OKANAGAN (Sinkaietk)

The Okanagan, centered around the Okanogan River (spelled Okanagan in Canada) and Okanagan Lake, lived on what became both sides of the border between northern Washington State in the United States and southern British Columbia in Canada. Like the name of the river at the heart of their homeland, the tribal name also varies in spelling; in addition to Okanagan and Okanogan, one also sees Okanagon and Okinagan. The name, pronounced oh-kuh-NAH-gun, first referred to a particular place along the river, near Okanogan Falls at the mouth of the Similkameen tributary, before being used for the tribe. Okanagan tradition maintains that Okanogan Falls is the place of origin of the tribe.

The Okanagan were organized into autonomous bands, each with a chief advised by a council of elders, who helped select temporary war chiefs in times of warfare. Earliest classifications site two divisions: the Okanagan proper along the Okanogan River, with four bands, and the Similkameen Okanagan along the Sim-ilkameen River, with three bands. A more recent classification discusses the Lower Okanagan, or Sinkaietk (for “the people”) in the United States, and the Upper Okanagan in Canada, with the mouth of the Similka-meen roughly serving as a dividing line between them. Isonkva’ili for “our people” has also been used as a Native name by some among them.

The Okanagan spoke a Salishan language and are thus one of those tribes grouped as Interior Salishans or (Interior Salish) of the Plateau Culture Area (see PLATEAU INDIANS) to distinguish them from the Coast Salishans (or Coast Salish) of the Northwest Culture Area (see NORTHWEST COAST INDIANS). Tribes related linguistically are the Colville, Lake (Senijextee), and Sanpoil.

Okanagan pole-frame earth-covered pithouses were circular and entered from the roof. In summertime, when at fishing, hunting, or plant gathering sites, tribal members also took shelter in temporary conical pole-frame mat-covered dwellings. They used bark-covered canoes on the waterways. In the early 18th century, the

Okanagan acquired horses, which changed some of their traveling and hunting patterns. Staple foods consisted of salmon, deer, and rabbit, as well as roots and berries. They wove baskets out of cedar bark or spruce roots. Their principal deity, considered the Creator, was known in their dialects as Great Mystery, Chief Above, or Chief of the Dead. Coyote was an important legendary being in their mythology.

The Okanagan were traditional enemies of the Shuswap to the north and the NEZ PERCE and YAKAMA to the south. Some of their later lands had originally been occupied by Shuswap. Earliest contacts with non-Indians were with traders, probably first in the late 1700s. A recorded encounter was made at Fort Kamloops (modern Kamloops, British Columbia) in 1805. The Hudson’s Bay “brigade trail” led right through Okanagan territory, from that post to Fort Colville in present-day Washington. David Thompson of the North West Company is known to have visited with them in 1811.

In 1848, the international boundary between the United States and Canada was established. Although the Indians at first ignored it, the border made contact among the various Okanagan bands and families more difficult in ensuing decades. In 1858, gold was disco v-ered on the Fraser River, bringing more and more non-Indians to the region. Disputes and outbreaks of violence followed. The Colville Reservation was established in 1872, and Okanagan on the U. S. side of the border were forced to settle there with other Interior Sal-ishans. Okanagan in Canada, not having negotiated a treaty, were assigned to various small reserves in the early 1900s. In 1982, the Penticton Okanagan band became the first of the British Columbia First Nations to reach a settlement with the Canadian government for its claim regarding lands unfairly appropriated.

The Lower Similkameen, Okanagan, Osoyoos, Penticton, Upper Similkameen, and Westbank bands are active in British Columbia; Okanagan descendants in Washington live among other Salishans, in particular on the Colville Reservation.