The Kalispel Indian Community of the Kalispel Reservation is a
federally recognized tribe
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
of Lower
Kalispel people, located in
Washington. They are an
Indigenous people of the Northwest Plateau
Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians (though comprising many groups) are indigenous peoples of the Interior of British Columbia ...
.
Reservation
The Kalispel Reservation, located in
Usk in
Pend Oreille County, Washington. It was founded in 1914 and is large.
[
]
Government
The tribe's headquarters is in Cusick, Washington
Cusick (Salish: čmq̓ʷoqnú )) is a town in Pend Oreille County, Washington, United States. The population was 207 at the 2010 census. Cusick is the headquarters of the federally recognized Kalispel Indian Community of the Kalispel Reservation. ...
. The tribe is governed by a democratically elected, five-member tribal council. The general council, composed of enrolled members over the age of 18, vote in a general election the first Friday of June every year. Council members are elected for three-year terms. Members must cast their ballots in person, as there is no absentee voting allowed. The elected council members then vote for the officer positions. When voting on government and business matters the Chairman does not vote unless there is a tie. The current administration is as follows:
* Chairman: Glen Nenema
* Vice-Chairman: Curt Holmes
* Secretary: Betty Jo Piengkham
* Council Member: Nicholas Pierre
* Council Member: Sonny Bigsmoke
Chairman Glen Nenema has been Chairman for over four decades and is the longest consecutively elected tribal chairman in the United States.
Language
Traditionally, Kalispel people spoke the Kalispel language
The Salish or Séliš language , also known as Kalispel–Pend d'oreille, Kalispel–Spokane–Flathead, or Montana Salish to distinguish it from other Salishan languages, is a Salishan language spoken (as of 2005) by about 64 elders of the Flat ...
, an Interior Salish language
The Interior Salish languages are one of the two main branches of the Salishan languages, Salishan language family, the other being Coast Salish languages, Coast Salish. It can be further divided into Northern and Southern subbranches. The first S ...
.[
]
History
Kalispel people are thought to have come from British Columbia. In the 18th century, the Niitsitapi
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
people pushed them from the Great Plains
The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
to Pend d'Oreille River and Lake Pend Oreille.[ The town of Kalispell, Montana is named after the tribe.
In 1809, David Thompson opened a trading post for the ]North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
of Montréal in their territory.[ A Roman Catholic mission was founded in the 1840s.][Pritzker 258] The Upper Kalispel were forced onto an Indian reservation
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
in Montana, while the Lower Kalispel remained on their homelands in Washington.["Kalispel Tribe."]
''Northwest Portland Art Indian Health Board.'' Retrieved 28 July 2013.
The tribe refused to sign a treaty proposed by the US government in 1872. In 1875, there were only 395 Lower Kalispel. Non-Natives claimed reservation lands under the Homestead Act, and economic opportunities for tribal members were minimal. In 1965, the average tribal member's income was $1,400, and there was only one telephone for the entire tribe.[
]
Economic development
The tribe owns and operates the Northern Quest Resort & Casino
Northern Quest Resort & Casino is an Indian casino in Airway Heights, Washington, near Spokane, owned and operated by the Kalispel Tribe. It has a 250-room hotel, a spa, and 14 restaurants and lounges. The casino has of gaming space, with over ...
, located in Airway Heights, Washington
Airway Heights is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, just west of Spokane. The population was 10,757 at the 2020 census. The city's name was taken from its close proximity to the runways at Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane ...
. The resort features Masselow's, Epic Sports Bar, Fai's Noodle House, Qdoba, Rivers Edge Buffet, Fatburger, The Deli, Marketplace, Thomas Hammer Coffee, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, and Movie & Dinner Theatre as well as several bars and nightclubs: Legends of Fire, Fireside Lounge, Liquid, and the Turf, and La Rive Spa.
The tribe owns the franchise rights to Fatburger in the Eastern Washington region, having opened a restaurant in Spokane's 5-Mile district."Fatburger".
''Kalispel Tribe of Indians.'' Retrieved 8 December 2013.
Notes
References
* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .
External links
Kalispel Tribe of Indians
official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalispel Indian Community of the Kalispel Reservation
Native American tribes in Washington (state)
Geography of Pend Oreille County, Washington
Federally recognized tribes in the United States
Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau