"Removal" of Salish from Bitterroot Valley 1855-1891

The general on the board was Henry Carrington, who had commanded Fort Phil Kearny in 1866 when Captain Fetterman and some eighty soldiers were killed. In 1889 the government sent him as a special agent to win Charlo's consent to sell the Salish farms. Two years later he was back to see it done: the allotments were auctioned at the Missoula land office on October 5, 1891, with Carrington assisting, and the removal followed. On October 14 armed soldiers moved about three hundred people out, some on foot. Mary Ann Pierre, about ten, remembered the valley all her life.

What the plaque says

"Removal" of Salish from Bitterroot Valley 1855-1891 In the Hellgate Treaty negotiations (1855), Xʷetxƛ̓cín (Plenty Horses, or chief Victor) and the Seliš people rebuffed efforts of US officials to get them to abandon the choice lands of their ancestral Bitterroot Valley. After Xʷetxƛ̓cín 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 Seliš. Sɫmx̣é Q̓ʷox̣qeys (Claw of Small Grizzly, 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 Seliš 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, Sɫmx̣é Q̓ʷox̣qeys finally agreed to leave. The Seliš 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 Seliš nevertheless managed to rebuild their lives in the Jocko Valley.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Owen — 0.9 mi
  A trader bought a failed mission for $250, walled it in adobe, and lost it all at a sheriff's sale.
• Historic St. Mary's Mission — 1.1 mi
  The mission the Salish asked for, abandoned, rebuilt, and closed again the year the Salish were made to leave.
• Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge — 3.2 mi
  Bitterroot wetlands bought with duck stamps and named for the senator who signed off on refuges across the country.
• Fort Fizzle — 16 mi
  A log barricade built to stop the Nimiipuu in 1877. They climbed the ridge behind it and walked around.

More markers nearby

• Fort Owen — 0.9 mi
• Lewis and Clark in Salish Territory — 16 mi
• The Bitterroot Valley, Homeland of the Selíš — 16 mi
• Lewis and Clark on Lolo Creek — 16 mi