Pend d'Oreilles

Pend d'Oreilles
Kalispel

Touch Her Dress, a Kalispel girl, ca. 1910
Total population
(over 400)
Regions with significant populations
 United States
( Montana,  Washington)
Languages
Kalispel-Pend d’Oreille, English[1]
Religion
traditional tribal religion
Related ethnic groups
Chewelah,[2] Spokane

The Pend d’Oreilles, also known as the Kalispel, are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Their traditional territory was around Lake Pend Oreille, as well as the Pend Oreille River, and Priest Lake. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington. The primary tribal range from roughly Plains, Montana, westward along the Clark Fork River, Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, and the Pend Oreille River in eastern Washington and into British Columbia (Canada) was given the name Kaniksu by the Kalispel peoples.

They are generally divided geographically and culturally in the Kullyspelm (Upper Kalispel "Pend d’Oreilles") and the Silkatkmlschi (Lower Kalispel "Pend d’Oreilles"). Upper Kalispel people are now enrolled in the federally recognized Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. The Lower Kalispel people are now enrolled in the Kalispel Tribe of Indians in Washington.

Some Kalispel or "Pend d'Oreilles" are also enrolled in the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington.[2]

Name

The name Pend d’Oreille (French: [pɑ̃ dɔʁɛj], "hangs from ears") refers to the large shell earrings that these people wore. The name Kalispel comes from an anglicization of their name Ql̓ispé (IPA: [qəˀlispe], which means "Camas People.[3]

Language

Their language, Kalispel-Pend d’Oreille, is a Southern Interior Salish language. It is also known as Flathead-Kalispel.[1]

Reservations

Pend d'Oreilles people have two reservations: the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana and the Kalispel Indian Reservation in Washington. And a small amount of Pen d'Oreilles people live on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington.[2]

The main part of the Kalispel Reservation is northwest of Newport, Washington, in central Pend Oreille County. The main reservation is an 18.638 square kilometres (7.196 sq mi) strip of land along the Pend Oreille River, west of the Washington–Idaho border. There is also a small parcel of land in the western part of the Spokane metropolitan area in the city of Airway Heights, with a land area of 0.202 square kilometres (50 acres), currently the site of Northern Quest Casino which is operated by the tribe. The total land area of the Kalispel Indian Reservation, located at 48°21′16″N 117°16′25″W / 48.35444°N 117.27361°W / 48.35444; -117.27361 in Pend Oreille County, is 18.840 square kilometres (7.274 sq mi). The nearest outside community is Cusick, near the south end of the reservation.

History

Lake Pend Oreille, traditional Kalispel homeland

Pend d'Oreilles people are believed to have migrated south from British Columbia. In 1809, the North West Company established a trading post in their territory, Kullyspell House.[3] A Roman Catholic mission was established in 1846. In 1855, the tribe split into the upper and lower divisions, with the upper moving to the Flathead Reservation in Montana. One of the two lower bands joined them in 1887.[2]

These people made their weapons and tools from flint, and many other things were shaped with rocks. For housing, the Pend d’Oreilles lived in tipis in the summer, as well as lodges in the winter time. These houses were all built out of large cattails, which were in abundance where the people lived. These cattails were woven into mats called “tule mats” which were attached to a tree branch frame to form a hut. Today a large community building on the Kalispel reservation retains the name “Tule Hut” in remembrance of this traditional housing.

The tribe traded buffalo hides for horses and other useful goods. They traditionally made clothing from rabbit pelts and deer hides.[2] They embellished hides with dyes, paints, beads, and porcupine quills.

The Upper Pend d’Oreilles of the Flathead Reservation became engaged in a dispute over off-reservation hunting between the tribes and the state of Montana, resulting in the Swan Valley Massacre of 1908.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Kalispel-Pend d’Oreille." Ethnologue. Retrieved 5 Aug 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Pritzker 258
  3. 1 2 Pritzker 257

References

Further reading

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