Colville tribe

The Colville tribe is a Native American tribe of the Pacific Northwest. The name Colville comes from association with Fort Colville, named after Andrew Colvile of the Hudson's Bay Company. They called themselves Shwoyelpi,^[1] or Skoyelpi.^[2]

History

The tribe was originally located in eastern Washington on the Colville River and the area of the Columbia River between Kettle Falls and Hunters.^[2] The tribe's history is tied with Kettle Falls, an important salmon fishing resource,^[1] and an important post of the Hudson's Bay Company, which brought the advantages and disadvantages of contact with people of European heritage. In 1846, the Jesuit mission of St. Paul was established. Through its influence nearly all the upper Columbia tribes were Christianized.^[1] In 1872, the Colville tribe was relocated to the Colville Indian Reservation,^[1] an Indian reservation in eastern Washington, inhabited and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which are federally recognized tribes.

Mooney (1928) estimated the number of the Colville at 1,000 as of 1780, but Lewis and Clark placed it at 2,500, a figure also fixed upon by Teit (1930). In 1870, there were 616; in 1900, 298;^[1] in 1904, 321; in 1907, 334; and in 1937, 322.^{[citation needed]}

Language

The Colville belonged to the Interior Salishan linguistic stock and to that branch of the latter which included the Okanagan, Sanpoil, and Senijextee (Sinixt).

Notable people

• Joe Feddersen, artist

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e}  "Colville". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Colville Indian Tribe Location". accessgenealogy.com. http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/washington/colville_indian_tribe_location.htm. Retrieved 14 June 2011. 

External links

• "Washington Indian Tribes". accessgenealogy.com. http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/washington/. Retrieved 2011-06-14.