-a-mouse, Schu-el-stish, Sin-poil-schne, Sin-shee-lish.  The last two were claimed by the Okinagan also.  All of them are now held to be separate divisions and not bands of one tribe.  The population … Read more

Ntlakyapamuk Tribe

Ntlakyapamuk Indians. One of the four great Salish tribes inhabiting the interior of British Columbia and popularly called Thompson Indian from the river on which a large part of them live. Internally they are divided into the Lower Thonlpsons living from a short distance below Spuzzum on Fraser river, nearly to the village of Cisco, and the Upper Thompson, whose towns extend from tile latter point nearly to Lillooet on the Fraser, to within a short distance of Ashcroft on the Thompson, and over all of Nicola valley. The Upper Thompsons are subdivided by Teit into 4 minor bands, the … Read more

Shahaptian Indians

Shahaptian Family, Shahaptian Indians (from Saptini, pl. Sháptini, the Salish name for the Nez Percé). An important linguistic family occupying what is now south west Idaho, south east  Washington, and north east Oregon. The earlier, territory of the Shahaptian tribes extended from the Rocky mountains to the Cascade range, and from the Yakima river basin to the Blue mountains of Oregon. This territory was overstepped at various times, particularly by the Klikitat in the west who crossed the Cascades and occupied the headwaters of Cowlitz, Lewis, and White Salmon rivers, and even pushed temporarily as far south as Willamette valley after … Read more

The Duke Of York – Cheetsamahoin

The Duke Of York – Cheetsamahoin, who was usually styled His Royal Highness, the Duke of York, appears to have been chief of the tribe of the Clallams.

Duwamish Tribe

Chief Seattle

A small body of Salish near Seattle, Washington, which city was named from a chief of these and the Suquamish Indians.  Their proper seat, according to Gibbs, was at the outlet of Lake Washington.  In 1856 they were removed to the east shore of Bainbridge Island, but owing to the absence of a fishing ground were shortly afterwards taken to Holderness point, on the west side of Elliot Bay, which was already a favorite place for fishing. The name, being well known, has been improperly applied collectively to a number of distinct bands in this neighborhood.  Their population about 1856 … Read more

Salish Indians

Salish Indians. In western Montana originally, extending from the Rocky Mountains on the west; south to the Gallatin; east to Crazy Mountain and Little Belt Ranges, north to some hilly country north of Helena. Later they were centered farther west around Flathead Lake. The Salish belonged to the interior division of the Salishan linguistic family, to which they have given their name.