Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation
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Comment by Melissa Smith on June 25th, 2021 at 5:52 pm
This particular piece of history leaves out a HUGE piece of information. The Hellgate Treaty was not agreed upon by all tribal members. Chief Charlo of the Kootenai Tribe refused to sign the treaty. In response, General James Garfield (later President Garfield) FORGED Chief Charlo’s signature. The land was stolen from the Montana tribes. Please don’t whitewash the truth.
Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on June 28th, 2021 at 5:28 pm
Thank you, Melissa, for your comment. The text of the article will be revised appropriately to include that missing information.
Thank you again for taking the time to make NWE a valuable information resource.
Comment by Marianne Addison on November 1st, 2023 at 7:11 pm
There are SO many things wrong with the information presented here. The Salish Tribe did not migrate east. In fact, all the Salish tribes were one great nation headquartered near Three Forks, MT. When the tribe’s population grew too numerous, there were no more game animals to hunt and even fish were scarce. The people learned that it wasn’t right to exhaust the resources and it was more sustainable to live in smaller bands instead of one big tribe. Linguists estimate that the tribe split around 3,000 years ago. Bands of Salish migrated west, north, and east from Three Forks. To say they migrated east to hunt bison is incorrect. In fact, Salish were the main people who occupied most of Montana until westward expansion pushed tribes from their original homelands west causing entire bands of Salish to be wiped out by enemy tribes and to also move west of the mountains for safety purposes.
Also, we DID NOT flatten our heads. A story about the Mystery People who were lost at sea and arrived from the Pacific coast practiced head shaping. They settled around the Flathead Lake and made friends with Salish and Kalispel people. This small group of people were absorbed into the tribes, but overall, Salish and Kalispel people did not practice head flattening whatsoever. The origins of the mystery people are definitely a mystery, but the evidence of their existence was found in burials near the Flathead Lake, Clark Fork River, and Forest Grove, MT. Their skull shapes are similar to the skulls found in Peru where head flattening was common. Whether or not they sailed through the Pacific and ended up on the coast of OR or WA then migrated east from Peru is unknown. I’m just saying that people from my tribe or other tribes around here didn’t do that, but tribes in South America did. Hard to say. Anyways. There was so much inaccurate information that I stopped reading because I was mortified that this is the information shared with the public by an encyclopedia. Do better with your sources, fact checking, and information. If this is wrong, I wonder what other information is wrong. I don’t trust your information now.
Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on November 3rd, 2023 at 5:50 pm
Thank you for your comment.
Sorry that you found problems with this article, and it was upsetting to you.
While it may be true that some of the text in our article is not perfectly clear, such as the part about hunting bison which was a seasonal practice of some Kootenai and not a migration. That will be clarified.
Also, it appears that you did not read all the article, since you have misunderstood what is written about the flattening of heads. Our article states: “The term “Flathead” derives from the flat skull produced by binding infant’s skulls with boards. However, this tribe never practiced head flattening, but rather were called “Flat head” because the tops of their heads were not pointed like those of neighboring tribes people who did practice vertical head-binding.” I believe that states clearly that the Salish did not practice head flattening. Therefore, your comment is misleading.
In any case, the article will be reviewed and revised where appropriate.
Again, thank you for taking the time to comment and help make NWE a valuable information resource.
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Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation
Please post your comments and suggestions for this article.
Comment by TG on December 28th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Once a person has established their sex and/or gender as something other than what they were assigned, the protocol is to refer to them in a way which reflect this, such as a change in pronouns. In the case of Kaúxuma, who said he had been transformed into a man by whites, using “she” is a sign of blatant — if not flagrant — appropriation and disrespect.
The article should respectfully read:
“He continued to act as a shaman and prophet, predicting large numbers of white people coming to the area and bringing diseases. He was killed by Blackfeet while acting as a mediator between them and the Salish (Waldman 2008).”
Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on December 29th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Thank you for your comment. Your point about referring to persons whose gender has been re-assigned using the appropriate pronoun is well taken and the text of the article will be revised to reflect this. However, your suggestion to change the pronoun in the passage referring to Waldman’s text is inappropriate since Waldman continued to refer to Kaúxuma as “she” in his writing despite noting that “she had been transformed into a male.”
Again, thank you for your feedback which helps to make New World Encyclopedia an increasingly valuable resource.
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