OnJuly16,1855,eighteenleadersoftheFlathead,Kootenai,andUpperPendd’OreillesIndianssignedanagreementwiththeUnitedStatesgovernment,cedingtheirtitletoalmostallthelandinwesternMontanaandestablishingtheFlatheadIndianReservation.Bornofconfusionanddisagreement,theHellGateTreatyisthelegalbasisforthemodernrelationshipbetweenthetribesandthefederalgovernment.IntheNameoftheSalish&KootenaiNationreproducesthecompletetextoftheHellGateTreatyandcollectspreviouslypublisheddocumentsrelatingtothetreaty,amongthemtheofficialproceedingsofthetreatycouncil,GustavusSohon’sportraitsofmanyofthetreatysigners,andlettersfromtheJesuitpriest,AdrianHoecken,whowaspresentatthetreatydeliberations.Thesedocumentsarepresentedinthehopethattheywillinspirefurtherquestionsandresearch.
