The Place:
Combined, the Bitterroot Salish, the Pend d’Oreille and the Kootenai tribes comprise the
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, whose ancestors once roamed over 20 million acres of what is now western Montana, parts of Idaho, British Columbia and Wyoming. The Flathead Reservation was established by the Hellgate Treaty of 1855.
A census-designated place (CDP), Arlee, presently with a population of around 600, remained only an Indian Agency until the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the construction of a depot in 1883. From that time it slowly grew, becoming a trading centre for the Jocko Valley, which it remains today.
The major annual event in Arlee is the
Arlee Celebration (Pow Wow), a five day event which takes place every Fourth of July Weekend. The first Pow Wow took place in 1898, later to become an annual event. Today the
Arlee Rodeo has become part of the Pow Wow. Three miles north of Arlee is the
Garden of One Thousand Buddhas, a very impressive display of, well, One Thousand Buddhas. Signage along Highway 93 will guide one to it.
The Person:
The town of Arlee was named for the Nez Perce Sub-chief, Arlee, who, in October of 1873, led a group of Salish people, a portion of the Bitter Root Salish, on a trek from the Bitterroot Valley to the Jocko Agency, later to be known as the Flathead Indian Agency, a few miles north of Arlee.
The true chief of the Salish, Charlo, refused to sign a treaty which would have displaced him from his ancestral lands, so the agency appointed Arlee, who was not Salish, but Nez Perce, Chief of the Salish.
1872- General James A. Garfield arrived in the valley with an executive order from President Ulysses S. Grant to remove Charlo’s Indians to the Jocko Reservation. Chief Charlo refused to sign Garfield’s agreement because the U.S. government failed to fulfill its obligations, according to the Treaty of 1855. His name appeared on the agreement, a forgery later admitted, and a travesty that embittered Chief Charlo. Father Ravalli corroborated Chief Charlo’s claim when he told Senator Vest of Missouri that he was present at the signing of the treaty and that Arlee and Adolph signed, but Charlo did not.
“In order to secure active cooperation of the second chief, (Arlee) I promised to recommend him as head chief in place of Charlo who forfeited his right by refusing to move or to become a citizen,” Indian agent D. Shanahan wrote in his Report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1872-1873.
A furious Charlo announced to Senator Vest and his committee, that he had no confidence in their promises. He said at the time, “For your Great Father, Garfield, put my name on a paper which I never signed, and
that renegade Nez Perce, Arlee, is now drawing money to which he had no right. How can I believe you, or any white man? …we do not wish to leave these lands. You place your foot upon our necks and press our faces into the dust. But I will never go to the reservation. I will go to the plains.” When Arlee was underhandedly named head chief to replace him, it was an insult that Chief Charlo never forgave.
From the St. Mary's Mission
So it appears that Arlee may not have been the heroic figure he is remembered to be. Then again he may well have acted properly on behalf of the Salish, realizing that remaining in the Bitterroot was no longer an option and migrating to the Jocko reserve was the only avenue left for the Salish.
Arlee was named after the Salish leader Arlee. In October 1873, he moved a small group of his people from the Bitterroot Valley, which was designated a “conditional reservation” in the 1855 Hellgate Treaty, to the Jocko Agency (later Flathead Indian Agency) located a few miles north of the current town of Arlee. This forced move stemmed from the efforts of a congressional delegation led by future president James Garfield to negotiate Salish removal from the Bitterroot Valley. The town of Arlee gained importance in 1883 when the Northern Pacific Railroad established a depot there. Two years later, the post office opened its doors in Arlee. Another notable event occurred in 1898 when the first (now annual) Fourth of July powwow was held at Arlee.
From the Montana Place Names Companion