Entiat

The Entiat are a Native American tribe in the northwest of the USA in the US state of Washington and are listed as one of the 12 historic tribes of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation by the BIA as a federally recognized tribe . In 1954, 113 Entiat were counted.

Together with the particularly closely related Wenatchi , Chelan and Sinkiuse-Columbia as well as other larger tribes, they are linguistically part of the Southern Inland Salish and culturally the Inland Salish of the cultural area of the Fraser River Plateau , Thompson River and Columbia Rivers ; politically and militarily, however, the four main groups of the inland Salish dominated; These included the Okanagan , the St'at'imc (Lillooet) , the Secwepemc (Shuswap) and the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) .

Tribal area

The Entiat originally lived in the river basin of the Entiat River and its tributaries in Chelan County up to its confluence with the Columbia River in northern Washington; the confluence of the Entiat River was known to French traders as Point de Bois . Their area also included the Chelan Mountains and Entiat Mountains and reached from the Columbia River westward to the Cascade Range between the Wenatchee River and Lake Chelan (derived from the Salish word Tsi-Laan "deep water"). A band ( English " tribal group ") the Entiat - the Sinialkumuh - lived along the Columbia between the Entiat and the Wenatchee River. Here their area bordered on the tribal area of the Wenatchi , who were culturally and linguistically closely related , so that they were temporarily considered to be one of their subgroups.

Language and name

The Entiat were also known as Sentiatgkumuh (Sintiatqkumuh) or Ntiyatk or Intietuk (Intietook) (“People from the place of grassy water”); however, they called themselves Nxaʔảmxəxʷ ("the locals, the local people") and their language Nxaảmxcín or Nxaʔảmxcin ("language of the locals").

In linguistics , the Nxaảmxcín is commonly referred to as Columbia-Moses or Columbia-Wenachti and is one of the Southern Inland Salish languages . It is divided into two dialect groups : the Columbia dialect of Sinkiuse-Columbia (Middle Columbia Salish) and the Wenatchi dialect of Wenatchi (Wenatchee or P'squosa) , Chelan and Entiat. Since the Chelan and Entiat both spoke the Wenatchi dialect, they were (and are) partially regarded as subgroups of the Wenatchi.

history

For the Entiat, as they settled along rich fishing grounds - similar to the coastal Salish living to the west - catching salmon was particularly important, as well as hunting and collecting; nevertheless, they are culturally part of the inland Salish .

Their traditional allies were the related Wenatchi, Sinkiuse-Columbia and Chelan, also belonging to the Southern Inland Salish; to their traditional enemies, however, as counted Snakes designated Northern Shoshone , Bannock and Northern Paiute , the Kwalhioqua (as Willapa known), the tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy - sometimes included Nez Perce to their enemies, sometimes as allies.

Since the tribes of the plateau fought over the best hunting grounds, the tribal territories often shifted. After the arrival of the horse - presumably through the intermediary of the Shoshone - all the tribes in the region became more mobile and were able to cover great distances for hunting and war purposes - but now the more sedentary plateau tribes increasingly had to deal with raids and competition from the warring ones in the east the Plains tribes living in the Great Plains and the tribes living in the south of the Great Basin . The war between the individual tribes in the Northwest and the Northern Plains only subsided when the respective individual tribes organized themselves into large intertribal alliances to fight their common enemies - so an attack on a single group of a powerful alliance was now much riskier than before, as warriors from several tribes now often found themselves forced to avenge this attack.

In the first half of the 19th century they came into contact with British, American and French traders.

Treaty of Walla Walla 1855

On June 9, 1855, the government of the Washington Territory, with little regard for traditional settlement areas, linguistic and cultural differences or animosities between the various tribes, forced them to sign the Walla Walla Treaty , move into the reservation intended for them and there one to build up common tribal administration. In the Walla Walla treaty, 14 tribes or bands were organized as part of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and are now a tribe recognized at the federal level (so-called “federally recognized tribe”).

During the negotiations, the smaller and thus militarily and politically weaker tribes came to the disadvantage that the famous Winátshapam / Wenatshapam fishery (once one of the most important fishing spots in the north-west of the USA due to huge swarms of salmon ) jointly from Lower and Upper Yakama , Entiat, Wenatchi , Chelan and other tribes (it was in the territory of the Sinpusqôisoh band of Wenatchi). After the band name "Sinpusqôisoh" were often under the botched collective term P'squosa / Pisquose the three strains of Wenatchi, Entiat and Chelan summarized and the Entiat and Chelan even only as a more considered bands or groups of Wenatchi.

The signing chiefs often signed for several bands or tribes, because they felt called by marriage, fishing rights or military superiority to also sign the contract on behalf of these tribes.

Since Kamaiakin / K'amáyaqan , a powerful chief of the Lower Yakama , was the spokesman appointed by the tribes during the contract negotiations of Walla Walla (but not their chief chief, as the Americans gladly assumed), Walla was also able to claim his land claims and rights - in particular for the Lower Yakama / origin. Yakama and for the Palus (Palouse) - prevail over the Americans. So it is not surprising that the later Yakama reservation for all tribes represented in the negotiations is in the traditional heartland of the Lower Yakama. In addition, Kamaiakin / K'amáyaqan claimed the negotiating rights for the Sinpusqôisoh Band of the Wenatchi with regard to the important Winátshapam / Wenatshapam fishery.

With regard to the Entiat, two chiefs were important besides Kamaiakin:

Te-cole-kun , chief of the Sinpusqôisoh band of the Wenatchi, who, however, was regarded as a common representative of the three tribes (Wenatchi, Entiat and Chelan) and La-hoom / Laxúmt (La-Hoom / La Hoompt, also Chief Koxit George), a chief of the Entiat (presumably of the Sinialkumuh Band), who, however, was considered to represent the claims of the Upper Yakama and especially the Wenatchi during the negotiations.

However, only small splinter groups moved to the assigned reservation, the majority of the Wenatchi as well as the Entiat refused to move to the Yakama reservation and tried to keep their old tribal territories. One of the chiefs, Chilcosahaskt / Shilhohsaskt (“Standing Cloud”) , who was probably a hundred years old around 1900 , stayed on the Entiat River until his death.

Some Entiat moved to the area of the Chelan on Lake Chelan (Wenatchi dialect: Tsi-Laan - "deep water"), but they had to go together with a band of the Chelan led by the Chelan chief Nekquelekin / Nicterwhilicum (Enkawhakekum, also Wapato John ) left their settlement Wapato Point on the Columbia River after an earthquake because a rock, today's Ribbon Cliff , dammed the Columbia. Their villages had been flooded far up the Chelan River . They had to move to the Colville Indian Reservation together with ten other tribes and today they form the federally recognized tribe of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation . On April 29, 1877, Minnie Freer was born, the daughter of Quihnmeetsa, the chief's eldest daughter. She had married Franklin Freer. Minnie Freer married Jack Anderson Comer Smith (JAC Smith). She had been given privatization land when the Colville Indian Reservation was opened. Her sons formed the beginning of a dynasty of rodeo riders well known in the region.

Today, the majority of Entiat and Wenatchi are part of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation , a minority are part of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation .

literature

Tom Hackenmiller: Wapato Heritage: The History of the Chelan and Entiat Indians , Manson, Washington: Point Pub 1995
Robert H. Ruby / John A. Brown: A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest , University of Oklahoma Press 1992, p. 75

Remarks

↑ Elizabeth Aderkas and Christa Hook: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest (Men-at-Arms), Publisher: Osprey Publishing (May 8, 2005), ISBN 978-1841767413 , page 5
↑ It was photographed in 1899: Shilhohsasket (1899) Leader Of The Village At Present Location Of "Entiat" .
↑ A photograph can be found in Kristen J. Gregg and Lake Chelan Historical Society: Lake Chelan Valley , Arcadia Publishing 2009, p. 12.
↑ On the earthquake: The 1872 North Cascades Earthquake Washington Reporting Localities , archive.org, July 11, 2007.
^ The Chronicle: Al Camp: Early cowboys took a day off, camped at rodeo. ( Memento of December 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

[1] Elizabeth Aderkas and Christa Hook: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest (Men-at-Arms), Publisher: Osprey Publishing (May 8, 2005), ISBN 978-1841767413 , page 5

[2] It was photographed in 1899: Shilhohsasket (1899) Leader Of The Village At Present Location Of "Entiat" .

[3] A photograph can be found in Kristen J. Gregg and Lake Chelan Historical Society: Lake Chelan Valley , Arcadia Publishing 2009, p. 12.

[4] On the earthquake: The 1872 North Cascades Earthquake Washington Reporting Localities , archive.org, July 11, 2007.

[5] The Chronicle: Al Camp: Early cowboys took a day off, camped at rodeo. ( Memento of December 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )