Flathead Indian Reservation (Salish-Kootenai Cultural Heritage)

The land underneath Whitefish has a longer story than the town itself. The Kootenai lived in this mountainous terrain west of the Continental Divide for more than 14,000 years before the railroad arrived. Today, the Flathead Indian Reservation — established by the 1855 Treaty of Hellgate, spanning more than 1.3 million acres — is home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The National Bison Range, restored to tribal management in 2022 after more than a century of federal control, is the clearest place to understand what endured.