The Bitterroot Salish: Expelled from Their Namesake Valley

The valley the road runs through carries the name of the bitterroot flower, a small pink bloom that the Salish people of this region harvested as food. The Bitterroot Salish, sometimes called the Flathead, though they did not practice head-flattening, occupied this valley for centuries before Lewis and Clark came through in eighteen oh five. The valley's name is theirs. What happened to the people who named it is almost entirely absent from the roadside.

The eighteen fifty-five Hellgate Treaty, negotiated at present-day Missoula, was ambiguous about what would happen to the Bitterroot Salish and whether they could remain in their valley or would be required to move to the Flathead Reservation north of Missoula. The treaty's wording created a dispute that lasted decades, with the Bitterroot Salish arguing they had a right to remain and federal officials arguing they did not. An eighteen seventy-one executive order settled the dispute in the government's favor, though enforcement waited until eighteen ninety-one. The entire Bitterroot Salish community was removed to the Flathead Reservation by military escort.

Some refused to go for years. Chief Charlo, the Bitterroot Salish leader, stayed until he had no remaining choice. He reportedly wept when he finally left the valley his people had occupied since before any American had a name for this part of the continent.

Today the Bitterroot Valley is known for cattle ranches, second homes, and the mountain backdrop that has made it one of the fastest-growing corridors in Montana. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes maintain their government and cultural center at Pablo, on the Flathead Reservation north of Missoula. The Bitterroot has no interpretive presence acknowledging the people it was named for.