Nɫʔay \ PLACE of SMALL BULL TROUT the Missoula Area and The
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Nɫʔay | PLACE OF SMALL BULL TROUT The Missoula Area and the Séliš & Ql̓ispé People Ep Stm̓tú HAS CURRANTS Mill Creek Q͏ʷʔéɫ Snɫp̓ú Nšiy̓tétk͏ʷs REFERRING TO WATER COMING-OUT-INTO-THE-OPEN’S CREEK or millennia, the Missoula Valley has been a place of great importance Frenchtown area O’Keefe Creek to our people, the Séliš (SEH-leesh, also known as ‘Salish’ or ‘Flathead’) Ql̓ispé F and (Kah-lee-SPEH, also known as ‘Kalispel’ or ‘Pend d’Oreille’). Snɫp̓ú(pƛ̓m̓) PLACE WHERE YOU COME OUT This is a vital part of our aboriginal territories, a landscape filled with Base of Evaro Hill cultural meaning, reflected in the selected place-names on this sign. Some names come from our creation stories. Others refer to our traditional way N̓eslétk͏ʷ of life and the resources, such as bull trout, that were particularly abundant TWO WATERS Lavalle & Butler Creeks here. The confluence of Rattlesnake Creek and the Clark Fork River is known N̓ml̓šé Bigcrane family at annual bitterroot dig, 2009. Courtesy SQCC. ʔamtqné PLACE OF COTTONWOODS as Nɫʔaycčstm, meaning Place of Small Bull Trout. The shortened form of SOMETHING SITTING ON TOP GRASS VALLEY Site above Cyr Gulch this name, Nɫʔay, is used by Salish speakers to refer to the city of Missoula. Ništétk͏ʷ Nɫɫq̓esuʔl̓m LITTLE WIDE CREEK YOU The west side of the valley, including the prairies around Fort Missoula, WATER IN A DEEP VALLEY Člmé Deep Creek CAN CROSS was the greatest bitterroot digging ground in TREE-LIMB-STRIPPED-OFF Grant Creek Council Grove all of our vast aboriginal territories. Until the Nɫʔay Sewɫk͏ʷ͏s Sx͏ʷtpqéyn SMALL BULL TROUT’S WATERS Ep Sč̓iɫt 1960s, when development made it impossible to Rattlesnake Creek HAS WHITE CLAY PLACE WHERE Marshall Creek Nmesulétk͏ʷ SOMETHING IS CUT OFF continue, our people gathered here every spring AND COMES TO A POINT Ṇaaycčstm Sewɫk͏ʷ͏s SHIMMERING COLD WATERS Missoula Valley Nmq̓͏ʷe BULL TROUT’S WATERS to offer prayers of thanks for this staple food and Middle Clark Fork River Clark Fork-Blackfoot Rivers HUMPED MOUNTAIN dig for several weeks. Mount Jumbo Eslq̓͏ʷolex͏ʷ Ṇaaycčstm In 1855, just a few miles west of this sign, our PRAIRIE Bandmann Flat PLACE OF BULL TROUT Nɫʔaycčstm Blackfoot - tribal nations met with U.S. officials to negotiate Sx͏ʷplstwé PLACE OF SMALL BULL TROUT Clark Fork Confluence Rattlesnake Creek- the Hellgate Treaty. The treaty established the PLACE OF THE KILLERS Clark Fork confluence Esmoq̓͏ʷ Fort Missoula and city of Missoula IT’S A MOUNTAIN sovereign Flathead Reservation, and guaranteed Nstetčcx͏ʷétk͏ʷ Mount Sentinel RED-OSIER DOGWOOD WATERS Smlk̓͏ʷsšná our continued use of tribal homelands for Bitterroot River NAME OF A SÉLIŠ WOMAN Ncq͏ʷel̓stétk͏ʷ traditional purposes. McCauley Butte FLINT-STUCK-IN-THE-GROUND WATERS Nccq̓eɫpé Sl̓oʔté Upper Clark Fork River VALLEY WHERE TWO RAVINES MEET Today, Séliš and Ql̓ispé people maintain a vital SMALL AREA OF DOUGLAS FIRS Pattee Canyon Blue Mountain connection to the Missoula area. We are active Nccq̓eɫpétk͏ʷ Snčleʔx͏ʷq͏ʷi members of the community, engaging in this SMALL-AREA-OF-DOUGLAS-OF-FIRS WATERS PLACE WHERE THE EGGS HATCH Around Mouth of Miller Creek transformed world even as we maintain and Deadman Gulch Nɫqqʔá revitalize our connection to the ancestors. STEEP TRAIL Epɫčiliy̓al̓alq͏ʷ Between Lolo & Missoula HAS VIRGIN’S BOWER Miller Creek © Séliš-Ql̓ispé Culture Committee, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, 2019. All rights reserved. Esnx̣ax̣ascí design = www.my-design.net GOOD-SINGING PLACE AREA ALONG BITTER- ROOT RIVER Naptnišá Tmsmɫí NO SALMON Čɫxwm̓xwm̓šn̓á (Sophie Moiese) digging bitterroot Trail to the Nez Perce Lolo area Q̓͏ʷlotqné near Ft. Missoula, 1945. Univ. of Montana, 91-6083. Lolo Trail SOMETHING SEPARATE STICKING UP ON TOP Two rocks on ridgetop across from Lolo Séliš-Ql̓ispéelders at Člmé (Council Grove), 2003. SQCC image..