Flathead
This large and powerful division of the Salishan family, to which they gave their name, inhabited much of west Montana centered around the Flathead Lake and valley. They were called the Flathead Indians by the first white who came upon them. Though the name is often said to derive from the flat skull produced by binding infant's skulls with boards, this is a myth. The tribe never practiced head flattening, but instead, were called "flat head" because the tops of their heads were not pointed like those of neighboring tribes who practiced vertical head-binding. The Flatheads call themselves Salish meaning "the people."
They subsisting more by roots, berries and small game than by hunting large game, as they were cut off from the buffalo country by their powerful enemies, the Blackfoot. They lived in houses of bark and reeds, as well as the skin tipi. Lewis and Clark estimated their population in 1806 to be 600, but by 1853 were said to have been reduced to just a little more than 300, primarily due to wars with the Blackfoot.
The Salish, along with the Pend d'Oreille and the Kootenai tribes, by the Treaty of Hell Gate on July 16, 1855, ceded to the United States their lands in Montana and Idaho. Today, they from part of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes who live on the 1,317 million acre Flathead Reservation in northwest Montana.