Sinkiuse-Columbia - Ethnography

Ethnography

The Sinkiuse lived on the east side of Columbia River from Fort Okanogan to approximately Point Eaton. Later, a reservation was created for them known as Columbia Reservation. In 1870, Winans placed them "on the east and south sides of the Columbia River from the Grand Coulee down to Priest's Rapids."

The Sinkiuse belonged to the inland division of the Salishan group. Their nearest relatives were the Wenatchi and Methow. Hale also classified the Sinkiuse as a division of the Pisquows with population 355 in 1905, 299 in 1908, 540 (with others?) in 1990.

Mooney (1928) estimates the Sinkiuse to have numbered 800 in 1780, but they may have been more numerous as Teit (1927) estimated that this tribe and the Pisquow together totaled approximately 10,000 before smallpox reached them.

Subdivisions or Bands (According to Teit, 1930)

  • .nkee'us or .s.nkeie'usox (Umatilla Valley).
  • Stata'ketux, around White Bluffs on the Columbia River.
  • .tskowa'xtsEnux or .skowa'xtsFnEx, also called Moses-Columbia or Moses Band after the famous Chief Moses.
  • Curtis (1907-9) gives the following: "Near the mouth of the sink of Crab Creek were the Sinkumkunatkuh, and above them the SinkolkolumInuh. Then came in succession the Stapi'sknuh, the Skukulat'kuh, the SkoĆ”hchnuh, the Skihlkintnuh, and, finally, the Skultagchi'mh, a little above the mouth of Wenatchee River."
  • Spier (1927) adds that the Sinkowarsin met by Thompson in 1811 might have been a band of this tribe.

The Sinkiuse are now under the jurisdiction of Colville Agency and one band, the Moses-Columbia Band, is in the southern part of Colville Indian Reservation.

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