Description
The Methow are a Native American tribe that lived along the Methow River, a tributary of the Columbia River in northern Washington. The river's English name is taken from that of the tribe. The name "Methow" comes from the Okanagan placename, meaning "sunflower (seeds)". The tribe's name for the river was Buttlemuleemauch, meaning "salmon falls river". The Methow were a relatively small tribe, with an estimated population of 800 in 1780 and 300 in 1870. Horses were introduced in this area around 1730. The local Indians talked with and assisted David Thompson, the first white explorer, in 1811. They also provided him with horses. Today, the Methow live primarily on the Colville Indian Reservation.
Language
The Methow now speak English. Their endangered language, known as Colville-Okanagan, spoken only by older adults, is a part of the Southern Interior Salish linguistic branch.
Culture
The Methow men were hunters and fishers while women cleaned and prepared the game and salmon, and gathering other food necessary for survival such as: pine nuts, acorns, hazelnuts, camas root, berries, and black lichen. The Methow hunted throughout their territory from Lost River all the way to Mount Gardner. They hunted for bear, elk, mountain sheep & goats, duck, quail, squirrel, and beaver. The Methow seasonally harvested “Indian carrots”, "Indian celery", bitterroot, “Indian potatoes”, camas root, huckleberries, serviceberries, chokecherries, foam berries, blackberries, wild raspberries, pine nuts, edible lichen (“black moss”), mountain laurel, acorns, and hazelnuts.