The Kutenai tribe can be found in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and as far north as British Columbia, and Alberta.
The origin of the Kutenai tribe is a mystery. There is no real answer to how or where they originated. According to Harry Holbert in his book, Ethnography of the Kutenai, “Some part of the tribe probably originated on the Great Plains with the group called the Tunaxa.” Their tribe stretched from west of the Rocky Mountains to Arrow Lake in British Columbia. They are divided into eight separate bands including the Tunaxa, Tobacco Plains, Jennings, Libby, Bonners, Ferry, Ft. Steele, Creston, and Windermere. The word "Kutenai" may have originated from "Kutunaiua," a Blackfoot word meaning “slim people.” There are several other possible explanations for the tribe's name.
The Kutenai mainly relied on bison, and fish. They domesticated the horse in the 1730's. Their first contact with European settlers was around 1800. Canadian traders brought the Kutenai to the attention of their employers hoping to establish trade. the European settlers were the first to initiate trade, and the Kutenai weren't hard to coax. In 1855, Governor Issac Stevens presented the “Hells Gate” treaty. This treaty established reservations for many of the tribes and controlled interactions between the Kutenai and their European neighbors. Many of the Kutenai fled to Canada because of this.
The Kutenai lived in the best hunting and fishing areas in North America. They survived on hunting and gathering alone, they were not agriculturalists. They hunted bison, deer, birds, and small mammals. They gathered great amounts of bitterroot and cama root. From this they produced a delicious cereal. Beavers and muskrats were used to make much of the Kutenai’s clothing. Mullein, willow bark, and other plants supplied the tribe members with medicine.
The men and women wore mainly buckskin. The men wore four pieces: shirt, leggings, a breech, and moccasins. Women wore simple buckskin dresses. Hats were worn in the winter for warmth and during the summer for shade from the sun. They decorated their hats with only long pieces of fringe. In war they wore rod armor, war paint, or nothing at all.
The healing practices of the Kutenai fall into two categories. The first was a visit to a medicine man or woman who were magical healers with powers over disease. The second healing practice was the sweat baths which held religious significance. The European settlers exposed the Kutenai to many new diseases, including small pox, measles, tuberculosis, whooping cough, syphilis, and gonorrhea.
Religion is very important to the Kutenai. They believe in the search for a supernatural guardians or as they call them “The Spirits.” There are feelings of love and dependence for these spirits. At first signs of maturity, young boys and girls were taken to the wilderness to await a meeting with their spirit. This would usually take several days. The boys would be accompanied by a medicine man, the girls with a medicine woman.
Until recently the Kutenai maintained their semi-nomadic life-style living on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian boarder. The majority of Kutenai today share the Flathead Reservation with Confederated Salish tribes. They receive most of their money from the government as payment for hydroelectric power generated by the Kerr Damn on the Flathead River. The money received is more than enough to secure the Kutenai’s future.
Works Cited
Malinowski, Sharon, Sheets, Ann. The Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes Volume lll. London: Gale Pub., 1998.
Smith, H. Allen. Kutenai Indian Subsistence and Settlement Patterns of Northwest Montana. Washington State University, 1984.
Written By: Ryan Utterback