THE FLATHEAD GROUP
The Puget Sound Indians have generally been classified according to the
language spoken by them in the Selish family or Flathead group. They
were first classified in this way by Albert Gallatin, who was one of
the first Americans to interest himself in the ethnology of the North
American Indian. The extent of the Selish family was not known by
Gallatin, neither did he know the exact locality of the tribe whose name
he extended to this great family of tribes. The tribe is stated to have
resided upon one of the branches of the Columbia river, which must be
either the most southerly branch of Clark’s Fork or the most northerly
branch of Lewis river. The former supposition is correct. As employed
by Gallatin the family embraced only a single tribe, the Flathead tribe
proper. The Atnah, a Selishan tribe was considered by Gallatin to be
distinct, and the name Atnah according to him would be eligible as the
family name; preference, however, is given to Selish. The few words given
by Gallatin in his American Archæology from the Friendly Village near the
sources of the Salmon river belong under this family.
Since Gallatin’s time our knowledge of the territorial limits of this
great linguistic family has greatly extended. The most southerly tribes
are the Tillamooks who extend along the Oregon coast about 50 miles
south of the Columbia river. Beginning on the north side of Shoalwater
bay, Selishan tribes held the entire northwestern part of Washington,
including the whole Puget Sound region except some insignificant spots
about Cape Flattery, which were held by the Makah and the Chimakuan
tribes. The Selishans also held a large portion of the eastern coast of
Vancouver island, while the greater area of their territory lay on the
main land opposite and included much of the country tributary to the
upper Columbia. They were hemmed in on the south mainly by the Shahaptian
tribes. They dwelt as far east as the extreme eastern feeders of the
Columbia, and on the southeast their territory extended into Montana.
Within the territory thus indicated there are a great variety of costumes
with greater differences in language.
During the early explorations along the Pacific coast the Selishan
Indians held the territory along the western coast of Vancouver island as
far north as Nootka sound, but since that time the Aht races of the west
coast of the island have crowded them to the southward and eastward until
now even the Neah bay agency is largely composed of Makah Indians, while
the Chimakuans have obtained a strong foothold further south along the
coast.
These Selish Indians were subdivided into numerous tribes, each one
speaking a language a little different than the rest.
The Semi-ah-moos occupied the region of country nearest the British
boundary line, but they were not a large tribe.
Proceeding southward were the Nooksacks, who inhabited the valley of the
river of the same name; the Lummies, who lived around Bellingham bay; the
Samish Indians, who camped along the banks of the Samish river and around
its mouth, while the more important tribes to the south of them were the
Skagits, Snoqualmies, Nis-qual-lies and Puyallups. On the west side of
the Sound the most important tribes were the Chehalis, Clallam, Cowlitz,
Sko-ko-mish or Twanas and Chinook Indians.
The Snoqualmies occupied the valleys of the Snohomish and Snoqualmie
rivers from a short distance above the mouth of the Snohomish. The
Snohomish Indians proper lived around its mouth. Much of the time
the Snoqualmies occupied a large portion of the Still-a-guam-ish and
Sky-ko-mish valleys. The tribe known as the Snohomish Indians never
extended their territory far above the mouth of the river.
The Puyallups lived along the river of that name and about Commencement
bay, while the Nis-qual-lies were most numerous around Olympia and the
Stillacoom plains. There were also a number of smaller tribes that have
not yet been mentioned who lived for the most part along some portions
of the streams or lakes which bear their names. Among them the Duwamish,
Samamish, Satsops, Stillacooms, Squaxons, Sumas, Suquamps and Swinomish
Indians.
The Makahs around Cape Flattery, as has been stated, were closely related
in language with the Indians of Vancouver island and it also appears
that the Clallams or the Nus-klai-yums, as they called themselves, were
closely connected with them ethnically, but though they show certain
affinities for the Nootka dialect there is no doubt but that they belong
to the Selish or Flathead stock.
The dialects of the Lummies and Semi-ah-moos have some affinity with the
Sanetch dialect of Vancouver island as well as for the Nootka and the
Skagit, Samish and Nisqually Indians which strongly approach each other
while there are some wide variations among the dialects of some of the
intervening tribes.
Of all the languages spoken by the aborigines of the Northwest coast of
America the Chinook spoken in various dialects by the tribes around the
mouth of the Columbia river is the most intricate. The English vocabulary
does not contain words to describe it. To say that it is guttural,
clucking, spluttering and the like, is to put it mildly. The Chinook does
not appear to have yet discovered the use of tongue and lips in speaking.
Like the T’Klinkit of Alaska, their language contains no labials, but the
T’Klinkit is music in comparison to it.