The Salish Tribe also referred to as the Flathead was a large and powerful division of the Salishan family, to which they gave their name. They inhabited much of western Montana, centered around the Flathead Lake and valley. They were called the Flathead Indians by Lewis and Clark when they came upon them in 1806. Though the name is often said to derive from the flat skull produced by binding infant’s skulls with boards, this is a myth. The tribe never practiced head flattening but were called “flat head” because the tops of their heads were not pointed like those of neighboring tribes who practiced vertical head-binding. The Flathead called themselves Séliš (pronounced SEH-lish), anglicized as Salish, meaning “the people.”

In the spring and summer, they gathered roots, vegetables, and berries and caught many types of fish, some of which they dried for use throughout the year. In the fall, the men mainly hunted deer and elk, and the women dried meats and prepared hides for clothing. They also hunted buffalo, but this was less frequent as they were cut off from the buffalo country by their powerful enemies, the Blackfeet. They colored their clothing with natural dyes and decorated them with porcupine quills. They fashioned tools from stone, bones, and wood. They lived in houses made of bark and reeds, as well as in the skin tipis.

The fur trade began in earnest in the area in the early 1800s after the Lewis and Clark expedition. Trappers eliminated countless animals, profoundly changing the tribe’s way of life. Between 1815 and 1820, the Iroquois came to the territory, bringing word of the powerful “black robes,” the Jesuit missionaries who had ministered to them since the 1600s. Earlier, a Salish prophet, Shining Shirt, envisioned men in long black robes coming to the Salish people to offer different medicines and prayers. The Salish saw the Iroquois stories as a sign and invited the Jesuits to Western Montana. Unbeknownst to them, the Jesuits were trying to assimilate the tribe through religious conversion. The Salish would be forced to abandon much of their culture and spiritual practices in the following years. However, Jesuit missionary Pierre Jean De Smet, who in 1841 founded the mission of St. Mary in the Bitterroot Valley among the Salish, persuaded the Blackfeet to make peace.

The Salish, along with the Pend d’Oreille and the Kootenai tribes, ceded their lands in Montana and Idaho to the United States by the Treaty of Hell Gate on July 16, 1855. However, most Salish Indians avoided moving to the reservation until about 1872.

Today, they form part of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes who live on the 1.3 million-acre Flathead Reservation in northwest Montana.

 

Compiled by Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2025.

Also See:

Native American Tribes

Indians and Emigrants on the Overland Trails

Native Americans – First Owners of America

Native American Photo Galleries

Native American Proverbs & Wisdom

See Sources.