"Our people were camped in a kind of prairie along the Bitterroot River, a few miles upstream from the Medicine Tree. The place is called Ross' Hole now; the Indians then called it Kwtít Pupxm." —Pierre Pichette, Salish Tribal Elder (1953)
This traditional place - whose Salish language name means 'big clear area' or 'great clearing' was used by countless generations of Indian people to gather chokecherries and to pasture their horses on the abundant grass. From here, the Salish could travel south to the Salmon River country to fish for salmon, or travel east to the open plains, to hunt buffalo.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was welcomed by a large band of Salish Indians who were camped in this open valley on September 4, 1805. Captain Clark noted that there were over 30 lodges, 400 people and at least 500 horses. Clark also wrote: "those people recved us friendly, threw white robes over out shoulders & smoked in the pipes of peace..."
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