Get Colville Tribal Credit

In 1846 an American coined the term “Basket People,” referring to the tall woven baskets the Colville made to snare salmon. The tribe has also been called Scheulpi, or Chualpay. French traders called them Les Chaudières (“the kettles”), perhaps because they lived near Kettle Falls.

Cody Desautel is the new executive director of the Colville Tribes.

The name Colville comes from association with Fort Colville, named after Andrew Colvile of the Hudson's Bay Company. Okanagan: sx̌ʷyʔiɬpx) Earlier, outsiders often called them Scheulpi, Chualpay, or Swhy-ayl-puh; the French traders called them Les Chaudières ("the Kettles") in reference to Kettle Falls.

The Colville people are the descendants of 12 bands of Indians that were settled on the Colville Reservation. These bands are the Colville, Chelan, Methow, Okanogan, San Poil, Arrow Lakes, Nespelem, Nez Perce, Palouse, Moses, Entiat, and Wenatchee.

The most common of the indigenous languages spoken on the reservation is Colville-Okanagan, a Salishan language. Other tribes speak other Salishan languages, with the exception of the Nez Perce and Palus, who speak Sahaptian languages.

In the mid 19th century, the formerly nomadic aboriginal tribes in North Central Washington began to settle along prominent waterways to trade with Canadian and European explorers and settlers. It was not long before disputes over land ownership between natives and newcomers became common.