Sanpoil-Nespelem
Sanpoil-Nespelem refers to a group of Indigenous people located in Northeastern Washington, primarily known for their riverine lifestyle at the confluence of the Columbia and Sanpoil Rivers. The term "Sanpoil" originates from a French adaptation of their Indigenous name, snpui'lux. Historically, the Sanpoil were closely connected with neighboring tribes, including the Nespelem and Lower Spokane, sharing a dialect of the Interior Salish language. They engaged in subsistence living, focusing on fishing and root gathering, with a rich cultural framework that included animism, shamanism, and various ceremonies for spiritual and social cohesion.
The population faced significant decline due to epidemics and contact with European Americans, leading to cultural shifts exacerbated by the introduction of Christianity and conflicts such as the Yakima War. Following the establishment of the Colville Indian Reservation in 1872, the Sanpoil and other tribes were confined to a smaller territory, which was further reduced over time. In contemporary times, descendants of the Sanpoil are part of the Confederated Colville Tribe, which thrives through various economic activities, including gaming and tourism. While the Sanpoil dialect faces endangerment, efforts continue to preserve their language and culture amidst challenges presented by modern developments, including the impact of hydroelectric projects on their traditional fishing practices.
Sanpoil-Nespelem
- CATEGORY: Tribes
- CULTURE AREA: Plateau
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Salishan
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Northeastern Washington
The term Sanpoil is a French corruption of the Indigenous name snpui’lux, a riverine people who lived at the confluence of the Columbia and Sanpoil Rivers and who have been ethnographically included with the Nespelem. They maintained close social and economic ties with the contiguous Nespelem and Lower Spokane peoples and spoke an Interior Salish dialect shared with the Colville, Okanagan, Lake, Nespelem, and Sinkaietk.
Traditional Lifeways
The dominant cultural features were subsistence living, emphasizing fishing and root gathering, which regulated socioeconomic life and certain religious behaviors. The Sanpoil had specialized fishing technology, mutual exploitation of root grounds and fishing stations, and extended trade. Their leadership was through inherited chieftainship and consensus of opinion. The Sanpoil had a sweathouse complex, a vision quest for power, and a tutelary (guardian) spirit. They practiced animism, shamanism, a midwinter rite of intensification ceremony and world renewal rites, bilateral descent, and polygyny. The Sanpoil had a politically decentralized neolocal residence.
Though the Sanpoil used clay for medicines, cleaning buckskin, and making toys, they had no pottery, using bark and woven fiber burden and storage baskets. Food was cooked in earth ovens, by spit-broiling, or by stone-boiling. Status was gained by oratory abilities, generosity, hunting and utilitarian skills, storytelling, and curing. Social control and a well-defined supernatural hierarchy were defining characteristics of the Sanpoil.
Historic Period
The estimated Sanpoil population of 1,650 (including the Nespelem) was reduced by half in the smallpox epidemic of 1782-1783. Numbers were further reduced in 1846 and again in 1852-1853 from direct contact with European Americans. Significant changes to Sanpoil culture were wrought by the introduction of Christianity, European-American trade, settler conflict, and the Yakima War of 1855-1858. The Sanpoil, under the spiritual leader Kolaskin, adopted the Dreamer Religion or Prophet Dance, a syncretic Indigenous movement that taught a distrust of White teachings and religion. A minority of the Sanpoil remained Catholic, following the devout Chief Barnaby, causing further factionalism.
The Sanpoil population was estimated at 538 with the establishment of the Colville Indian Reservation by executive order of July 2, 1872, when they and twelve other Indigenous groups were forced onto the reservation in an area that encompassed some of their Indigenous land. With intrusion by White settlers and gold miners, the northern half of the reservation was reduced by one-half (1,500,000 acres) in 1891.
Contemporary Period
The construction of Grand Coulee Dam in 1935 destroyed salmon fishing and its value as a trade item, destroying one of the last vestiges of their traditional subsistence economy. In the twenty-first century, individuals with Sanpoil heritage were members of the Confederated Colville Tribe, occupying over one million acres of land. The Confederated Colville Tribe had over 9,200 members in the mid-2020s. Their primary sources of income included gaming, tourism, logging, cattle raising, government employment, and, to a lesser extent, annual per capita payments and litigation settlements for the loss of Indigenous resource areas and water rights. Although the Sanpoil dialect of the Salish language was considered endangered, efforts were underway to preserve it as well as other cultural aspects of the Sanpoil people. The Sanpoil and the other members of the Confederated Colville Tribe also worked to protect the land impacted by the dams built on the Columbia River System.
Bibliography
"About Us." 12 Tribes Colville Casinos - Casinos in Manson, Omak & Coulee Dam, WA, colvillecasinos.com/about-us/. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
Cox, Ross. Adventures on the Columbia, Including the Narrative of a Residence of Six Years on the Western Side of the Rocky Mountains. 2 vols. Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831.
Johnson, Trisha, and the History/Archaeology Department. "Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation." ArcGIS StoryMaps, 2024, storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bb31cd48d0284fa59d6f454cafabe962. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
Lewis, Albert Buell. Tribes of the Columbia Valley and the Coast of Washington and Oregon. Reprint. Kraus Reprint, 1983.
Ray, Verne F. The Sanpoil and Nespelem: Salishan Peoples of Northeastern Washington. University of Washington Press, 1933.
Ross, John Alan. "Political Factionalism on the Colville Reservation." Northwest Anthropological Research Notes, vol. 2, no. 1, 1968.
"Sanpoil." World Culture Encyclopedia, www.everyculture.com/North-America/Sanpoil.html. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.