Land area
Land of the Flathead, Kootenay and others in Idaho and Montana, ceded 1855 (area 373)
- 1855
Ceded to the United States
By Hellgate Treaty (Bitterroot Salish, Pend d'Oreille, Kootenai), 1855
In the record
Ceded by the Flathead, Kootenay and Upper Pend d'Oreilles in the 1855 Hellgate treaty, land in Montana and Idaho. The area covers about 17 million acres in what is now Idaho and Montana.
The 1899 record names Séliš (Bitterroot Salish) as the people of this land.
How it was taken: a treaty made under documented pressure. Char-Koosta News (the Salish and Kootenai tribal newspaper) describes pressure from U.S. officials and misunderstandings from language differences.
Today, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes carries the history of the people named here.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
Working with these nations
- Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Nation government National Bison Range restoration (about 18,800 acres) Website
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- Potlatch Fund Native-led Native philanthropy and grantmaking to Native individuals and Native-led organizations Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 3
- Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservationmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Kootenai (Kutenai)matched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Séliš (Bitterroot Salish)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
Located in 2
Agreements recorded for this land 1
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1855-07-16primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1855-07-16primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Montana 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Idaho (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 373
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1855-07-16
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Flathead; Kootenay; Upper Pend d'Orelles
- States
- ID; MT
- Counties
- Beaverhead; Bonner; Boundary; Deer Lodge; Flathead; Glacier; Granite; Jefferson; Lake; Lewis and Clark; Lincoln; Mineral; Missoula; Powell; Ravalli; Sanders; Silver Bow
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Montana 1; Idaho
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium