Plateau Region, as tribes competed for the best hunting grounds. After the arrival of the horse, Plateau tribes faced more competition from the Plains Indians and Indians from the Great Basin. Intertribal war in the area faded out as alliances were made to fight their common enemies. By the 1860s, smallpox epidemics had virtually ended tribal warfare, due to the drastic decrease in population. From 1840 onward, the US government tried to move all Indians to reservations. The resulting wars between the 1840s to the 1870s were the final push to tame the West. Ethnography (the description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures) The Chelan Indian tribe are members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is recognized by the United States of America as an American Indian Tribe. It is located on the Colville Indian Reservation in eastern Washington state. The Confederated Tribes have over 9,000 descendants from 12 aboriginal tribes. In addition to the Chelan, the tribes are known, in English, as the Colville, the Nespelem, the Sanpoil, the Sinixt (Arrow Lakes people), the Palus, the Wenatchi, the Entiat, the Methow, the Southern Okanagan (Sinkaietk), the Sinkiuse-Columbia (Moses-Columbia), the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph's band, and the Wapato's. The Chelan speak English. The native language of the tribe is a Salishan language made up of several different dialects among the tribes. Chelan legends Creation of the first Indians References Further reading Hackenmiller, Tom. Wapato Heritage: The History of the Chelan and Entiat Indians. Manson, WA (P.O. Box 355, Manson 98831): Point Pub, 1995. External links Chelan tribe members in seven B&W photos Native American tribes in Washington (state) Interior Salish