Saleesh House, also known as Flathead Post, was a

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

fur trading post built near present-day Thompson Falls, Montana in 1809 by David Thompson and James McMillan of the North West Company. It became a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

(HBC) post after that company merged with the North West Company in 1821. Under HBC control the post was better known as Flathead rather than Saleesh. It continued to operate until at least 1855. Thompson had established the post of Kullyspell House earlier in the year in the territory of the

Pend d'Oreilles The Pend d'Oreille or Pend d'Oreilles ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington (state), Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples r ...

(who Thompson called the Kullyspel, an early variant spelling of "Kalispell"). This post was sited near the mouth of the Clark Fork river. By October Thompson had decided to established another post farther up the Clark Fork in the territory of the Flatheads. Thompson's name for the Flatheads was Saleesh. He also called Clark Fork the Saleesh River. The Saleesh House trading post was built by the end of 1809. The location of Saleesh House proved ideal, as it was on a route connecting the higher mountain country with

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

hunting grounds near

Flathead Lake Flathead Lake (, ) is a large natural lake in northwest Montana, United States. The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Glacial Lake Missoula, Lake Missoula, of the era of the last interglacial. Flathead Lake is a nat ...

. Several tribes used this route and traditionally encamped for winter near the Saleesh House site. The post quickly attracted a diverse community around itself. In addition, the region around the post was rich with beavers. The indigenous peoples had access to

pemmican Pemmican () (also pemican in older sources) is a mixture of tallow, dried meat, and sometimes dried berries. A calorie-rich food, it can be used as a key component in prepared meals or eaten raw. Historically, it was an important part of indigeno ...

supplies and were willing to trap and trade beaver skins. The Saleesh House rapidly became the focal point of an impressively rich fur trading region in what would become

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. It was at Saleesh House in late 1809 and early 1810 that David Thompson acquired the nickname ''Koo-koo-Sint'', or "Star-Looker". In 1810 Thompson and other members of the North West Company linked Saleesh House with Spokane House via a trail known as the "Skeetshoo Indian Road". Thompson soon left and did not return to Saleesh House until 1812, where he found the post in poor condition. Thompson repaired and rebuilt the post more permanently. Joint British - U.S. occupation of areas west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

pursuant to the

Treaty of 1818 The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, is an international treaty signed in 1818 betw ...

ended with the

Oregon Treaty The Oregon Treaty was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to ...

in June, 1846, which extended the international boundary along the 49th parallel from the ridge of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

References

{{Montana Forts in Montana Pre-statehood history of Idaho Pre-statehood history of Montana History of the Pacific Northwest Hudson's Bay Company forts in the United States North West Company Oregon Country Buildings and structures in Sanders County, Montana Commercial buildings completed in 1809 1809 establishments in the British Empire