26 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 10 



should remove as soon as practicable to the Jocko Reservation. The 

 next summer James A. Garfield met the principal Flathead chiefs to 

 expedite the movement. They insisted that Article XI of the 1855 

 treaty had never been carried into effect, that the Bitterroot Valley 

 had never been "carefully surveyed and examined," and that the 

 white settlements that had been made in the valley since the treaty 

 had been illegal. They considered that the Government's failure to 

 comply with Article XI, was an admission that the valley should 

 remain the proper home of the Flathead. Nevertheless, Garfield 

 convinced Arlee, second chief of the Flathead, that it was to the 

 best interest of the tribe to remove to the Jocko Reservation. He 

 prepared a formal agreement of removal which bore the names and 

 marks of the three principal Flathead chiefs. Although Head Chief 

 Chariot's signature appeared on this document, Garfield acknowl- 

 edged that Chariot did not sign it. (Ibid., 1872, pp. no, 115.) 



In 1874 Arlee and a few of his followers removed to the Jocko 

 Reservation. He became recognized by the Government as head 

 chief of the tribe, and he and his followers received the Government's 

 benefits. (Ibid,, 1888, p. 156.) From time to time small numbers 

 of Flathead left the Bitterroot Valley and followed Arlee to the 

 Reservation. The majority of the tribe remained with Chariot until 

 several years after the extermination of the buffalo on the plains. 

 Not until October 1891 did Chariot lead the remnant of his loyal, 

 poverty-stricken followers, numbering less than 200 souls, from their 

 beloved Bitterroot Valley onto the Jocko Reservation. (Palladino, 

 1894, p. 59.) 



Once on the Reservation, this disillusioned, conservative leader 

 continued to oppose Government-sponsored innovations in Indian 

 life. Chariot opposed the Indian court of offenses, the Indian police 

 force paid by the Government, the adoption of civilized dress, and 

 threatened to take the children of his band from school if their hair 

 was cut. (Ann. Rep. Comm. Ind. Aff., 1892, p. 292.) 



The history of Flathead culture in the pre-reservation period (i.e., 

 prior to 1891), is significant as a case history in American Indian 

 acculturation. Because the Flathead were consistently friendly toward 

 the whites, because they placed high value on a number of traits of 

 character which white men identified as Christian virtues, because 

 they showed an early interest in the Christian religion, the fur traders, 

 missionaries, and early Government officials believed this tribe aspired 

 to a civilization after the European pattern. No other western tribe 



