The Pend d’Oreille Tribe, whose modern name comes from the French, meaning “hangs from ears”, is one of the many Plateau Indian tribes that occupied the area from western Montana to the Cascade Range on the Pacific Coast for over 10,000 years.
Living by the traditions of the Plateau Indians and the Great Plains Indians, the Pend d’Oreille lived in stationary huts, fished, and hunted a variety of game, but later adopted the teepee and hunted bison.
Generally a peaceful tribe, their warring and raiding activity rose throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, as encroaching European settlers began occupying their land, and enemy tribes from the Great Plains acquired horses and pushed them further west.
In the late 19th century, the Pend d’Oreille were forced onto the Flathead Indian Reservation of northwestern Montana, where they reside today. Read on for the complete, condensed history of the Pend d’Oreille tribe of Montana.
History of the Pend d’Oreille Tribe [CONDENSED]
Table of contents:
Origins
The Pend d’Oreille Tribe was one of the many tribes that lived on what is called the Pacific Plateau, an area that encompasses western Montana, Idaho, Washington, British Columbia, and parts of northern California.
The Plateau Indians differ greatly from the Great Plains Indians in that they are largely understood to be peaceful, mostly stationary tribes, that lived in subterranean huts while establishing semi-mobile camps during the summer months.
As it is with most Native American tribes, historians rely on archeological discoveries and the Pend d’Oreille’s oral histories to determine how far back this tribe lived here, and how their ways of life have evolved over time.
Ice age
The Pend d’Oreille Tribe’s oral history places them on this land of northwest America roughly 12,000 years ago, near the end of the last ice age. However, various oral histories of different, semi-related Salish tribes of the region describe events that coincide with events that took place up to 40,000 years ago, before the end of the last ice age.
The Pacific Plateau Indians are often called Salish as most of the tribes of this region, including the Pend d’Oreille, speak some form of the Salish language. While these tribes originate from a relatively small, close-knit area, over time they expanded, branching out, and settling in new areas across the plateau.
Some settled as far south as northern California, others settled further north in areas of present-day British Columbia, and others, such as the Bitterroot Salish and the Pend d’Oreille, settled furthest east of all of the Salish tribes, straddling the Continental Divide until the powerful Blackfeet Tribe pushed them back west to the Flathead Valley.
Settling in Montana
Roughly 5,000 years ago, the Pend d’Oreille migrated east to an area covering present-day Montana, Idaho, and Washington.
As settlers began arriving in the area, they started referring to the two distinct tribes of Pend d’Oreille as the “Upper” and “Lower” Pend d’Oreille, with the Upper tribes living upstream in present-day Montana and Idaho, around the drainage system of the Flathead, Clark Fork, and Pend d’Oreille Rivers.
The “Lower” Pend d’Oreille resided around the present-day Pend d’Oreille River in eastern Washington. The “lower” group was also known as the Kalispel, which is an anglicization of Qlispe, their name in their native tongue
The Pend d’Oreille’s name in their language is Silkatkmlschi, which means, “People who live along the broad water”, referring to Flathead Lake.
However, the tribe received its present name, “Pend d’Oreille”, from French settlers who identified them by the large earrings they were known for wearing. Pend d’Oreille literally means “hangs from ears” in French.
Lifestyle
As I mentioned above, the Salish Indians of the Pacific Plateau were notable for their generally peaceful way of life, rarely warring with neighboring tribes, and living a more sedentary life with limited mobility and subtle migrations during the summer months.
However, the lifestyles of each band of Salish Indians varied drastically. For example, the western Salish tribes were well known for their hand-crafted canoes and totem poles. However, eastern Salish tribes, such as the Pend d’Oreille, have almost no tradition of totem pole construction and rarely built canoes, as their rivers were too rough.
Food
The Salish Indian Tribes lived off various foods, depending on their location. Generally, these tribes relied heavily on fishing, catching primarily bull trout, cutthroat, mountain whitefish, sucker fish, and northern pikeminnow.
They also relied heavily on roots, berries, and herbs for subsistence, foraging for camas root, serviceberries, elderberries, huckleberries, and chokecherries. They hunted a variety of game, including elk and deer.
Because the Pend d’Oreille straddled the area of the Continental Divide in present-day Montana, they lived by the ways of both the Plateau Indians and the tribes of the Northern Great Plains. They relied heavily on foraging for various roots, such as the camas root, and hunted a variety of game, but also traveled east to the plains several times a year to hunt bison.
Homes
The Salish tribes of the Pacific Plateau used a variety of stationary homes during the winter months and used mobile, teepee-like structures in the summer.
Their homes included the pit home, which was a partially subterranean domicile dug out from the ground with a conical structure of log poles, saplings, and mats serving as a roof. The smoke hole in the top also served as the entrance.
However, the Salish also built larger, communal homes, called A-frames, which reached up to 300 to 900 ft² (28 to 85 m²) in area and housed several families. These homes could reach up to 60 ft (18 m) long and 15 ft (4.5 m) wide and featured hearths placed at intervals down the center, each of which would be shared by two families.
Their more mobile structures resembled a traditional Plains Indian teepee, though instead of hides, they used tule mats constructed from cattail plants as a covering.
As you would expect, the Pend d’Oreille originally lived in more stationary structures. However, the influence of the Great Plains tribes spread, and the Pend d’Oreille, who weren’t far from the Plains, adopted a more mobile way of life, hunting bison and increasingly using fully mobile teepees with canvas instead of tule mats as covering.
Clothing
Many Plateau Indians wore bark breechcloth, aprons, and twined bark ponchos. When it was cold, the men would wear fur leggings and adorn themselves in blankets made from rabbit and other animals.
However, by the 19th century, with further adoption of Plains Indians’ ways, many Pend d’Oreille tribesmen wore breechcloths, leggings, and shirts, while women wore leggings and dresses.
Around this time other clothing items, such as headbands, hats, and feathered battle regalia also became common.
Encroachment (1700s, 1800s, 1900s)
The Pend d’Oreille likely faced many challenges over the thousands of years they lived on the Pacific Plateau, such as changing climates, shifting tribal relations, and fluctuating resource availability. However, the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries brought about unprecedented challenges that would nearly stamp out their entire way of life.
The influx of European settlers, fur trappers, and homesteaders, as well as numerous failed treaties with the U.S. government, pushed the Pend d’Oreille off their lands as more and more of their historic territory was ceded to the United States.
By the 20th century, the Pend d’Oreille had been forced onto a reservation in northwestern Montana (Flathead Indian Reservation, then called the Jocko Indian Reservation), which comprised a mere 8% of their historic territory. They faced devastating poverty, starvation, and suppression of their spiritual beliefs and traditional ways of life, which they would struggle to overcome for decades.
1700s – Guns, horses, and the neighboring threats
The 1700s marked the acquisition of horses for the Pend d’Oreille and many other tribes. However, until the Pend d’Oreille acquired firearms from the fur trade, they faced a major threat from their neighboring, fearsome Blackfeet Tribe.
Having already acquired firearms from the Hudson Bay Company, the Blackfeet waged major war on neighboring tribes, pushing the Pend d’Oreille off their lands and further west of the Continental Divide.
They only made a handful of trips east each year to hunt bison on the northern plains. However, by the mid-1800s, the Pend d’Oreille received firearms from the fur trade and substantially regained military parity.
1800s – Encroachment, disease
The 1800s marked a period of increasing encroachment from European settlers on the lands of the Pend d’Oreille and neighboring tribes, such as the Kootenai and Bitterroot Salish.
The most fundamental change came with the Hellgate Treaty of 1855, under which the 1,317,000-acre (533,000-ha) Flathead Indian Reservation was carved out of 22+ million acres (8,903,000 ha) of original tribal territory.
Hellgate Treaty of 1855
In 1855, head chiefs of the Pend d’Oreille, Bitterroot Salish, and Kootenai Tribes met with the Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Washington Territory Isaac Stevens to discuss a peace treaty.
The treaty negotiations were marked by poor translations, miscommunication, disguised intentions, and deception.
The chiefs that were present included Victor of the Bitterroot Salish Tribe, Alexander of the Pend d’Oreilles tribe, and Michelle of the Kootenai Tribe.
They arrived with the understanding that they were there to formalize a friendship with the settlers. However, after several painful negotiations, it became clear that Stevens’ intentions were to cede most of the tribal territory to the U.S. government.
The Hellgate Treaty of 1855 established the Flathead Indian Reservation with headquarters in the Jocko Valley near present-day Arlee.
The Pend d’Oreille and Kootenai were forced onto the reservation shortly after. However, the Bitterroot Salish, who occupied the highly sought-after Bitterroot Valley south of the Flathead Valley, refused to move. But by 1891, they too were forced onto the reservation in what has become known as the “Montana Trail of Tears”.
It’s important to note that throughout this time, the tribes of this region, including the Pend d’Oreille, faced serious population decline due to smallpox and other European diseases.
1900s – Poverty, starvation, suppression of traditional ways of life
In return for moving onto the reservation, the federal government promised the Pend d’Oreille rations, land, and support for developing their own agriculture and other skills for subsistence. However, many of these promises were never fulfilled.
The Pend d’Oreille and other tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation soon faced serious impoverishment and hardships.
Indian Termination Policy
During the period of Indian Termination of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, the Pend d’Oreille and other tribes of the reservation were forbidden from practicing their traditional ways of life, speaking their language, and wearing their traditional dress.
Children were separated from families and forced into boarding schools where they were forbidden from speaking their native tongue. In general, the government targeted tribes to dismantle their sovereignty.
1904 Flathead Allotment Act
In 1904, the federal government violated another promise to the tribes by establishing the Flathead Allotment Act, which sectioned off portions of land to the natives while putting the remaining land up for sale to homesteaders.
It wasn’t until decades later that the tribes on the reservation were allowed to revive their culture and bring some of their traditional ways of life back into existence. Some of these changes began with the implementation of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA).
1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)
The 1934 IRA was an initiative from John Collier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). It was the centerpiece of the federal government’s efforts to change its approach to the tribes and improve conditions on the reservations.
Although controversial, the IRA still ended allotments and allowed tribes to govern themselves.
The tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation formed their first government in 1934, which excluded Pend d’Oreille and Kootenai Chiefs from its council.
But by 1935, a new constitution was created, and the official Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes organization was formed (which included the Pend d’Oreille), with a government elected by a tribal council.
1960s to today – Revitalization
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation developed various education programs and cultural revitalization spread across the reservation.
The federal government continued to make an effort to improve the quality of life on the Indian reservations without interfering with tribal government. Over time, the tribes developed large and sophisticated governments.
Today, the Two Eagle School on the Flathead Indian Reservation teaches tribal culture and the accredited Salish Kootenai College offers bachelor and associate degrees.
The tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation, including the Pend d’Oreille, have also established a Natural Resources Department, which is known as one of the most accomplished natural resources management departments in the nation.
The department marries the technical prowess of its scientific staff with the tribes’ traditional values and wisdom, the latter of which is rooted in centuries of conservation biology and observing interactions with the natural world.
Legacy of timeless ethics
The Pend d’Oreille Tribe’s way of life is deeply ingrained in the exchange and interaction between people and the land. The tribe has an innate and deep sense of what is appropriate for the people and the land.
The Pend d’Oreille Tribe faced numerous challenges over the thousands of years they occupied this area of present-day Montana, Idaho, and Washington, many of which are beyond our knowledge but likely include climate changes, shifting tribal relations, and varying resource availability.
Nonetheless, the Pend d’Oreille’s way of life, rooted in their relationship with the natural world and the stewardship of natural resources sustained the tribe for thousands of years, generation after generation.
Histories of other Montana’s Native American Tribes
- The history of the Crow Indian tribe [CONDENSED]
- History of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe [CONDENSED]
- History of the Blackfeet Tribe [CONDENSED]
- History of the Bitterroot Salish Tribe [CONDENSED]
- History of the Assiniboine Tribe
- The 11 Native American Tribes that lived in Montana before colonists arrived
header image: United States Library of Congress’ Prints and Photographs division,
under the digital ID cph.3g11445
