Flathead Salish
The Flathead Salish (Bitterroot Salish, or Selis) lived in the Bitterroot Valley of present-day western Montana and ranged eastward onto the Plains for seasonal bison hunts. The Corps of Discovery encountered them in September 1805 at a place they called "Ross's Hole" (near present-day Sula, Montana), finding approximately 400 Salish with a large horse herd; the expedition traded for fresh horses desperately needed for the Bitterroot crossing. Despite their English name "Flathead," the Salish did not practice cranial modification—the misnomer likely arose from sign-language confusion or from neighboring tribes' descriptions. The Salish were generous hosts who shared food and horses, and their encounter with Lewis and Clark was entirely peaceful.
Biography
The Flathead Salish (Séliš) of the Bitterroot Valley in western Montana were among the most generous peoples the expedition encountered. In September 1805, at a place called Ross’s Hole, they traded horses and shared geographic knowledge critical to the mountain crossing.
Despite their English name, the Salish did not practice head-flattening — the name was apparently applied by neighboring peoples. They were skilled horse people who ranged across the Northern Rockies, often in conflict with the Blackfeet.
The Salish oral tradition preserves their own account of the Lewis and Clark encounter, noting their wonder at the strangers’ appearance and possessions. The expedition members noted the Salish language’s unusual sounds, which they compared to speech impediments — in fact, the Salish language family has distinctive consonant clusters unfamiliar to English speakers.
The Flathead Reservation was established in western Montana in 1855. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes maintain a strong connection to the Lewis and Clark story through their oral traditions and ancestral lands along the expedition route.
