Swan Valley Massacre of 1908

Background

The Bitterroot Salish (Flathead) and Pend d'Oreille (Kalispel) tribes of the Northern Rocky Mountain (Plateau) region traditionally occupied territory around Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana, relying on hunting and gathering. Under the 1855 Hellgate Treaty, negotiated between Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens and the confederated Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Ksanka Band of Kootenai, the tribes retained rights to hunt, gather, and fish in their aboriginal territory, including land outside the reservation boundaries later established. After Montana achieved statehood in 1889, the state created its own hunting and fishing regulations enforced by game wardens. While only the federal government held jurisdiction on reservation land, Montana officials believed they had authority to regulate hunting by Native Americans elsewhere, despite the treaty's provisions.

The Confrontation

In September 1908, a party of eight Pend d'Oreille — Atwen Scwi, his wife, son, and daughter; Little Camille Paul and his pregnant wife Clarice; and elders Mary and Martin Yellow Mountain — entered the Swan Valley on the eastern side of the Mission Mountains to hunt. Although not required under the Hellgate Treaty, the group had purchased state hunting permits before leaving the reservation to avoid conflict, and Yellow Mountain had obtained clearance for the trip from the Indian agent in Arlee.

In October, after the party had camped for several weeks, state game warden Charles Peyton and a few deputized valley residents entered the camp three times, demanding hunting licenses and harassing the group. Peyton later returned with a drawn gun and ordered the band to leave by the next morning. The group began packing to depart but was delayed after two horses wandered off.

The following day, Peyton arrived with his 32-year-old deputy, Herman Rudolph. Peyton shot Camille Paul and Atwen, who were unable to reach their weapons, and then shot Martin Yellow Mountain when he attempted to grab his gun. As the women fled, Peyton pursued them. Atwen's son, Peh-lah-so-weh, found a gun and shot Peyton in the stomach; Rudolph simultaneously shot and killed Peh-lah-so-weh. As the surviving women tended to the dead and dying, Peyton began to rise again. Clarice, Camille Paul's pregnant wife, took her husband's rifle from beneath his body and shot Peyton twice, killing him.

Aftermath

Clarice, six months pregnant, rode to a nearby Pend d'Oreille camp led by Many Names (Louie Mollman) for help. When Many Names' party returned the next day to recover the bodies, they encountered a non-Indian posse but declined to engage. Herman Rudolph was scheduled to appear before the county coroner but left the area and was never prosecuted. The four Pend d'Oreille dead were reinterred at St. Ignatius Catholic cemetery. Clarice later gave birth to a son, John Peter Paul, who grew up recounting the story of the hunting party. Following the killings, the tribe reduced off-reservation hunting expeditions out of fear of similar violence.