Pend d'Oreille (Ql̓ispé)

A people

Going-to-the-Sun Road switchbacking up a steep mountain wall in Glacier National Park.
Tim Rains, National Park Service · Public Domain

Background

More than half a million acres passed out of tribal ownership during allotment, which began in 1904. NPS describes the Ql̓ispé (Pend d'Oreille or Kalispel) and the Séliš (Salish) as the easternmost tribes of the Salish language family. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes name the Upper Pend d'Oreille (Ql̓ispé) as one of the three tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation, alongside the Bitterroot Salish and the Kootenai (Ksanka). The Hellgate Treaty of 1855 set aside the reservation on the Flathead River in western Montana.

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Visit and learn

Three Chiefs Culture Center

Pablo, Montana, Flathead Indian Reservation·cultural center

The Pend d'Oreille are one of the three peoples the center serves, alongside the Salish and the Kootenai. Owned and run by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, it holds museum exhibits, gives presentations and classes, and keeps a shop for Native-made work.

https://www.threechiefs.org/

Native America Speaks

Glacier National Park·event

Each summer, members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Blackfeet Nation give talks at park campgrounds and lodges.

https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/nas.htm

Pend d'Oreille (Ql̓ispé)'s own site

Tribal lands have their own laws. Check the nation's site before you visit.

Parks on its homelands

Going-to-the-Sun Road switchbacking up a steep mountain wall in Glacier National Park.Glacier National Park

Pend d'Oreille and Kalispel people ranged through the western valleys from the Missoula area to the Canadian border. Before horses became common in the first half of the eighteenth century, hide-covered lodges were rare west of the mountains, and travellers moved their belongings on their backs or with packing dogs. Source

Programs

  • Séliš-Ql̓ispé Culture Committee

    Formed in 1974 and 1975 at the urging of elders, the committee works to preserve and carry on the culture, language, and history of the Séliš and Ql̓ispé people. Its longhouse is in Snyel̓mn (St. Ignatius).

    https://cskt.org/sqcc/about-sqcc-longhouse/·culture

  • Séliš-Ql̓ispé language program

    Teaches Séliš-Ql̓ispé Nqʷlqʷéltn, the Salish-Kalispel language, through a three-level curriculum, an immersion program with full-time apprentices, and books and apps.

    https://cskt.org/sqcc/language/·language

Sources

Checked September 2026.

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