US 93, Mile Post 67, Stevensville Junction

In the Hellgate Treaty negotiations (1855), Xw Etxcin (Plenty Horses or Chief Victor) and the Selis people rebuffed efforts of US officials to get them to abandon the choice lands of their ancestral Bitterroot Valley. Avter Xw etxcin died, settler successfully lobbied President Grant to declare the Flathead Reservation “better adapted to the wants of the Flathead tribe”; in 1872, Congress sent future President Garfield to arrange for ten “removal” of the Selis. Shnxe Qw oxqeus (Claw of the Grizzly Bear or Chief Charlot) said the Bitterroot was where the bones of his ancestors were buried, and he would not leave, but his “X” mark was forged onto the Garfield agreement. More whites moved illegally onto the Salish lands, and pressures intensified with construction of the Missoula & Bitterroot Valley Railroad in 1888. In November 1889, faced with the worsening conditions for his people, Shmxe Qw oxqeys finally agreed to leave. The Selis therefore planted no crops, but Congress delayed funding for removal for two years, pushing many people to the brink of starvation. Finally, in October 1891, General Henry Carrington and troops from Fort Missoula roughly pushed the tribe on the sad march north to the reservation. The Government reneged on promised aid for relocation, but the Selis nevertheless managed to rebuild their lives in the Jocko Valley.

Behind the Scenes

Bob Fletcher tried to keep the messages on the historical markers upbeat, avoiding the darker moments in Montana’s colorful history. Since the early 19902, though, the MDT has worked to ensure all sides of the state’s history are presented to the traveling public. That means unpleasant or tragic events are sometimes explained on the historical markers. The “Salish Removal (#40) and “In Memoriam”  (#194) markers were installed as part of the Indian Historical Marker Program enacted by the State legislature in 1989. These texts written by the state’s Indian tribes tell the history of Montana from their perspective.

Buy the e-book of all Montana Historical Highway Markers: https://mhs.mt.gov/pubs/Publications/montanas-historical-highway-markers

Credits and Sources:

Sign text.

Montana's Historical Highway Markers, Jon Axline, Montana Historical Society Press. 2008.