Schitsu'umsh Skitswish | |
|---|---|
 Coeur d'Alene people and tipis, Desmet Reservation, c. 1907 | |
| Total population | |
| 1,976[2] (2015 census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States Idaho | |
| Languages | |
| English • Coeur d'Alene |
TheCoeur d'Alene Tribe (/kɜːrdəˈleɪn/kur-də-LAYN;[3] alsoSkitswish;Coeur d'Alene language:Schi̲tsu'umsh) are aNative American tribe and one of fivefederally recognized tribes in the state ofIdaho.[1] The Coeur d'Alene have sovereign control of theirCoeur d'Alene Reservation, which includes a significant portion ofLake Coeur d'Alene and its submerged lands.
InIdaho v. United States (2001), theUnited States Supreme Court ruled against the state's claim of the submerged lands of the lower third of Lake Coeur d'Alene and related waters of theSt. Joe River. It said that the Coeur d'Alene were the traditional owners and that the Executive Branch and Congress had clearly included this area in their reservation, with compensation for ceded territory. This area was designated in 1983 by theEnvironmental Protection Agency asBunker Hill Mine and Smelting Complex, the nation's second-largestSuperfund site for cleanup.
Concerned at the slow pace of progress, in 1991 the tribe filed suit against mining companies for damages and cleanup costs, joined in 1996 by the United States and in 2011 by the state of Idaho. Settlements were reached with major defendants in 2008 and 2011, providing funds to be used in removal ofhazardous wastes and restoration of habitat and natural resources.
Historically the Coeur d'Alene occupied a territory of 3.5 million acres in present-daynorthern Idaho,eastern Washington andwestern Montana. They lived in villages along theCoeur d'Alene,St. Joe,Clark Fork, andSpokane rivers, as well as sites on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene,Lake Pend Oreille, andHayden Lake. Their native language isSnchitsu'umshtsn, anInterior Salishan language. They are one of theSalish language peoples, which tribes occupy areas of the inland plateau and the coastal areas of thePacific Northwest.
The French nameCœur d'Alêne translates to "heart of anawl". The name is first recorded by theLewis and Clark Expedition (1805) and was later popularly said to have been given byFrench traders to one of the chiefs of the tribe noted for his stinginess.[4]The alternative nameSkitswish is recorded byAlexander Henry the younger in 1810 (asSkeetshue) and byGeorge Gibbs inPacific Railroad Report vol. 1 (1853). This is an exonym used by theSahaptin.[5]
The self-designationSchi̲tsu'umsh is reported from Coeur d'Alene phrasebooks since the 1970s.[6]A modern speaker of Coeur d'Alene was reported as interpreting this name as "the discovered people".[7]
The federally recognized tribe was named the Coeur D'Alene Tribe of the Coeur D'Alene Reservation, but they shortened it to Coeur D'Alene Tribe.[1]
Historically, the Coeur d'Alene lived in what would become thePanhandle region of Idaho and neighboring areas of what is today eastern Washington and western Montana, occupying an area of more than 3.5 million acres (14,164 km2) of grass-covered hills,camas-prairie, forested mountains, lakes, marshes, and river habitat. The territory extended from the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille in the north, running along theBitterroot Range of Montana in the east, to thePalouse and North Fork of theClearwater River in the south, toSteptoe Butte and up to just east ofSpokane Falls in the west. At the center of this region was Lake Coeur d'Alene. The abundant natural resources includedtrout,salmon, andwhitefish. The tribe supplemented hunting and gathering activities by fishing the St. Joe and Spokane rivers. They usedgaff hooks, spears, nets, traps and angled for fish.
AnInterior Salish peoples, the Coeur d'Alene people first encountered Europeans in 1793. Then their economy was based on fishing, hunting, and plant gathering, with seasonal migratory patterns and retreating to clustered semi-subterranean dwellings during the winter months.The precontact lifeways of Interior Salish peoples are not widely written about, but available evidence favors the possibility of a recent expansion from the coast to the interior, possibly related to an increase in coastal population about 600 to 900 years ago.[8]
The earliest written description of the Coeur d'Alene people comes from the journals ofAlexander Henry the younger, a fur trader with theNorth West Company. He and British explorerDavid Thompson traded and traveled in their lands from 1810 to 1814. He wrote about the Coeur d'Alene:
The Skeetshue [Skitsuish] or Pointed Hearts [Coeur d'Alene] Indians dwell further southward [than theKallispell orPend d'Oreille tribes], about Skeetshue [Coeur d'Alene] Lake and [Spokane] River; they are a distinct nation, and have a different language [Salish] from theFlat Heads. They are very numerous, and have a vast number of horses, as their country is open and admits of breeding them in great abundance.[9]
Ross Cox, a clerk with thePacific Fur Company and then the North West Company, spent considerable time at the trading post ofSpokane House between 1812 and 1817:
The Pointed Hearts, or as the [French] Canadians call them, les Coeurs d' Alênes (Hearts of Awls), are a small tribe inhabiting the shores of a lake about fifty miles to the eastward of Spokan House. Their country is tolerably well stocked with beaver, deer, wild-fowl, &c.; and its vegetable productions are similar to those of Spokan. Some of this tribe occasionally visited our fort at the latter place with furs to barter, and we made a few excursions to their lands. We found them uniformly honest in their traffic; but they did not evince the same warmth of friendship for us as theSpokans, and expressed no desire for the establishment of a trading post among them.
About twenty years before our arrival [hence in the early 1790s], the Spokans and Pointed Hearts were at war, caused by a kind of Trojan origin. A party of the former [Spokane Indians] had been on a hunting visit to the land of the latter [Coeur d'Alene], and were hospitably received. One day, a young Spokan discovered the wife of a Pointed Heart alone, some distance from the village, and violated her. Although she might have born this in silence from one of her own tribe, she was not as equally forbearing with regard to a stranger, and immediately informed her husband of the outrage. He lost no time in seeking revenge, and shot the Spokan as he entered the village. The others fled to their own lands, and prepared for war. A succession of sanguinary conflicts followed, in the course of which the greatest warriors of both side were nearly destroyed. At the end of a year, however, hostilities ceased; since which period they have been at peace. The two nations now intermarry, and appear to be on the best terms of friendship.[10]
Many of the tribe were converted toRoman Catholicism in 1842 by Fr.Pierre-Jean De Smet, a BelgianJesuit missionary fromSt. Louis, Missouri, who was active throughout the Northwest. The twin towns ofDe Smet andTensed (originally Temsed), Idaho, are named for him. The United States acquired this territory in 1846 by treaty with Great Britain. European-American settlers and other immigrants began to move from the United States into parts of the territory in the 1840s. After the Indian defeat in theSkitswish War of May–September 1858, many more speculators were attracted after the discovery of silver in 1863 in the north Panhandle near the city ofCoeur d'Alene. Mining and development revealed this to be an area of the second-largest silver deposits in the United States.[11]
In 1873 the Coeur d'Alene lands were reduced to approximately 600,000 acres (940 sq mi; 2,400 km2) when PresidentUlysses S. Grant established theCoeur d'Alene Indian Reservation by executive order. Chief Peter Moctelme traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with the President to discuss his disagreement of allotments. Upon ratification, Chief Peter Moctelme's land was reduced by 1/3 and sold to white settlers. The US agreement with the tribe "expressly included part of the St. Joe River (then called the St. Joseph), and all of Lake Coeur d'Alene except a sliver cut off by the northern boundary."[12]
As of 1885, Congress had neither ratified the 1873 agreement nor compensated the Tribe. This inaction prompted the Tribe to petition the Government again, to "make with us a proper treaty of peace and friendship ... by which your petitioners may be properly and fully compensated for such portion of their lands not now reserved to them; [and] that their present reserve may be confirmed to them."[12] Successive government acts put a reservation boundary across Lake Coeur d'Alene, rather than following customary practice of using the high water line, and reduced the size of the reservation to 345,000 acres (1,400 km2) nearPlummer, south of the town of Coeur d'Alene.
Due to extensive mining and smelting operations in the Panhandle during the 19th and 20th centuries, there was hazardous waste in water discharges and pollution in air emissions. The mining industry "left several thousand acres of land and tributaries, connected to the Coeur d'Alene Basin, contaminated with heavy metals."[11] These mining operations have contributed "an estimated 100 million tons of mine waste to the river system."[11]
In the early 21st century, the federally recognized Tribe has approximately 2,000 enrolled citizens. The Tribe manages the sovereignCoeur d'Alene Reservation, which includes the lower third of Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Saint Joe River, and their submerged lands. Members of the tribe reside in such area cities asDeSmet,Harrison,Parkline,Plummer,St. Maries (part on the reservation, population 734),Tensed, andWorley.
In 1935, Ignace Garry was one of a group of chiefs who managed the tribe. In 1949 he was selected as the last traditionalchief of the Coeur d'Alene; he served until his death in 1965. During this period the tribe worked to restore its government under theIndian Reorganization Act of 1934. It gained approval of a written constitution in 1949 and elected representatives to the Tribal Council. In the 1950s, the tribe was one of several that came under termination pressure by the United States Congress. It helped found theAffiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, an organization to represent the Salish peoples in both Coastal and Plateau tribes, and resisted termination of its federal status.
Within Idaho, in the late 20th century the Coeur d'Alene organized with the four other federally recognized tribes in the state to form the Five Tribes Council, including theKootenai Tribe of Idaho,Nez Perce,Shoshone-Bannock, andShoshone-Paiute. The peoples work together for mutual benefit, for instance, in applying for grants or negotiating with the state government on Native American affairs.
The tribe reorganized under a written constitution approved by theBureau of Indian Affairs,United States Department of Interior, on September 2, 1949, and amended in 1961. The constitution provides for an elected Tribal Council to serve as the legislature and governing body of the Tribe. It defined all tribal members of voting age as the General Council. At the time, the Tribe was still governed byIgnace Garry, the last traditional chief. The seven members of the tribal council are elected by citizens of the tribe to 3-year terms; with staggered expiration years. The elected head of the tribe is the chairman.[13][14]
Since 2005, the chairman has beenChief James Allan ("Chief" is his given first name). Born in 1972 inSpokane, Allan grew up in Idaho on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation and graduated fromEastern Washington University inCheney. He served in administrative and elected positions in the tribe and with theNational Congress of American Indians in Washington, DC before being elected as chairman.[15]
Joseph Garry, son of Chief Ignace, was the first Native American to be elected to the Idaho state legislature. He also served as chairman of the tribe for 10 years. In 1984 his niece,Jeanne Givens, was the first Native American woman to be elected to the Idaho state legislature, serving two terms.[14]
The Coeur d'Alene Tribe operates a health care facility,[1] which opened as the Benewah Medical Center in 1998 and was later renamed Marimn Health. The center was described by theIndian Health Service as a national model for Indian Health Care and rural health care. The clinic provides comprehensive primary care services including dental, mental health services, and community health outreach services to both the Native American population and general community.[16]
Tribal businesses include the Coeur d'Alene Casino, Hotel, andCircling Raven Golf Club in southwesternKootenai County, about three miles (4.8 km) northwest ofWorley and thirty miles (48 km) south of the city of Coeur d'Alene, viaU.S. Route 95. Tribal gaming employs about 500 and generates about $20 million in profits annually, funding programs, contributing to economic development.
The tribe also operates the Benewah Automotive Center, the Benewah Market, the first three floors of the Coeur d'Alene Resort, and Ace Hardware, which are located a few miles south of Worley atPlummer, in northwesternBenewah County. The tribe has invested in two businesses, a manufacturing plant (BERG Integrated Systems), and a bakery (HearthBread Bakery), in both of which the tribe owns a majority share.
The tribal farm covers about 6,000 acres (24 km2). It produceswheat,barley,peas,lentils, andcanola. It also harveststimber among its natural resources.
Tribal traditions include a respect and reverence for natural law, and for responsible environmental stewardship. The tribe is active in the protection, conservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife resources; as well as conservation issues that impact tribal land and water resources.
Traditionally the tribe had a flexible kinship system with both paternal and maternal lines recognized within the extended family. People may claim ancestors on either side, and address all cousins the same. This enabled them to have a flexible society, as they would live in differently sized groups during different seasons, in order to adapt to the environment.
In 1991, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe began the Coeur d'Alene Basin Restoration Project.[12] That year tribal leaders, including Henry SiJohn, Lawrence Aripa, and Richard Mullen, decided to file a lawsuit against the mining companies, as they were concerned that cleanup progress by EPA and the state was too slow in the Basin and at theBunker Hill Mine and Smelting Complex Superfund site. They filed suit againstHecla Mining Company,ASARCO and other companies for damages and recovery of cleanup costs of the site. In 1996 their suit was joined by the United States.[13]
In 2001 the United States and the Coeur d'Alene litigated a 78-day trial against Hecla and ASARCO over liability issues. In 2008, ASARCO LLC, reached a settlement of $452 million with the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and United States for the Bunker Hill site[17] after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[13]
In 2011 the government, the Coeur d'Alene, and the state of Idaho (which joined the suit that year) reached settlement with the Hecla Mining Company to resolve one of the largest cases ever filed underCERCLA, the Superfund statute. Hecla Mining Company will pay $263.4 million plus interest to the United States and other parties to "resolve claims stemming from releases of wastes from its mining operations. Settlement funds will be dedicated to restoration and remediation of natural resources in the Coeur d'Alene Basin."[13] The trustees intend to restore habitat for fish, birds and other natural resources, for stewardship while working for economic progress in the region.[13] This was one of the top 10 settlement cash awards in Superfund history.[17]
In a related case, at the turn of the 21st century, U.S. courts ruled inIdaho v. United States (2001) that the Coeur d'Alene tribe has legal jurisdiction over the submerged land of the lower third ofLake Coeur d'Alene, which the US holds in trust for the tribe, as well as under a related 20 miles (32 km) of theSt. Joe River.[12] The case was initiated by the US government to "quiet title" with the state, and the Tribe entered to assert its interest. The State of Idaho had appealed a lower court decision but that was upheld by theUnited States Supreme Court.[12]
The tribe has worked with the US Department of Justice in filing suit also against theUnion Pacific Railroad over contamination of the lake and related lands.[11]
Neighboring tribes:
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