The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho ( Kutenai language: ʔaq̓anqmi) 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

Kootenai people The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, norther ...

, sometimes called the Idaho Ksanka. The Ktunaxa ( ; Kutenai pron. ), also known as Kutenai (), Kootenay (predominant spelling in Canada) and Kootenai (predominant spelling in the United States) 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 ...

. They are one of five federally recognized tribes in the state of Idaho. The others are Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock, and Duck Valley Indian Reservation (Western Shoshone-Northern Paiute).

Reservation

The Kootenai Reservation was first established in 1896. After subsequent land loss, the reservation was re-established in 1974.Pritzker 262 The

reservation __NOTOC__ Reservation may refer to: Places Types of places: * Indian reservation, in the United States * Military base, often called reservations * Nature reserve Government and law * Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty * Reservation in India, ...

is in Boundary County, along U.S. Route 95.

Government

The tribe's headquarters is in

Bonners Ferry, Idaho Bonners Ferry (Kutenai language: ʔaq̓anqmi) is the largest city and the county seat of Boundary County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,543 at the 2010 census. History When gold was discovered in the East Kootenays of British ...

. The tribe is governed by a democratically elected, nine-member tribal council. The current administration is as follows: * Chairman: Gary FX Aitken Jr. * Jennifer Porter * Amethyst Aitken * Ronald Abraham * Diane David * Middle Row: Duane E. Saunders * Louie Abraham * Velma Bahe * Kim Cooper.

Language

Traditionally, Kootenai people have spoken the Kutenai language, a

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...

. It has a dictionary and grammar and is written in the Latin script.

History

The Kootenai people lived along the

Kootenai River The Kootenay or Kootenai river is a major river in the Northwest Plateau, in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, the l ...

in Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia. They were hunter-gatherers, and salmon was an important staple to their diets. They have permanent winter villages of cone-shaped houses made from wooden poles and rush mats. In 1855 the tribe refused to sign a treaty with the US government that would require them to cede their aboriginal lands in Idaho and consolidate with several other smaller tribes in Montana. The Dawes Act broke up tribal land holdings into individual allotments. Due to illegal land loss, the tribe was awarded $425,000 in a land claims settlement in 1960. On September 20, 1974, the 67 members of the Kootenai Tribe formally declared war on the United States, seeking federal Initial demands were for a reservation and compensation for of ancestral They did not engage in violence, and, by calling attention to their situation, the tribe was deeded of federal land surrounding the former mission in Bonners Ferry. It was enacted by S. 634, signed by President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

in October.

Economic development

Since 1986, the Kootenai Tribe has owned and operated the Kootenai River Inn in Bonners Ferry. It is now the Kootenai River Inn Casino and Spa, also has the Springs Restaurant, Casino Deli, the Kootenai Day Spa, and gift shop."Kootenai River Inn Casino & Spa."
''500 Nations.'' Retrieved 31 July 2013. Reservation industries include timber, tourism, and selling sand and gravel. The tribe also owns a

sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretace ...

hatchery.

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

External links

Kootenai Tribe of Idaho
official website
"The Kootenai Tribe’s Forgotten War,"
by Jack McNeel, ''Idaho Public Television''
Tales''
a 1918 book by anthropologist

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kootenai Tribe Of Idaho Ktunaxa governments Native American tribes in Idaho American Indian reservations in Idaho Geography of Boundary County, Idaho Federally recognized tribes in the United States Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau