Chelan Tribe - Territory

Territory

Lake Chelan is 55 miles long and a mile wide, and is the third-deepest freshwater lake in the United States and the ninth deepest in the world with a maximum depth of 1,486 feet. Fed by streams from the Cascade Range, the lake flows into the Columbia River from the Chelan River.

During the salmon runs, they fished the outlet where the lake meets the river and also moved down to the Wenatshapam Fishery on the Columbia River to fish and trade with other tribes.

The Chelan tribe also had several permanent villages in the lower Chelan valley. One at Willow Point, near Manson, had up to 500 occupants. Another on Wapato Point was home to about 100 people. They were frequently on the move, traveling in and out of the mountains with the seasons, collecting plants and hunting game.

The watery highway of Lake Chelan provided a relatively easy transportation route from the Columbia River deep into the Cascades. Occasionally, to trade with or visit coastal relatives, the Chelans would canoe up to the head of the lake where they knew of a route which followed a swift stream between high peaks.

Crossing between the glaciers and cliffs on the crest of the mountains, they descended through the tall forests to the land of the Skagit tribes. The Chelan Indians often traded mountain goat wool for dried clams and salmon, or for seashells, which they used for future trade or ornamentation.

Their traditional allies were the kindred Wenatchi, Sinkiuse-Columbia, and Entiat. Their traditional enemies were Shoshone, Kwalhioqua (also known as Willapa who lived in the hills north of the lower Columbia River), the Blackfoot Confederacy, and Nez Perce at times, at others they were allies.

Territorial boundaries shifted frequently in the Plateau Region, as tribes competed for the best hunting grounds. After the arrival of the horse, Plateau tribes faced more competition from the Plains Indians and Indians from the Great Basin. Intertribal war in the area faded out as alliances were made to fight their common enemies.

By the 1860s, smallpox epedemics had virtually ended tribal warfare, due to the drastic decrease in population. From 1840 onward, the US government tried to move all Indians to reservations. The resulting wars between the 1840s to the 1870s were the final push to tame the West.