Salish and Kootenai Indian Chiefs Speak for Their People and Land, 1865-1909 - by Robert J Bigart & Joseph McDonald (Paperback)

About the Book

This collection includes talks, petitions, or negotiations by Salish and Kootenai Indian chiefs found in the surviving historical record.

Book Synopsis

Named a 2023 Best Historical Material from the American Library Association

This collection includes talks or petitions by Salish and Kootenai chiefs found in the surviving historical record. The Salish and Kootenai Indians of the Flathead Indian Reservation confronted many crises in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The physical and cultural survival of the tribes was challenged by epidemics, intertribal warfare with larger enemy tribes, and an invasion of white settlers. The tribes had to fight to have their voices heard and to get the United States government to keep its promises.

Fortunately, the tribes had capable leaders who spoke up for their interests and negotiated with visiting government officials. The chiefs were able to get sympathetic white men to write letters supporting their efforts to keep a reservation in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana and pressure the government to honor other promises made in the 1855 Hellgate Treaty. In later negotiations their white neighbors coveted tribal land and assets.

Many of the chiefs' statements were preserved in English by newspaper reporters and government clerks. The interpreters in the meetings had to struggle to explain white American cultural concepts of property and right and wrong. They were also challenged in trying to explain Salish and Kootenai values to the white officials.

Review Quotes

"Salish and Kootenai Indian Chiefs Speak for Their People and Land, 1865-1909 would be a welcome addition to college libraries and public libraries with patrons interested in Native American history."--Nancy Dennis, Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association

About the Author

Robert Bigart is librarian emeritus at Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana. Joseph McDonald is president emeritus at Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana.