The Methow ( ) are a Native American tribe that lived along the

Methow River The Methow River ( ) is a tributary of the Columbia River in northern Washington in the United States. The river's watershed drains the eastern North Cascades, with a population of about 5,000 people. The Methow's watershed is characterized by re ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

in northern

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. The river's English name is taken from that of the tribe. The name "Methow" comes from the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is par ...

placename ''/mətxʷú/'', meaning "sunflower (seeds)". The tribe's name for the river was ''Buttlemuleemauch'', meaning "salmon falls river". The Methow were a relatively small tribe, with an estimated population of 800 in 1780 and 300 in 1870. Today, the Methow live primarily on the

Colville Indian Reservation The Colville Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the northwest United States, in north central Washington, inhabited and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is federally recognized. Established in ...

in Washington, where they form part of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is recognized by the United States government as an

American Indian Tribe In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, tribal nation, or similar concept is any extant or historical clan, Tribe (Native American)#Other uses, tribe, Tribe (Native American), band, nation, ...

. The Methow now speak English. Their endangered language, known as

Colville-Okanagan Okanagan, or Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən (n̓səl̓xcin̓, n̓syilxčn̓), is a Salish language which arose among the indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau region based primarily in the Okanagan River Basin and the Columbia R ...

, spoken only by older adults, is a part of the Southern

Interior Salish The Interior Salish languages are one of the two main branches of the Salishan language family, the other being Coast Salish. It can be further divided into Northern and Southern subbranches. The first Salishan people encountered by American exp ...

linguistic branch.

Notes

{{authority control Native American tribes in Washington (state) Interior Salish People from Okanogan County, Washington