Native Land

Historically, the Bitterroot Valley comprised a significant portion of the Montana’s Salish people’s traditional homeland. In 1891, the U.S. government force-marched the last resident Salish from the valley to the Flathead Indian Reservation. In spite of the fact that they were no longer allowed to live in the Bitterroot, the Salish maintained, and continue to maintain, strong emotional and spiritual ties to the home of their ancestors. Steve Lozar—historian, member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and MHS trustee—shares his personal insight into both historic and ongoing relationships between the Salish and the Bitterroot Valley.