J. F. McAlear - The Fabulous Flathead

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This edition is published by Papamoa Press www.pp-publishing.com

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Text originally published in 1962 under the same title.

Papamoa Press 2018, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publishers Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

THE FABULOUS FLATHEAD

AS TOLD TO SHARON BERGMAN

BY

J. F. MCALEAR

President of the Reservation Pioneers

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION

Dedicated to the pioneers and others who have made the Flathead Indian Reservation the Fabulous Flathead that it is today.

PREFACE

Reservation Pioneers Inc. was organized at Polson on Aug. 16, 1959. Officers are D. A. Dellwo, Vice-president; Ruth Herreid, Secretary; Gladys Irish, Treasurer; George Piedalue, Ben Williamson, Helen Finley Stevens, J. S. Dillon, Frankie J. Proud, Directors; and myself, J. F. McAlear, President.

These are the same officers elected at the time of organization with the exception of Thomas Quinn, Director, who no longer lives on the reservation, and the late Lee T. Butcher, Secretary.

The primary purpose of our organization was to compile and perpetuate any and all historical data pertinent to the Flathead Indian Reservation.

This was a much larger task than anticipated but after almost three years of research and hard work, and with the co-operation of persons such as D. A. Dellwo, Frankie J. Proud, Thain White, the Sam Johns papers, Hugh J. Biggars thesis, and many other individuals, groups and publicationsand especially our writer, Sharon Bergmanthe book, The Fabulous Flathead is now complete and is hereby submitted for your approval.

J. F. McAlear

President, The Reservation Pioneers, Inc,

Polson, Montana

July 23, 1962

CHAPTER ONEThe Flathead Indian Reservation

Monumental decisions were made on July 16, 1855, at Council Grove, six miles west of present-day Missoula, which affected the lives and future generations of thousands of people.

An agreement was drawn up and signed by the United States government and three Indian tribes creating the Flathead Indian Reservation. Governor Isaac Stevens, representing the United States government, placed his signature on the document beside those of Chief Alexander of the Kalispel or Pend dOreille tribe, Chief Michelle of the Kootenai, and Chief Victor of the Salish Indians.

The outcome of the meeting found Chief Victor and his people remaining in the Bitter Root Valley, while the tribes of Chief Alexander and Chief Michelle were located in the newly-formed reservation in northwestern Montana.

Gods Country, as it was known to many, has a total area of 1,243,969 acres; it is eighty miles long at the extreme length and has an extreme width of forty miles. It is bordered on the east by the Mission Mountains, on the south by the Evaro Canyon and Squaw Range, on the west by the Cabinet Range, and the northern boundary cuts through the middle of the Flathead Lake.

Although Man created the Flathead Indian Reservation, the development of the country itself began millions of years ago with the uplifting of the mountains, and later by erosion as streams and glaciers filled the lower levels with soil. Then, it is believed, a great ice mass covered the region, filling the valleys with hundreds of feet of solid ice.

As warmer climatic conditions affected the area, freezing and thawing of the ice masses gave the region its present characteristics: rounded hills, pot holes, soil with high gravel content, and large boulders seemingly stranded at high elevations. With the final melting of the ice masses, a hill of five hundred feet elevation emerged at the southern end of the Flathead Lake.

When the lake began to overflow its natural boundaries, it drained through the Big Draw, west of Elmo, and rambled on westward through the Little Bitter Root basin. Later, the great force of this immense body of water created the present channel of the Pend dOreille River, now known as the Flathead River. This resulted in a much lower lake level, leaving the Big Draw country high and dry. The entire region was covered with good soil and eventually produced succulent bunch grass, a cattle mans paradise, both in the hills and valleys.

Prominent valleys on the reservation today include Valley View, Reservoir Valley, Moiese Valley, Irvine Flats, Round Butte, Mission Valley, Jocko Valley, the Big Draw, the Little Bitter Root, and Camas Prairie. The now larger Flathead River is snow-fed by the mountains that surround it. The Mission Mountains feed Mud, Spring, Crow, Post, and Mission Creeks, also the Jocko River on the south.

The altitudes on the reservation vary greatly. They range from a low of 2,530 feet above sea level west of Dixon to a high of 3,579 feet at the upper level of the Jocko Valley, southeast of Arlee. At Polson, the elevation near the river is 2,925 feet.

Extreme temperatures during the winter and summer vary immensely, from 104 degrees in the summer to 40 degrees below zero in the winterbut these extremes are quite unusual. The thermometer never reaches zero during some winters, and seldom hits 90 degrees during many summers. Other parts of Montana are frequently more extreme due to their geographical location; the reservation lies protected, west of the main range of the Rockies. The water of the Flathead Lake tempers the climate in the winter and cools the atmosphere somewhat in the summer. The average rainfall for the entire reservation yields about 15 inches of precipitation a year, with the greatest amount falling on the Mission Mountains, near Mission, and the least amount measured near Lone Pine and the western part of the area.

Before the advent of the explorer, the trader, and the settlers, the area was a haven for wild game. The lakes and streams were well-supplied with fish. It was a paradise for the early-day Indian as he never wanted for wild berries, meat, fish and timer for his home and fuel.

It was indeed a favored land, and today, although the supply of game and fish has been greatly depleted, the area still retains much of its natural beauty. It reflects the majestic power it once held when the valley was silent except for the footsteps of nature.

CHAPTER TWOOriginal Inhabitants

For many decades, anthropologists and historians have tried to wrest the early history of the Flathead country from artifacts, memories, and the ground itself.

Although many of the experts are not in complete agreement about the origin of the historic tribes that inhabited the area, specimens unearthed at various elevations on the hills around Flathead Lake indicate that several tribes occupied the region in earlier centuries. Very little is known about the inhabitants of this country before the arrival of the fur traders in 1807, but it is believed that during the 17 th and 18 th centuries, it was occupied by several small tribes of Indians: the Flathead, the Pend dOreille, the Kalispel, the Spokane, the Semteuse, and the Tunaxe.

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