The Spokan or Spokane people are a
Native American Plateau tribe who inhabit the eastern portion of present-day
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 ...
state and parts of northern
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
in the United States of America.
The current Spokane Indian Reservation is located in northeastern Washington state, centered at
Wellpinit (Sčecuwe). The reservation is located almost entirely in
Stevens County, but also includes two small parcels of land (totaling about ) in
Lincoln County, including part of the
Spokane River
The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city of ...
. In total, the reservation is about .
The city of
Spokane, Washington
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...
(Sʎˈetkʷ) is named after the tribe. It developed along the Spokane River, within the historic ancestral land of the tribe, but not within the reservation (see map).
The
Spokane language (Npoqínišcn) belongs to the
Interior Salishan language family, being a dialect of
Montana Salish
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 Fla ...
. Therefore they are close kin both by language and culture to the neighboring
Bitterroot Salish (Flathead) (Tˈatˈʔayaqn) and
Pend d'Oreilles
The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range a ...
. They were in loose alliance with other Plateau tribes - and sometimes the
Kutenai
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, northern ...
(Sqlˈse),
Crow Nation
The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation loca ...
(Stemčiʔ) and
Cree-Assiniboine (Iron Confederacy) (Ncoʕʷaqs) joined in - against their common enemy (Sˈmen), the mighty
Blackfoot Confederacy
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 ...
(Sčqˈʷišni) and later
Lakota people (Hułnʔixʷtˈusm) on the east. The precontact population of the Spokane people is estimated to be about 1,400 to 2,500 people. The populations of the tribe began to diminish after contact with settlers and traders due to mortality from new infectious diseases endemic among the Europeans, and to which the Spokane had no acquired immunity. By 1829 a
Hudson Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
trader estimated there were about 700 Spokane people in the area. Since the early 20th century, their population has been steadily increasing: in 1985 tribal enrolled membership was reported as 1,961. In 2000 the US census reported the resident population of the reservation to be around 2,000 people.
[
]
Name
The name ''Spokane'' is first recorded in 1807. According to
George Gibbs, the name was used by the
Coeur d'Alene for one specific band of the Spokane, later transferred to all allied bands.
A number of possible interpretations of the name have been proposed.
Most frequently "Sun children", "children of the Sun", or "Muddy people". According to Pritzker (2011), these interpretations are most probably
popular etymologies (or "faulty translations") derived from an actual self-designation of ''Spoqe'ind'', meaning "round head."
The interpretation of "children of the Sun" was reported by Thomas Symons (1882),
who attributed it to
Ross Cox Ross Cox (1793–1853) was an Irish clerk in the Pacific Fur Company and the North West Company, later writing of his experiences.
Life
Ross Cox was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1793, the son of Samuel Cox and Margaret Thorpe. He emigrated to Amer ...
(1831), who mentioned the name of a chief in the region as ''Illim-Spokanée'' "Son of the Sun".
The word for "Sun" is recorded as ''spukani'' for
Bitterroot Salish
The Bitterroot Salish (or Flathead, Salish, Selish) are a Salish-speaking group of Native Americans, and one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. The Flathead Reservation is home to ...
, but as ''sokemm'' in
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 ...
, and as ''ałdarench'' in Coeur d'Alene, all members of the
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 ...
branch of Salish.
Vocabulary Words in the Salishan Language Family
(native-languages.org)
The word ''sqeliz'', meaning "people", is also recorded as autonym.
History
For thousands of years the Spokane people lived near the Spokane River
The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city of ...
in the territory of present-day eastern 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 ...
and northern Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
, surviving by hunting and gathering. Spokane territory once sprawled over three million acres (12,000 km²) of land. The Spokanes lived along the river in three bands known as the Upper, Middle and Lower Spokane Indians. The Spokane bands were semi nomadic, following game and plants on a seasonal basis for nine months of the year, and settling in permanent winter villages for the other three.
The first Europeans whom the Spokane people had contact with were fur traders and explorers. The Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...
encountered the Spokane tribe in 1805. Already the Spokane people were dwindling in population from introduced Eurasian diseases, such as smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
, which were endemic among Europeans. Shortly after the encounter with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, fur traders and settlers arrived. In 1810, the North West Company opened the Spokane House
Spokane House was a fur-trading post founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company, located on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River meet. When established, it was the North West Company's farthest outpost in ...
near the confluence of the Spokane and Little Spokane (Nxweme'a'tkxy - "river where the Steelhead trout
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...
run") rivers as a trade post. The Pacific Fur Company
The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom o ...
established Fort Spokane
Fort Spokane was a frontier outpost in the northwest United States, located in Lincoln County, Washington, approximately west-northwest of Spokane. At the confluence of the Columbia and Spokane rivers, the U.S. Army post was used to ...
(Čˈłyaqˈ) in 1811. Much later, the structure was used as an Indian boarding school
American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid 17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilating Na ...
for the Spokane children, from 1898 to 1906. The Spokane took prominent part in the so called Coeur d'Alene War
The Coeur d'Alene War of 1858, also known as the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Pend d'oreille-Paloos War, was the second phase of the Yakima War, involving a series of encounters between the allied Native American tribes of the Skitswish ("Coeur d'Alene ...
(Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Pend d'oreille-Paloos War) of 1858, a series of encounters between the allied Native American tribes of the Skitswish ("Coeur d'Alene"), Kalispell ("Pend'Oreille"), Spokane, Palouse and Northern Paiute against United States Army forces in Washington and Idaho which centered in ancestral Spokane territories.
By treaty between the federal government and the tribe, the people ceded most of their territory, accepting removal to the Spokane Reservation
The Spokan or Spokane people are a Native American Plateau tribe who inhabit the eastern portion of present-day Washington state and parts of northern Idaho in the United States of America.
The current Spokane Indian Reservation is located in ...
, which was established in 1881. In 1877, the Lower Spokane people (Scqesciłni) agreed to move to the Spokane Reservation. In 1887 the Upper (Sntʔtʔúlixʷ) and Middle Spokane people (Snxʷme̓nʔey) agreed to move to the Colville Reservation predominately inhabited by the Colville people (Sxʷyelpetkʷ). Not all the Spokane people moved from their traditional territory, which caused some conflict with white settlers. In the Coeur d'Alene War
The Coeur d'Alene War of 1858, also known as the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Pend d'oreille-Paloos War, was the second phase of the Yakima War, involving a series of encounters between the allied Native American tribes of the Skitswish ("Coeur d'Alene ...
of 1858, the Spokane had allied with the Coeur d'Alene (Sčicwˈi), Yakima
Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uni ...
(Yiʔaqmeʔ), Palouse
The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, prima ...
, and Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
peoples against the European Americans. In the Nez Perce War
The Nez Perce War was an armed conflict in 1877 in the Western United States that pitted several bands of the Nez Perce tribe of Native Americans and their allies, a small band of the ''Palouse'' tribe led by Red Echo (''Hahtalekin'') and ...
of 1877, they remained neutral despite pleas from Nez Perce
The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
(Saʕaptni) chief Chief Joseph
''Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt'' (or ''Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it'' in Americanist orthography), popularly known as Chief Joseph, Young Joseph, or Joseph the Younger (March 3, 1840 – September 21, 1904), was a leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa ...
to join him in trying to expel the settlers. Prior to colonization by European-Americans, Chewelah was home to a band of the Kalispel people. The band was known as the slet̓éw̓si, meaning "valley people". The Chewelah Band of Indians is currently part of the Spokane Tribe.
Post-World War II to present
Around the 1950s, uranium was discovered on the reservation. With the development of nuclear weapons and other tools, it was considered highly valuable. It was mined (under leases arranged on behalf of the Spokane by the federal government) from 1956 to 1962 out of an open pit
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of minin ...
. This practice was ended, and from 1969 to 1982, uranium was mined at the Midnite Mine
The Midnite Mine is an inactive uranium mine in the Selkirk Mountains of the Washington (state), state of Washington that operated from 1955 to 1965 and again from 1968 to 1981. Located within the reservation of the Spokane Tribe, Spokane Tribe ...
. The now inactive mine
An abandoned mine is a mine or quarry which is no longer producing or operational and, there is no responsible party to finance the cost to address the remediation and/or restoration of the mine feature/site. Terms and definitions vary though th ...
is on the list of Superfund cleanup sites, as the mining process left the grounds and underground water highly contaminated by metals, radionucleides and acidic drainage.
The creation of dams on the Spokane and related waterways, to generate hydroelectric power and provide water for irrigation in the arid eastern part of the state, has also affected the Spokane people. Construction of the Little Falls dam resulted in the end of most of the salmon run at Spokane Falls
Spokane Falls is the name of a waterfall and dam on the Spokane River, located in the central business district in downtown Spokane, Washington. The city of Spokane was also initially named "Spokane Falls".
History
The Native American name fo ...
. The Grand Coulee Dam
Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerh ...
, on the Columbia River, blocked salmon from migrating upriver and ended all salmon runs on the Spokane River.
Organization
The Spokane tribe was divided into three geographic divisions, upper, lower, and middle. Each area was divided into bands, which were composed of groups of related families or kin groups.
The Upper Spokane or Sntʔtʔúlixʷ (Sntu't'ulixi) ("People of the Falls") resided along the Little Spokane River and all the country east of the Lower Spokane to within the borders of the Coeur d'Alene and Kalispel, sometimes their name is given as Sineka'lt (" eopleat the Rapids").
The Middle Spokane or Snxʷme̓nʔey (Snx'w'meney) ("People of the steelhead river, i.e. Little Spokane River") occupied the area near Spokane Falls to Hangman (Latah) Creek and Deep Creek to Tum Tum, Middle Spokane territory includes Spokane House, the site of the first permanent white settlement in Washington State, another variant of their name is Snxwemi'ne ("People of the steelhead trout place").
The Lower Spokane or Scqesciłni (Scqecioni) ("People of Little Falls") traditionally occupied the lower Spokane River from Little Falls to the confluence of the Columbia River, also known as Squasi'lni ("Fishers", after a settlement name).
Individual bands were led by a Ilmixʷm or chief and a sub chief, who were both selected to lead based on their leadership qualities. Decisions were made by consensus of the group.
The Spokane had a matrilocal
In social anthropology, matrilocal residence or matrilocality (also uxorilocal residence or uxorilocality) is the societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents. Thus, the female offspring of a mother remain ...
custom, in which the husband of a Spokane woman, after marriage, would join her and her people as the site of their home together. Occasionally, the wife would move to the husband's people. There was mobility between bands, by which a person or family could spend one winter with a band and the next winter with another.
Lifestyle
The Spokane diet consisted of fish, local game, and plants, including nuts and roots. The men hunted whitetail deer and mule deer, which provided essential protein and other nutrients in the winter. Individual hunters would track the deer and kill them using a bow and arrow. Fish, especially salmon, were a huge part of the Spokane diet and also a large part of the trade economy. The Spokane people also ate trout and whitefish. They would smoke or dry the fish for trade or for storage in winter. Fish eyes were considered delicacies. Plants gathered by women provided nearly half of the caloric intake for the Spokane tribe.
Gender roles
Men of the Spokane tribe created tools, fished, and hunted. After the tribe acquired horses, the men cared for and trained these animals, and horses became a measure of wealth. The animals allowed the people to travel wider territories, and were used also to carry or pull their supplies. The men rode the horses during hunting and warfare. Horses were introduced to the Spokane tribe from either the Nez Perce
The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
, Kalispel
The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range a ...
, or Flathead tribe. By about 1800, the Spokane tribe was acquiring herds, showing that they had fully embraced use of these animals.
Spokane women made coiled baskets out of birch bark (or from cedar roots). They wove wallets and bags from strips of processed animal hide. They would also sew mats and other items which were sometimes traded with other Native peoples and white traders and settlers. Some of the plants they gathered were camas roots and local berries and barks. The women used digging sticks to uproot and gather their food. It was a fundamental tool for their lives, and it was a rite of passage for young girls to be given their first digging sticks. Women's graves were often marked with these sticks.
Religion
A Spokane religion was the Dreamer Cult, also called ''Washani,'' meaning "worship" or "dancers". It developed in the Columbia Plateau tribes and emerged from the pressures of colonization during the second half of the nineteenth century.
The Dreamer Cult developed as a mix of traditional spirituality and aspects of Christianity. The Dreamer prophets rejected non-Native culture and belief systems. The prophets advocated returning to traditional ways of life. " ior to contact, Plateau Indian spirituality revolved around a complex of Winter dances, personal vision quests, and seasonal feasts tied to the annual subsistence cycle and the acquisition of guardian spirit powers"(Fisher).[
]
A few examples of spiritual dances include the Prophet Dance and the Spirit Dance
Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Native Americans in the United States. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European ...
, which took place in mid-January. Dancers sought to identify with the Prophet's spirit. In the Spirit Dance a shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...
would call upon the spirit to visit an individual.
It is believed the prophet Smohalla
Smohalla (Dreamer) (circa 1815 - 1895) was a ''Wanapum'' dreamer-prophet associated with the Dreamers movement among Native American people in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia Plateau region.
Biography
Born between 1815 and 1820 in the Wallula ...
in a vision
"foresaw the disappearance of the whites, the resurrection of the Indian dead, and the restoration of the world to a pristine state. This millennial transformation required no acts of violence — indeed, most Dreamers counseled pacifism — but to achieve it, the Indians had to obey the instructions of the Creator as conveyed through the prophets" (Fisher).
The Dreamer Cult remained prominent within the Columbia Plateau peoples until the early 1890s, when the major prophets died and their followers began to lose faith in the promise of a world free of white people. The closest contemporary religion to the Washani is the Seven Drums Religion
Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Native Americans in the United States. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European ...
.
Mythology
Stories
*"Spokane Lake of Long Ago" told by Chief Lot
*"The Origin of the Spokane River"
Creation story
Notable tribal members
*Sherman Alexie
Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Spokane- Coeur d'Alene-Native American novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from se ...
(Spokane- Coeur d'Alene), author and filmmaker
* Gloria Bird, poet and scholar
* Betty David, fashion designer
*Chief Garry
Spokane Garry (sometimes spelled Spokan Garry, Spokane: Slough-Keetcha) ( 1811 – 1892) was a Native American leader of the Middle Spokane tribe. He also acted as a liaison between white settlers and American Indian tribes in the area which is no ...
or Spokane Garry
Spokane Garry (sometimes spelled Spokan Garry, Spokane: Slough-Keetcha) ( 1811 – 1892) was a Native American leader of the Middle Spokane tribe. He also acted as a liaison between white settlers and American Indian tribes in the area which is no ...
, (Spokan name: Slough-Keetcha), 19th-century Middle Spokane tribal leader and later of the Upper Spokane tribe too, diplomat and spokesman
*Charlene Teters
Charlene Teters (born April 25, 1952, Spokane, Washington) is a Native American artist, educator, and lecturer.Mai, Uyen"Culture Infused" Art Exhibit Presented by Cal Poly Pomona's La Bounty Chair of Interdisciplinary Applied Knowledge.''Califor ...
, artist and anti-mascot activist
See also
*Spokane Indians
The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...
(baseball team)
*Coeur d'Alene War
The Coeur d'Alene War of 1858, also known as the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Pend d'oreille-Paloos War, was the second phase of the Yakima War, involving a series of encounters between the allied Native American tribes of the Skitswish ("Coeur d'Alene ...
(aka the Spokane War)
*'' The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian'' (book)
Notes
References
* Clark, Ella. ''Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1953. Print.
* Fisher, Andrew H. "Dreamer Cult." ''Encyclopedia of American Indian History.'' Ed. Bruce E. Johansen and Barry M. Pritzker. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008. 380-381. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 23 May 2016.
* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .
* Pritzker, Barry M. "Spokanes." ''The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607-1890: A Political, Social, and Military History.'' Ed. Spencer C. Tucker, James Arnold, and Roberta Wiener. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011. 752-753. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 23 May 2016.
*Ruby, Robert H and Brown, John A. ''The Spokane Indians: Children of the Sun.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970. Print.
Spokane Reservation, Washington
United States Census Bureau
External links
Spokane Tribe of Indians
official site
History and Culture, presented in the Website of the Wellpinit School District
Spokane Tribe of Indians Language Program
*
''The Spokan Indians''
by John Alan Ross, published 2011, , the definitive ethnography
Spokane Salish Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spokane People
American Indian reservations in Washington (state)
Native American tribes in Washington (state)
Interior Salish
Culture of Spokane, Washington