Removal of the Salish from the Bitterroot Valley, 1855-1891

In the Hellgate Treaty negotiations (1855), Xw etxcin (Plenty Horses or Chief Victor) and the Selíš people rebuffed efforts of US officials to get them to abandon the choice lands of their ancestral Bitterroot Valley. After Xw etxcin died, settlers successfully lobbied President Grant to declare the Flathead Reservation “better adapted to the wants of the Flathead tribe;” in 1872, Congress sent future President Garfield to arrange for the “removal” of the Selíš. Shnxé Qw oxqeys (Claw of the Grizzly Bear or Chief Charlot) said the Bitterroot was where the bones of his ancestors were buried, and he would not leave, but his “X” mark was forged onto the Garfield agreement. More whites moved illegally onto Salish lands, and pressures intensified with construction of the Missoula & Bitter Root Valley Railroad in 1888. In November 1889, faced with the worsening conditions for his people Shmxé Qw oxqeys finally agreed to leave. The Selíš therefore planted no crops, but Congress delayed funding for removal for two years, pushing many people to the brink of starvation. Finally, in October 1891, General Henry Carrington and troops from Fort Missoula roughly pushed the tribe on the sad march north to the reservation. The Government reneged on promised aid for relocation, but the Selíš nevertheless managed to rebuild their lived in the Jocko Valley.