Kootenai Indians
There are two Kootenai Tribes. One is Anishinabe and the other Kootenai who are also known as Kootenay. Linguistics suspect that the Kootenai Indians language is a part of the Algonquian-Salishan-Wakashan Language Family, while others suspect it is a language in a class of its own. They supposedly originally lived out on the plains of Alberta and Montana but were driven across the Rocky Mountains where they live presently by a more powerful tribe. Today, they live in western Montana, extreme northern Idaho, and southeastern British Columbia. They were subjugated by the Anishinabe Nation around 1,000 to 1,300 years ago. Prophecy driven Anishinabe soldiers forced their way westwards from the Great Lakes region after becoming aware of the Seven Fires Prophecy. Most of the present day Kootenai people live off their Reserves and Reservations. Below is a list of the Kootenai Reserves and Reservations, and also google earth photographs.
Anishinabe ogimak obviously warned the Kootenay Indian Tribe about the coming invasion of an evil race of people who would steal their land and destroy them. However, the Kootenai people probably thought the predictions to be nonsense. By the 17th or 18th century, Kootenay leaders had probably learned about the invasion of a pale looking race of people to their east. By the late 18th century, the first whites had paid visits to the Kootenay Tribe and also launched their first plague warfare assaults on them as predicted in the Seven Fires Prophecy. Come the early 19th century, more whites showed up in the domain of the Anishinabe Nation where the Kootenai Indians lived. In the 1830s, Kootenai and Salish leaders in Idaho and Montana, sent some of their representatives to St. Louis to request to have white Christian Missionaries sent to them.
Unfortunately, those Kootenay and Salish leaders initiated the white colonization of their land. In 1841, those white Christian Missionaries arrived in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana and commenced to establish the first white settlement in Montana. They named the settlement St. Mary's. Today, it is known as Stevensville, Montana. Today, there are no Kootenai settlements in the Bitterroot Valley. They were kicked out by the whites. Anishinabe ogimak were obviously liberal with their Kootenai and Salish subjects but once they learned that they had allowed whites to establish a settlement in their beautiful Bitterroot Valley, the illicit action did enrage them. However, they realized the whites who settled in St. Mary's were Christian Missionaries who always claimed they were there to convert the Indians, and patiently waited for their real intentions to emerge.
It not take very long for Anishinabe ogimak to learn exactly why the white Chritian Missionaries established St. Mary's Mission in 1841. By the mid and late 1840s, regular white people (not religious at all - the whites hate Jesus and seek to kill him) were showing up in the Bitterroot Valley and causing trouble. They usually requested from Kootenai and Salish leaders for favors such as leasing their land for cattle ranching and other agriculture activities. That enraged Anishinabe ogimak who sent their brave soldiers out to defend Indian land in western Montana and northern Idaho. By 1849 the violence was so intense the white Christian Missionaries in St. Mary's Mission sold St. Mary's Mission to the United States. American leaders sent John Owen to St. Mary's and with him came American soldiers. They turned St. Mary's into a fort (Fort Owen) and trading post. That occurred in 1850. Enraged Anishinabe ogimak once again sent their brave soldiers out to defend Indian land in not only western Montana but also Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
With the escalating violence, the government of the United States commenced to negotiate with the ogimak of the Anishinabe Nation. A series of fraudulent treaties known as the Stevens Treaties were reached. The last one was reached on October 17, 1855. It was reached to ratify the other Stevens Treaties which were reached earlier. On July 16, 1855, the fraudulent Hell Gate Treaty was reached. The Hell Gate Treaty is important because it deals with land in western Montana and extreme northern Idaho, where many Kootenai people lived. The United States refused to honor the Stevens Treaties they reached with the Anishinabe Nation which controlled nearly all of western North America at the time. Instead of agreeing to the Anishinabe demands, the United States illicitly negotiated treaties with the Indian Nations subjugated by the powerful Anishinabe Nation. The fraudulent Hell Gate Treaty supposedly ceded Kootenai and Salish land in western Montana to the United States and set aside the present Flathead Reservation for the Kootenai and Salish Indians.
In southeastern British Columbia, the whites commenced their invasion there in the early 1860s, after white government hired surveyors discovered gold along the Wild Horse Creek in 1862. The event set off a white stampede to southeastern British Columbia and Anishinabe soldiers launching raids against the white invaders. The 1862-1868 Snake River War was also fought in southeastern British Columbia. After the 1876-1879 War the Anishinabe Nation had been defeated. It is likely many Kootenai and Salish soldiers joined with Anishinabe soldiers to fight the white invaders. A few Reserves were set aside for the Anishinabek and Kootenai who lived in southeastern British Columbia in the 19th century. Their Reserves and Reservations are listed below. I have not included the size of their Reserves because they have not legally ceded their land. The Kootenai Reservation set aside in northern Idaho is really an Anishinabe Reservation. All Reservations established in the western United States after 1887, are in fact Anishinabe. However, i have included the Idaho Kootenai Reservation because they are obviously partially Kootenai. They were at one time a very numerous people, living in all the mountain valleys of western Montana, northern Idaho, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia, but as the Seven Fires Prophecy predicted, they have been nearly destroyed.
Lower Kootenai (Columbia Lake Band) First Nation of British Columbia - it is near Creston
This Kootenai settlement is located in the beautiful mountains of southeastern British Columbia. The first google earth photograph is a good example of just how narrow some of these mountain valleys in British Columbia are. In the third google earth photograph you can see the Idaho border. Idaho is not too far off. All photographs are google earth (no road close ups).
Lower Kootenai First Nation Photograph
Lower Kootenai First Nation Photograph
Lower Kootenai First Nation Photograph
Lower Kootenai First Nation Photograph
Population is 124
Language is either Kootenai or Algonquian-Wakashan
Akisqnuk First Nation of British Columbia - it is near Windermere
This Kootenai settlement is located in a beautiful mountain valley in southeastern British Columbia. Windermere Lake is in this beautiful mountain valley. It is located around 110 miles north of northwestern Montana. The last four photographs are of road close ups.
Akisqnuk Google Earth
Akisqnuk Google Earth
Akisqnuk Google Earth
Akisqnuk Google Earth
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Population is 153
Language is either Kootenai or Algonquian-Wakashan
St. Mary's First Nation of British Columbia - it is near Cranbrook
This Kootenai settlement is located near Cranbrook, British Columbia which is about 40 miles north of the Montana border. It is located in the beautiful mountains near the Cranbrook region.
St. Mary's Google Earth
St. Mary's Google Earth
St. Mary's Google Earth
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Population is 164
Language is either Kootenai or Algonquian-Wakashan
Tobacco Plains First Nation of British Columbia - it is near Grasmere
This Kootenai settlement is located in another beautiful mountain valley in southeastern British Columbia. Loon Lake is located near this Kootenay settlement. It is just north of northwestern Montana. There are no road close ups of the Tobacco Plains Kootenai settlement.
Tobacco Plains Google Earth
Tobacco Plains Google Earth
Tobacco Plains Google Earth
Tobacco Plains Google Earth
Tobacco Plains Google Earth
Population is 67
Language is either Kootenai or Algonquian-Wakashan
Shuswap-Kootenai First Nation of British Columbia - it is near Invermere
This Kootenai and Shuswap settlement, is located near the Kootnai First Nation of Akisqnuk and Windermere Lake, in the same beautiful mountain valley in southeastern British Columbia. The last 6 photographs are of road close ups. The region is one that is especially beautiful.
Shuswap-Kootenai Google Earth
Shuswap-Kootenai Google Earth
Shuswap-Kootenai Google Earth
Shuswap-Kootenai Google Earth
Shuswap-Kootenai Google Earth
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Population is 169
Language is either Kootenai or Algonquian-Wakashan
Flathead Reservation of Montana - Elmo is their principle settlement
This Kootenai town is located on the Flathead Reservation of course, and is situated on the western shores of Flathead Lake. The photographs gives you an indication on just how cloudy and dreary it gets in that region of Montana. Don't let that fool you! In the spring, summer, and fall the Flathead Reservation is a very beautiful place. Photograps 3 through 10, are road close ups.
Elmo Google Earth
Elmo Google Earth
Elmo Google Earth
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Population is 143
Language is either Kootenai or Algonquian-Wakashan
Kootenay Reservation of Idaho
It is located in extreme northern Idaho, just north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and a few miles from the British Columbia border. It is another Kootenai settlement in one of the many beautiful mountain valleys that are found throughout Kootenay country. This Reservation was not established until 1974. Funny thing about these people of the Idaho Kootenai Tribe, is their oral history about their ancestors not ceding their land. That is another indication that they are Anishinabe.
Kootenai Idaho Google Earth
Kootenai Idaho Google Earth
Kootenai Idaho Google Earth
Kootenai Idaho Google Earth
Kootenai Idaho Google Earth
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Population is 164
Language is either Kootenai or Algonquian-Wakashan
