DeSmet (‘l’lkhwi’lus)

After the US government drew boundaries leaving the mission at Cataldo outside the Schitsu’umsh (Coeur d’Alene) reservation, Jesuits moved here in 1877. Nineteenth century federal policy sought to assimilate Indians into white culture. Christian mission boarding schools like the one at DeSmet helped accomplish this, but at a cost. Children were separated from families and had to relinquish traditional clothing, religious practices, and native language. The original DeSmet mission and school buildings are gone. The Schitsu’umsh, a sovereign nation with an elected government, replaced the boarding school with a tribal school in the 1990s.