Pend d'Oreilles (tribe)

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The Pend d'Oreilles, also known as the Kalispel, are a tribe of Native Americans who lived centered around Lake Pend Oreille, as well as the Pend Oreille River, and Priest Lake although some of them live spread throughout Montana and eastern Washington. The primary tribal range from roughly Plains, MT westward along the Clark Fork River, Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, and the Pend'Oreille River in Eastern Washington and into British Columbia was given the name Kaniksu by the Kalispel peoples. The Kalispel are one of the three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation.

The name Pend Oreille is of French origin, meaning "hangs from ears," which refers to the large shell earings that these people wore. The main part of the reservation on which these Native Americans live is northwest of Newport, Washington, in central Pend Oreille County. The main reservation is an 18.638 km² (7.196 sq mi) strip of land along the Pend Oreille River, west of the Washington-Idaho border. There is also a small unpopulated parcel of land in the western part of the Spokane metropolitan area in the city of Airway Heights, with a land area of 0.202 km² (49.92 acres). The total land area of the Kalispel Indian Reservation is 18.840 km² (7.274 sq mi).

The Pend d'Oreilles were generally peaceable. These people made their weapons and tools from flint, and many other things were shaped with rocks. For housing the Pend d'Oreilles lived in tipis in the summer, as well as lodges in the winter time. These houses were all built out of large cattails, which were in abundance where the people lived. These cattails were woven into mats called "tule mats" which were attached to a tree branch frame to form a hut. Today a large community building on the Kalispel reservation retains the name "Tule Hut" in remembrance of this traditional housing.

The horses the Native Americans needed came from trading buffalo skins. The Pend d'Oreilles, like many other tribes, hunted buffalo and traded the furs for other useful goods. These people wore robes as well as skins for clothing. They decorated themselves with dyes, paints, beads, and sometimes even animal quills.

Their language, Kalispel-Pend d'Oreille, belongs to the Salishan family.

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[edit] References

  • Kalispel Reservation, Washington United States Census Bureau
  • [1]Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian, Northwestern University, Digital Library Collections, "Kalispel", Page 51

[edit] Further reading

  • Beaverhead, Pete, and Dwight Billedeaux. Mary Quequesah's Love Story: A Pend D'Oreille Indian Tale. Pablo, Mont: Salish Kootenai College Press, 2000. ISBN 0917298713
  • Boas, Franz (1917). Folk-tales of Salishan and Sahaptin tribes. Published for the American Folk-Lore Society by G.E. Stechert & Co.. Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection Includes Pend d'Oreille tales by James A. Teit.
  • Carriker, Robert C. The Kalispel People. Phoenix [Ariz.]: Indian Tribal Series, 1973.
  • Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. Sk[Superscript W]Sk[Superscript W]Stulex[Superscript W]S Sqélix[Superscript W]: Names Upon the Land, a Tribal Geography of the Salish and Pend D'Oreille People. [Pablo, Mont: The Committee], 1996.
  • Fahey, John. The Kalispel Indians. [Civilization of the American Indian series, v. 180]. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. ISBN 0806120002
  • Lacy, Thomas F. (1994). Kaniksu, Stories of the Northwest. Published by Keokee Company Publishing. 

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