ʔakniǂkaʔnuk: Indigenous Resistance and Water Sovereignty in Northwest Montana, 1930 – 1991

Abstract:

This thesis examines the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ relationship to hydroelectric development in northwest Montana throughout the twentieth century. It argues that the geography and hydro-morphology of the region today is a direct result of the Tribes organized efforts for greater self-determination. In 2015, the Tribes successfully repossessed the Kerr Dam, a project constructed by the Montana Power Company on the reservation in 1935 despite overwhelming tribal objection, making them the first Native American nation to fully own and operate their own major hydroelectric facility. Given the immensely fraught relationship between Native nations and dam construction in the American and Canadian West in the twentieth century, this feat is remarkable. This thesis, therefore, studies the means by which the Tribes built and developed a resistance movement that responded to political currents of the twentieth century and ultimately shaped the maps of Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia that we see today. This thesis studies the Tribes early engagements in negotiation during the planning and construction of the Kerr Dam in the 1930s. It then examines the Tribes efforts to construct their own dams along the Flathead River in the 1960s. It concludes by analyzing the variety of political, judicial, and social methods the Tribes used to ultimately renegotiate the license to Kerr Dam in the 1980s, paving the way for full ownership in 2015. Studying this past not only explains the present state of hydro-development in the region, but also demonstrates the importance of Indigenous resistance in American and Canadian histories at large.