Educational Outreach

In 2015, Washington state made indigenous history a required subject.

The state of Washington, with the collaboration and endorsement of the 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington State, has developed resources, materials, lessons, and entire units to support the teaching of tribal sovereignty, tribal history, and current tribal issues. The Frenchtown community of the 19th century was strongly connected, by blood and by community, to the tribes who originally allowed them to settle there. We have collected the following resources as an aid to teachers wishing to incorporate aspects of the history of Frenchtown in their lesson plans.

Washington State Curriculums and Lesson Plans :


Additional Resources

From Washington State Historical Society

  • Treaty Trail: Collections : Primary images related to Treaty Councils; of particular interest are drawings of the participants of the 1855 Treaty Council.
  • Maps:  a PDF document containing four key maps, including current locations of Tribes and federally recognized reservations (2000), Washington Territory Indian Nations and Tribes (1854), Northwest Indian Reservations (1890), and The Stevens Treaty Expedition (1855).

From Since Time Immemorial: 

From the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR):

From the Trailtribes website:

  • Lewis & Clark and the Early Fur Trade: Excerpts from the journals of early explorers 1805-1817, mostly describing encounters with various Native American tribes.
  • Establishment of Fort Nez Perces Descriptions of the building of Fort Nez Perces and the early trading interactions at the post (1818-1826).
  • Life at Fort Walla WallaBrief excerpt from the journal of a visitor to Ft. Walla Walla in 1835. He describes the Native Americans he encounters and a religious service. 
  • Missionaries and Early SettlersDiscusses the arrival of missionaries in the area, the Whitman Incident, and the Cayuse War (1847-1850). It briefly touches on white settlers and intermarriage.
  • Making TreatiesDescribes Walla Walla Treaty Council of 1855. Focuses on the tribes’ desires to stay on their land, tribal understanding of the treaty, and treaty aftermath.
  • The Shrinking ReservationEspecially pertinent is the section on the “Land Allotment Act.”

From the Indian Land Tenure Foundation:  

 An overview of regional history related to Frenchtown, written by Paul Franzman.