Flathead Indian Reservation

American Indian reservation in west Montana; area 5,020 sq km/1,938 sq mi; population (1990) 21,300, of which 24% is American Indian. It is situated to the north of Missoula, south of Flathead Lake, and west of the Mission Range; the Salish Mountains extend north-northwest from the reservation. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai, called Flatheads by other tribes, have lived here by treaty since the 1850s. The 1910 division of the reservation into individual allotments led to the sale of much land to whites.