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Spokan Indian Tribe
Location
Spokan.
Phonetically Spōkē'.n or Spō.qē'in; said by some to signify "Sun
(people," though this origin is doubtful.
Also called:
LêcLê'cuks, Wasco name probably intended for this tribe.
Lar-ti-e-lo, by
Lewis and Clerk in 1806.
SEnoxamī'naEx, by the Okanagon, from their principal division.
SEntutū' or SEnoxma'n, by the Upper Kutenai from the Salish names for the
Middle and Little Spokan respectively.
Connections
The Spokan belonged to the inland
division of the Salishan linguistic stock, and were most
closely connected with the Kalispel, Pend d'Oreilles, Sematuse, and Salish.
Location
On the Spokane and Little Spokane
Rivers, southward to, and perhaps including, Cow Creek,
and northward to include all of the northern feeders of
the Spokane. (See also
Idaho and
Montana.)
Subdivisions
The Lower Spokan (about the mouth and on the lower part of
Spokane River, including the present Spokane Indian reserve), the Upper Spokan
or Little Spokan (occupying the valley of the Little Spokane River and all the
country east of the lower Spokane to within the borders of Idaho), the South or
Middle Spokan (occupying at least the lower part of Hangmans
Creek, extending south along the borders of the Skitswish).
History
Like so many other tribes of the Columbia region, the Spokan
enter the arena of history with the appearance of Lewis and Clark in their
territory in 1805. Teit (1930) thinks it possible that the several bands were
once so many distinct tribes which have become fused in course of time, but of
this there is no certainty. The Lower and most of the Middle Spokan, and part of
the Upper Spokan, were finally placed under the Colville Agency; the rest are on
the Flathead Reservation in Montana.
Population
Mooney (1928) estimated that about 1780 there might have been
1,400 Spokan, but Teit's figures would raise this to something like 2,500.
In 1806 Lewis and Clark thought there were 600 but they may have included
only one of the three divisions. In 1905 the United States Indian Office
gave 277 Lower Spokan and 177 Middle and Upper Spokan under the Colville
Agency and 135 on the Flathead Reservation; in 1909 it gave 509 all
together under the Colville Agency and 138 on the Flathead Reservation.
The United States Census of 1910 returned 643 all told; the Indian Office
Report for 1923, 669; and the Indian Office Report for 1937, 847.
Connection in which they have become noted
The fame of the Spokan will rest in the future mainly upon
the importance of the Washington city of Spokane. Their name is also attached to
a river in Idaho and Washington, and to the county of which Spokane is the
metropolis. It has also been applied to post hamlets in Custer County, S. Dak.; in Christian County,
Mo.; and in Trumbull County, Ohio; also to Spokane Bridge, Spokane County,
Wash.
Additional Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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