The Sanpoil (or San Poil) is one of 12 aboriginal Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation. Sanpoil is a native word meaning "unknown"; it is not French. The Yakima know the tribe as Hai-ai'-nlma or Ipoilq. The Sanpoil call themselves Nesilextcl'n, .n.selixtcl'n, probably meaning "Salish speaking," and N'pooh-le, a shortened form of the name. The Sanpoils had a semi-democratic system of government with various chiefs representing ea...
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The Sanpoil (or San Poil) is one of 12 aboriginal Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation. Sanpoil is a native word meaning "unknown"; it is not French. The Yakima know the tribe as Hai-ai'-nlma or Ipoilq. The Sanpoil call themselves Nesilextcl'n, .n.selixtcl'n, probably meaning "Salish speaking," and N'pooh-le, a shortened form of the name. The Sanpoils had a semi-democratic system of government with various chiefs representing each community; though heritidy was not a requirement for chiefs in it sometimes was the case. In later years U.S. Government officials began recognizing on one chief at a time. The last two official recognized chiefs of the San Poil tribe was Skolaskin and Jim James.
Since the 1600s the Sanpoil flourished with a large number of villages along the Sanpoil River and Nespelem River, tributaries of the Columbia River Later, the tribe was placed on Sanpoil and Colville Reservations in Washington state. The San Poil Tribe was incorporated into the...
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