SPOKANE INDIANS

THE SPOKANE ARE OF THE SALISH GROUP LANGUAGE AND LIVED IN NORTHEAST WASHINGTON AND WESTERN MONTGOMERY FOR MANY CENTURIES. WHEN LEWIS AND CLARK WERE THERE IN 1800 THEY HAD 600 FOLKS. THEY NOW LIVE ON 154,000 ACRES IN WASHINGTON AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE LARGER COMMUNITY. THEY ARE PROUD CHILDREN OF THE SUN. ORIGINALLY THEY LIVED ON 3 MILLION ACRES THAT WERE PROTECTED AND RESPECTED BY THE SPOKANE INDIANS. THEY FISHED AT SPOKANE FALLS, A GATHERING PLACE FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. THE SPOKANE LIVED ALONG THE RIVER IN THREE BANDS. THEY LIVED IN TRADITIONAL CAMPSITES DURING DIFFERENT CAMPSITES DURING DIFFERENT SEASONS. THERE RESERVATION WAS CREATED IN 1881 WHICH IS NOW KNOWN AS COURE D' ALENE RESERVATION. IT HAS ABOUT 160000ACRES AND HAS 2400 NATIVES. THEY PROTECT THEIR NATURAL RESOURCES. THEY ALSO WANT VISITORS TO PROTECT THEIR CULTURAL RESOURCES INCLUDING PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC SITES. TODAY THEY HAVE 2000 FOLKS. FOR 1000'S OF YEARS THEY LIVED NEAR THE RIVER AND FISHED, HUNTED, AND GATHERED. OVER THREE MILLION ACRES. THEY BUILT PERMANENT VILLAGES FOR THE WINTER BY THE RIVER FOR FISHING AND HUTS FOR MOUNTAIN HUNTING AND GATHERING. THEIR NEIGHBORS INTRODUCED THEM TO PLANK HOUSES AND HORSES. A TRADING POST IN SPOKANE WAS BUILT IN 1810. THE ANGLO INTRODUCED INTRODUCED ALL KINDS OF DISEASES - SMALLPOX, SYPHILLIS, AND INFLUENZA. BY 1860S HOMESTEADERS WERE PUSHING THEM FURTHER SOUTH AND THEN THEY ALSO RAPED THE INDIAN WOMEN. THEY DESTROYED THEIR ANCIENT VILLAGES. ONLY 200 PEOPLE SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE. WIKIPEDIA.COM SPOKANETRIBE.COM