The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Book excerpt: On September 4, 1805, in the upper Bitterroot Valley of what is now western Montana, more than four hundred Salish people were encamped, pasturing horses, preparing for the fall bison hunt, and harvesting chokecherries as they had done for countless generations. As the Lewis and Clark Expedition ventured into the territory of a sovereign Native nation, the Salish met the strangers with hospitality and vital provisions while receiving comparatively little in return. ø For the first time, a Native American community offers an in-depth examination of the events and historical significance of its encounter with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition is a startling departure from previous accounts of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Rather than looking at Indian people within the context of the expedition, it examines the expedition within the context of tribal history. The arrival of non-Indians is therefore framed not as the beginning of the history of Montana or the West but as only a recent chapter in a far longer Native history. The result is a new understanding of the expedition and its place in the wider context of the history of Indian-white relations. ø Based on three decades of research and oral histories, this book presents tribal elders recounting the Salish encounter with Lewis and Clark. Richly illustrated, The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition not only sheds new light on the meaning of the expedition but also illuminates the people who greeted Lewis and Clark and, despite much of what followed, thrive in their homeland today.