The Valley the Kalispel Never Ceded
A federal allotting agent explains how the Kalispel Valley was divided into individual parcels—after much of it had already been treated as public domain and claimed by white homesteaders.
The rapidly vanishing Calispel Indians will soon be located on land allotted them by the United States government, where they may live unmolested until the tribe is completely exterminated.
Clair Hunt, allotting agent, has returned to Calispel on the Pend Oreille River to complete the allotment. The Calispels will be given the choicest land in the Pend Oreille valley—land which the tribe has occupied so long that tradition fails to tell when first they came.
The Calispels formerly occupied the entire Calispel valley, probably 20 miles long and five or six miles wide, with mountains on either side. On this valley fishing was always good, and the excellent hunting in the adjacent foothills and mountains has been traditional. It is the land on the east side of the river which is now being given to the remaining members of the tribe.
'The Calispels have no treaty with the government, and for that reason have no reservation,' said Clair Hunt. 'The government is providing them with lands in the valley where they have lived so long, in order that no idle class may be thrown on the white population.
'The land we are now dividing among the Calispels was first treated as public domain, and much homesteading was done before Indian rights were recognized at all. In 1895 the land not taken by whites and occupied by this tribe was defined, and no further entries were allowed on it. Now it is being allotted in individual allotments to Indians of the tribe.
'The chief of the Calispels is S-ch-ki-a-ki. The whites call him Masalaw. His authority over his people is absolute.
'The tribal customs obtain. Until 1888 the land was owned in common. Private ownership was hardly recognized up to 1895. The whites began to come in a little before 1888, and the Indians got an idea of the private ownership of land. Log cabins were built. Previous to this time the Indians lived in tepees. While they lived in tepees they moved about, accommodating themselves to the seasons and ability to get food. Various camping grounds were used for different seasons of the year. Now each family has certain parts of the valley which it claims.
'The Calispels have never received any assistance from the government. The tribe has always been and is now self-supporting. At the present time a large proportion get their subsistence by digging camas, a plant which grows about two feet high, with a purple flower and a tuber. Camas are dug for the tuber, which is rich in starch. This is dried and eaten.
'With camas, fishing and hunting the Calispels live comfortably on the fat of the land. Often the men and women go on a 10-day hunting trip and return with the horses loaded down with huckleberries, which the women have picked, and with deer and bear meat. The meat is all dried in the mountains, where the hunting takes place. Seldom is this meat used before winter.
'The Calispels take kindly to allotments. They are clannish, however, and would rather enjoy the pleasure of living with or near their friends than receive a larger allotment in some reservation. There is not enough land in the Pend Oreille to give each Calispel 80 acres. Consequently the government has offered the alternative of living on some reservation or else of receiving less than 80 acres. In every case the Indians chose to divide the land and live among their own people.
'Surveys are being made now. When they are concluded, which will be in about 60 days, the allotments will all be made on the same day. The land is classified. Only 40 acres of the best land is given each Indian, or 80 acres of less fertile land. Children receive the same amount as adults.
'After the land is allotted, that which is given the Indians who work it because of infirmity or old age may be sold or leased. The land may be sold outright, which is a departure from the usual custom. This can only be done where the Indian is old and decrepit and to whom the land means nothing. Indian Agent Captain Webster passes on all cases of land which is sold. In all cases the land is sold to the highest bidder. Sealed bids are called for, and the government reserves the right to reject any and all bids. The land is first appraised, and if the bids do not equal or exceed the appraised value they will be discarded by Capt. Webster.'
“The land we are now dividing among the Calispels was first treated as public domain, and much homesteading was done before Indian rights were recognized at all.”
The allotment described here came without a treaty and after white homesteaders had already claimed much of the valley—a pattern repeated across Indigenous lands in the West. The Kalispel Tribe survived the allotment era and still governs reservation and trust lands in Pend Oreille County; the story is a reminder that land title, federal policy and tribal sovereignty remain live civic questions, not closed history.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.