The Shoshone of western Wyoming were a mobile population whose primary subsistence was provided by buffalo herds. The Shoshone of Idaho showed no such unity of ecological adaptation, for the region was inhabited by mounted buffalo hunters and by less prosperous Shoshone who fished and gathered wild vegetables for a livelihood. While the buffalo hunters tended to be located in the southeastern part of Idaho and the fishing and gathering peoples in the southwestern, the mounted hunters traveled throughout the southern part of the state and, at certain times of the year, mingled with the poorer, footgoing Indians. Because of this diversity we have divided Idaho into six subregions and present the historical and ethnographic data pertinent to each area under a separate heading. Indians mentioned in the historical sources are not always easily identifiable as Shoshone, Bannock, or Northern Paiute, and a great deal of confusion between the last two is inherent in their linguistic bond. We shall use the name Bannock in its most common sense to designate the mounted, buffalo-hunting Mono-Bannock speakers of Idaho; Northern Paiute refers specifically to the Mono-Bannock population to the west of the Shoshone. In many instances we cannot be certain that the Indians encountered by one or another traveler were permanent residents of the area. Permanency, in any event, is a rather doubtful attribute of this highly nomadic people; the term cannot be used except as a designation for the people who customarily spend the winter in a certain area, and even with this limitation it must be used with caution. LINGUISTICSAll of the groups discussed in this chapter except the Bannock speak the Shoshone-Comanche, or Shoshone, language. While there were only minor differences of dialect between Shoshone speakers, the Bannock language was almost identical with Northern Paiute. Informants found an especially close affinity between Bannock and the language of the Oregon Paiute, who were frequently referred to as "Bannock" also and were sometimes distinguished from the Fort Hall Bannock only by the statement that "they live in Burns" (a town in Oregon). While some informants referred to the Oregon speakers of Mono-Bannock as "Paiute," this term was generally reserved for the population of west-central Nevada, and "Pyramid Lake" was the locale in which the Idaho Shoshone generally placed the "Paiute." The inhabitants of Duck Valley Indian Reservation were not so vague; they readily distinguished between Shoshone and "Paiute" on linguistic and other grounds. This is understandable because the Shoshone had lived a long time on the same reservation as the Oregon speakers of Mono-Bannock, who were officially designated as Paiute. While no vocabularies were collected on the Fort Hall Reservation among either the Shoshone or Bannock populations, data from informants on the similarity of Paiute and Bannock more than confirm Steward's statement (1938, p. 198):
The vocabularies to which Steward refers were taken from Northern Paiute at Mill City, a town southwest of Winnemucca, Nevada, and at George's Creek, in Owens Valley, California. It is probable that correspondences would have been even closer if vocabularies had been taken among the Northern Paiute of Oregon, for Fort Hall Bannock informants specifically stated that their language was more akin to that of the Oregon Paiute; the Pyramid Lake people were said to "talk fast" or "talk funny." The frequent designation of the Oregon Paiute as "Bannock" by both Bannock and Shoshone at Fort Hall Reservation bespeaks the linguistic similarity or virtual identity of the languages of the respective groups. As for Shoshone and Bannock, the two languages were not sufficiently similar to be mutually intelligible, although there are a great many cognate words. However, they were not so far removed from one another as to make bilingualism difficult. There was considerable bilingualism among the population of the Fort Hall plains. GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONThe following division of the Shoshone-Bannock population of Idaho into six main groups is admittedly arbitrary, although to a certain extent the sectors conform to actual sociopolitical groups or to populations designated by certain characteristics recognized by the Indians themselves. Proceeding from west to east, these are: (1) the population of the Boise and Weiser River valleys; (2) the Shoshone Indians of the middle course of the Snake River between Glenn's Ferry and Shoshone Falls and in the interior on both sides of the river; (3) the Shoshone of the Sawtooth Mountains, west of the Lemhi River, Idaho; (4) the population of Bannock Creek, Idaho, and south therefrom to Bear River; (5) the Shoshone and Bannock of the Fort Hall plains on the upper Snake River; and (6) the Shoshone Indians of the Lemhi River. It will be seen that the Shoshone population of Idaho was by no means a unitary one, either socially or culturally. The people of these six areas were not politically interrelated, nor were the populations of each area integrated social or political units, although the Fort Hall and Lemhi River people were more highly organized than those of other areas. On the contrary, the Indians subsumed under each of the six divisions primarily consist of people who lived under similar ecological conditions and dwelt in geographical contiguity. Some shared roughly the same nomadic pattern and united upon occasion for diverse reasons. The populations represented by our sixfold division interacted more frequently for economic, social, and religious purposes with people within the area than they did with those from other areas. Although strong patterns of leadership and a tightly nucleated society were alien to the Shoshone in general, the Shoshone gave verbal recognition to the more frequent interaction that existed between neighboring families or camp groups, especially when such neighborhoods were geographically discontinuous with other neighborhoods. Also, differences in food resources and habits of peoples of certain demarcated ecological provinces apparently impressed other Shoshone as significant criteria by which the people of these neighborhoods could be named. This is the only logical explanation for the common pattern among Northern Paiute and Shoshone of the Great Basin of food names applied to the people of certain neighborhoods. Thus we have "Wada Seed Eaters," "Salmon Eaters," etc. In fact, it was quite common for the populations so designated to call themselves by these names, although this was not always so. In any event, it would be erroneous to say that such appellations implied membership in any social group, whether defined by united political leadership or by kinship. That individual families subsumed under some name, usually derived from food habits, tended to act more frequently together than with more distant neighbors cannot be denied, nor can we ignore the fact that common environment tended to induce a common subsistence pattern. That such groups were organized, territory-holding units cannot be simply assumed without supporting evidence, and this evidence is lacking. This view is shared by Steward, who summarizes the political significance of the food names in the following passage (Steward, 1939, p. 262):
In general, the remarks above apply to our Boise-Weiser, Bannock Creek, middle Snake River, and Sawtooth Mountains populations and to the Shoshone of Nevada. The Indians of the Fort Hall plains and the Lemhi River were somewhat different. Both had horses at a relatively early period, were involved in frequent wars, and pursued the buffalo. These factors tended to promote a somewhat different sociopolitical organization than we find farther west. Band organization, however fluid and shifting, did exist in the Fort Hall and Lemhi areas. Finally, it should be remembered that the Indians of our six regions frequently wandered far from the areas designated. The areas, then, were centers of gravity in a migratory life. They were areas where subsistence was commonly obtained by the populations in question and, more important, where winter, the most sedentary season of the year, was passed. THE BOISE AND WEISER RIVERSThe region of the Boise, Payette, and Weiser rivers and the near-by shores of the Snake River are of considerable importance because of the contiguity of Shoshone and Northern Paiute populations in this area. We will present the historical data pertinent to an understanding of the mode and extent of Shoshone ecology there and will then give the material gathered through recent ethnographic investigation. Our earliest information on this region comes from the Stuart diary of the Astoria party. Stuart wrote of the Boise River (1935, p. 83):
The Hunt party arrived at the Boise River on November 21, 1811, and met well-clad and mounted Indians there (ibid., p. 295). One week later, the party came to Mann's Creek, a tributary of the Weiser River, and there found "some huts of Chochonis" (p. 296):
In the mountains between Mann's Creek and the Snake River some dozen huts of "Chochonies" were encountered (p. 299); the journals use Snake and "Chochoni" or "Shoshonie" interchangeably. The 1818-19 journals of Alexander Ross gave considerable attention to hostilities between the "Snakes" and the Sahaptin ("Shaw-ha-ap-tens")-speaking peoples (Ross, 1924, pp. 171, 210, 214). Part of this action took place in southwestern Idaho. Ross attempted to arrange peace between the hostile populations and wrote of a council held there under the chiefs "Pee-eye-em" and "Ama-qui-em" and participated in by the "Shirry-dikas," "War-are-ree-kas," and "Ban-at-tees" (p. 243). The two chiefs, said by Ross to be brothers, were previously mentioned as the "principal chiefs" of "the great Snake nation" (p. 238). They belonged to the people called "Shirry-dika," a buffalo-hunting population, for Ross spoke of the acquiescence of "Ama-ketsa," a chief of the "War-are-ree-kas" (fish-eaters, according to Ross), in the maintenance of peace and the cowing of the "Ban-at-tees" by the two leaders (p. 246). Ross represents the Shoshone as having a very large population; those at the peace conference were said to have stretched their camps along both sides of a stream for a distance of seven miles. The "Shirry-dikas" are depicted as the most powerful, and the "War-are-ree-kas," though numerous, are said to lack power and unity. The "Ban-at-tees, or Mountain Snakes" are described as a fragmented population, living in the mountain fastnesses and preying upon the trappers. This seems to characterize the Northern Paiute of Oregon more accurately than the mounted buffalo-hunting Bannock of southeastern Idaho. The journal of John Work in June, 1832, mentioned (Work, 1923, pp. 165-167) "Snake" Indians on the Payette River, immediately below the mouth of Big Willow Creek; on Little Willow Creek; on the Weiser River; and on the east bank of the Snake River, between the mouths of the Payette and the Weiser. Work used the term Snake in a broad sense and we cannot identify this population as Shoshone with certainty. The Indians had horses, and may thus have been a buffalo-hunting group that had traveled west for salmon. Nathaniel Wyeth entered one of the western Idaho valleys in The identity of the above-mentioned Bannock is somewhat doubtful. Farnham met a number of Shoshone Indians engaged in fishing the Boise River in September, 1839 (Farnham, 1843, pp. 75-76). Some thirty traveling miles downstream from Boise, however, he noted in apparent contradiction of Townsend, that there were no more "Shoshonie," for "they dare not pass the boundary line between themselves and the Bonacks." The Bannock are described as a "fierce, warlike, and athletic tribe inhabiting that part of Saptin or Snake River which lies between the mouth of Boisais or Reed's River and the Blue Mountains." The question arises whether the Bannock mentioned in the sources were the buffalo-hunting Mono-Bannock speakers who regularly inhabited the upper Snake River or whether they followed the fishing and seed-collecting pattern of the Mono-Bannock speakers of Oregon. Townsend's report of their use of willow lodges suggests that they were Mono-Bannock, but Farnham observed that the Bannock found on the Snake River made war on the Crow and Blackfoot (p. 76). This would definitely suggest life during part of the year in southeastern Idaho and, also, the pursuit of the buffalo. Later historical data and the testimony of contemporary informants suggest that both the Oregon and eastern Idaho populations of Mono-Bannock speakers fished on the Snake River and in the lower reaches of the Boise and Weiser rivers. There was no clear boundary between the Shoshone and the Oregon people termed Northern Paiute, and the mounted buffalo-hunting Bannock also visited western Idaho to fish for salmon. It is thus doubtful whether the ambiguities of the historical sources will ever be resolved. The subsequent historical references to the native population of this region cover the outbreak of hostilities against the white emigrants on the Oregon Trail and the subsequent attempts to establish peace with the Indians and place them on reservations. In 1862 Special Indian Agent Kirkpatrick surveyed the southwestern Idaho Indians and reported: "The Winnas band of Snakes inhabit the country north of Snake river, and are found principally on the Bayette, Boise and Sickley Rivers" (Kirkpatrick, 1863, p. 412). He reported them as warlike and numbering some 700 to 800 people. Kirkpatrick's "Winnas band" probably corresponds to the designation of the "Wihinasht" in the Handbook of American Indians; these are said to be "a division of Shoshoni, formerly in western Idaho, north of Snake River and in the vicinity of Boise City" (Hodge, 1910, 2:951). During our field work, we found that the term "Wihinait" was often applied generically to the Shoshone population of Fort Hall Reservation. In later years, other bands are reported in southwestern Idaho. Governor Caleb Lyon made a treaty with "San-to-me-co and the headmen of the Boise Shoshonees" on October 10, 1864 (Lyon, 1866, p. 418) and in the following year placed some 115 "Boise Shoshone" at Fort Boise (Lyon, 1867, p. 187). Special Indian Agent Hough mentioned Boise, Bruneau, and Kammas bands of Shoshone in 1866 and commented: "The Bruneau and Boise are so intermarried that they are in fact all one people and are closely connected by blood, visiting each other as frequently as they dare pass over the country" (Hough, 1867, p. 189). Governor Ballard, in the same year, reported that the "Boise Shoshones" numbered 200; insecurity due to Indian-white hostilities kept them from camas-root digging during the summer (Ballard, 1867, p. 190). In 1867 many Shoshone of the Boise and Bruneau rivers and a group of Bannock were placed temporarily on the Boise River, some thirty miles upstream from Boise (Powell, 1868, p. 252). The Bannock were said to have been under the leadership of a chief named "Bannock John"; the report, dated July 31, 1867, also mentioned that these Bannock engaged in salmon fishing in the Boise River and camas collection on Camas Prairie during the summer, but intended to go east for the buffalo hunt in the fall. That the above Bannock were mounted buffalo hunters rather than Oregon Paiute seems manifest from this statement. This was not the only Bannock band, however, for on July 15, 1867, Agent Mann of Fort Bridger, Wyoming, reported a conversation with "Tahjee, the chief of the Bannacks" in which he learned that "there does exist a very large band of Bannacks, numbering more than 100 lodges" (Mann, 1868, p. 189). Mann stated that 50 lodges of these Indians were present that year. This and other references to the diverse, but simultaneous, locations of the Bannock suggest that they were not a unitary political entity. References to the Bannock and to the Shoshone on the Boise and Bruneau rivers continue during the next two years. Powell gave their numbers in 1868 as 100, 283, and 300, respectively, and stated (C. F. Powell, 1869, p. 662):
Ballard reported that on August 26, 1867, a treaty was signed by Tygee, Peter, To-so-copy-natey, Pah Vissigin, McKay, and Jim, in which the Bannock agreed to settle on Fort Hall (Ballard, 1869, p. 658); the Bannock and also the Bruneau and Boise Shoshone were removed from the Boise Valley on December 2, 1868, and brought to Fort Hall (C. F. Powell, 1870,
But the area nearer the Snake River was not occupied exclusively by Shoshone, for Steward continues (ibid.):
Our own field work, as presented below, tends to confirm Steward's data on most points and is in accord with historical information. Although there were salmon-yielding streams in Oregon, the Boise and Weiser rivers were richer in these fish, and salmon could be caught on the Boise River upstream to its headwaters. During the spring and fall salmon runs, many Northern Paiute evidently crossed the Snake River and fished in the Boise and Weiser. Relations seem to have been friendly, and there was considerable intermarriage. Many Paiute evidently wintered in this area and could therefore be said to be as regular residents as the Shoshone. They maintained separate winter villages and tended to remain along the downstream stretches of the Boise and Weiser rivers. Informants disagreed on the extent of this interpenetration. Some characterized the population, especially of the Weiser Valley, as "mixed," while others said that only a very few Northern Paiute remained through the winter. More reliable and older informants characterized the population as mostly Shoshone. One old woman, a present resident of Duck Valley Reservation, identified herself as a Northern Paiute from the Weiser country. Her conversation, however, immediately revealed that she was actually speaking in the Shoshone language and that this was her first language. This attempted deception is partially explained by the somewhat greater prestige enjoyed by the Northern Paiute on that reservation. As has been mentioned, the composition of the population of this region is further confused by the fact that some camp groups of Bannock passed by the more commonly used fishing sites below Shoshone Falls and fished on the Boise and Weiser rivers. An added inducement to the Bannock was the possibility of trade with the Nez PercÉ Indians in the upper valley of the Weiser River. The Bannock did not stay long in the area, however, and never wintered there. The Boise-Weiser country is relatively rich. The streams gave a good yield of fish, roots abounded in the valleys, and game was found in the near-by mountains. The floors of the valleys are well below 3,000 feet, and winters are comparatively mild. Although the Shoshone residents of the area wandered far on occasion, a full subsistence could be obtained within the immediate area. Stretches of mountainous and barren lands tended to mark off this population from other Shoshone to the east. The testimony of informants is somewhat contradictory to Steward's statement (1938, p. 172) that the Boise-Weiser Shoshone "imperceptibly merged with the AgaidÜka of the Snake River and the TukadÜka of the mountains to the north." It is true that there were no concepts of territorial boundaries and that the above-mentioned populations interacted, interchanged, and interpenetrated, but the locus of movement of each of the above three populations, especially their wintering places, did differ. While Steward reports that the rubric "YahandÜka," or "Groundhog Eaters," was applied to the residents of the Boise-Weiser areas, we were unable to obtain this name. Yahandika was variously reported by Fort Hall informants as referring to a district in Nevada; by others as applied to certain Oregon Northern Paiute. Another informant said that it was an alternate term for the Shoshone of the middle Snake River, who are more generally called "Summer Salmon Eaters." The latter, stated this informant, had very close relations with the Boise population. All of the informants were probably right in a sense; only the uncertainty of these appellations is indicated. Steward obtained "Su:woki" as the name of the Boise-Weiser country. My informants applied this name to the people of the region also, who were called "SÖhuwawki," or "Row of Willows." The place name had evidently been transferred to the people or, more accurately, the place name was applied to whatever people used the locale. The name was especially used to denote the people and country of the Weiser River, although one informant thought the name covered the Boise people also. Another name given to the Weiser Shoshone was "Woviagaidika," or "Driftwood Salmon Eaters." This name is derived from the salmon's habit of lying under the driftwood in small streams. Only one informant reported a name for the dwellers of the Boise Valley, "Pa avi." Informants sometimes spoke of the Boise-Weiser Shoshone as being "just one bunch." Certainly the populations of this section of Idaho merged, shifted, and interacted to such an extent that it would be difficult to distinguish them, although "one bunch," two chiefs, Captain Jim and Eagle Eye, were reported for the The actual nature of Boise-Weiser Shoshone society can be understood better from their subsistence patterns. Winter was spent in small camps scattered along the valleys of the streams. There was little danger from hostile intruders, and camp grounds were not the larger population nuclei that we find in the Fort Hall area. Favorite winter camp sites were at the present site of the city of Boise, near present-day Emmett on the Payette River, and on the lower Weiser River, near the mouth of Crane Creek. Some families were said to have wintered on both sides of the near-by Snake River. While it was common for the same families to form winter camp groups, there was considerable shifting and changing each year, dictated by personal preference. Also, it was not necessary for the camps to spend every winter in the same place, and changes occurred constantly. Winter was spent by their caches of roots and salmon; the dried and jerked game meat was said to have been kept in the lodge. The common type of winter dwelling was a sort of tipi made of rye grass. Stored food supplied the main subsistence during the winter, but sagehens, blue grouse, and snowshoe rabbits were also taken. Antelope were chased on horses (probably by the surround method), and deer frequently came down from the mountains and were killed while floundering in deep snow. Springtime brought no extensive migrations. Some roots were available in the area, but the chief source of springtime subsistence was the salmon run, which began in approximately March or April. A second run followed immediately upon the first and continued until the end of spring. Fish traps were made on the Payette River, in the vicinity of Long Valley, and on the lower Weiser River. Salmon were also taken in the Boise River. According to informants, the people of this area did not resort to the great salmon fisheries in the vicinity of Glenn's Ferry and upstream to Shoshone Falls. The abundance of fish in local waters made this unnecessary. Although the population divided and went to various fishing sites, the salmon runs were periods during which stable residence in small villages was possible. At the end of spring and in early summer, many of the Indians of the Boise-Weiser country traveled to Camas Prairie, where roots of various kinds were dug. These people stayed there through part of the summer, and during this time roots were collected and dried. This was also a time of dances and festivities, for a large part of the Shoshone and Bannock population of Idaho, plus a sprinkling of the Nez PercÉ and Flathead, resorted at the same time to these root grounds. These were probably the largest gatherings of people among all the Shoshone. There was no large, single encampment, but families and camp groups were in such close contiguity that social interaction was intense. At the conclusion of the root-collecting season at Camas Prairie, the inhabitants of the Boise and Weiser region wandered back to their customary area and set out upon their late summer and fall activities. Fish were taken during the fall run and dried for winter provisions, but the chief activity was hunting. Both hunting and fishing could be pursued at the same time in the upper waters of the Boise and Payette rivers, although salmon did not ascend far up the Weiser. Hunting was done by small camp groups of 3 to 4 lodges, and the population scattered throughout the mountain country surrounding the river valleys. The principal game taken was deer, elk, bear, and some bighorn sheep. None required the collective efforts of a large number of men, and all were found throughout the mountain area. The small camp group was, therefore, the most effective social unit for the fall hunt, as it was for the summer wanderings of the Wyoming Shoshone. The hunters ranged up the Boise and Payette valleys into the Sawtooth Mountains as far as the beginnings of the Salmon River watershed. Though the Salmon River country was entered, the hunting parties did not penetrate very far. A favored hunting territory was in the Stanley Basin, at the headwaters of the Salmon River and in the vicinity of the present-day village of Stanley. The kill of game was dried in the mountains and packed down to the winter quarters in the valleys of the Boise, Payette, and Weiser rivers. In general, it is difficult to define the social organization of the Boise-Weiser Shoshone. While Shoshone social organization is characteristically amorphous, some groups developed a closer integration owing to such factors as warfare and collective economic activities, which demanded leadership. But warfare was rare in this region, and hunting and root-and berry-collecting were essentially carried on by families. The building and operation of fish traps and the distribution of the catch undoubtedly called forth some leadership functions, but not on the band level. Also, the presence of other groups which fished the same streams during the appropriate seasons seems to argue against the consolidation of either the Boise or Weiser people into territorially delimited bands. It was impossible to elicit exact information from informants on the functions of leaders, and it can only be inferred that they probably served as intermediaries with the whites or were simply local men enjoying some prestige as dance directors or leaders of winter villages. The Shoshone of this area were poorer in horses than the buffalo hunters, but they did possess some. The valleys of the Boise, Payette, and Weiser evidently afforded adequate grazing for small herds, and the natives enjoyed a greater mobility than did their neighbors to the northeast and southeast. The resulting ease of communication would perhaps be conducive to band organization, but neither living informants nor historical sources offer any confirmation of this. That such sociopolitical groups did exist is suggested by mention of chiefs, but the groups did not have clearly defined territories which excluded other peoples, and they could only have been most loosely organized. THE MIDDLE SNAKE RIVERThis area includes all of Idaho south of the Sawtooth Mountains between American Falls and the Bruneau River. It has been seen that the area of the Boise, Payette, and Weiser rivers was entered regularly by populations that did not customarily winter there; this is true also of the area of the middle Snake, and to a much greater degree. First, the salmon run did not extend above Shoshone Falls, and the population living upstream from that point resorted Travelers observed small, impoverished groups of Indians and also larger camps of mounted people. Near Glenn's Ferry, Idaho, Stuart on August 23, 1812, noted (1935, p. 108):
Stuart encountered some 100 lodges of Shoshone fishing at Salmon Falls (p. 109). In 1826 Peter Skene Ogden met a camp of 200 "Snakes" bearing 60 firearms and a quantity of ammunition at Raft River, above the limit of the salmon run (Ogden, 1909, p. 357). In October of the following year he visited Camas Prairie, the camas grounds in the vicinity of Fairfield, and noted a pattern of movement that is still reported by informants (p. 263):
Buffalo were formerly found on the plains of the upper Snake River, but American Falls was apparently their approximate western limit. Wyeth was at American Falls in August, 1832, and wrote (1899, p. 163):
The Wyeth party then turned up the Raft River where they "met a village of the Snakes of about 150 persons having about 75 horses" and farther upstream found "the banks lined with Diggers Camps and Trails but they are shy and can seldom be spoken." On Rock Creek, the party met some 120 Indians who evidently had fresh salmon, and farther on their journey on this stream they found "Diggers," "Sohonees," and "Pawnacks" (ibid., pp. 166-168). A chief and some sub-chiefs were mentioned at one of these camps. Small and scattered camps of Indians were mentioned throughout Wyeth's journeys on the southern tributaries of the Snake River. Fewer Indians were encountered in the salmon-yielding sections of the Snake River during the winter. Bonneville's party met only footgoing Indians near Salmon Falls in the winter of 1834; the Indians lived in a scattered fashion and groups of no more than three or four grass huts were found (Irving, 1873, p. 300), although large numbers of Indians were seen in the same area during the salmon season (p. 444). Crawford met numbers of Indians along the Oregon Trail in southern Idaho in August, 1842 (Crawford, 1897, pp. 15-17) and in October of the following year Talbot observed of Indians near Shoshone Falls (1931, p. 53):
Near Glenn's Ferry, however, Talbot met a large number of Indians of the "Waptico band of the Shoshonees," who had many horses (ibid., p. 55). Talbot drew the following conclusion from his experience on the Snake River (p. 56):
Other sources contradict Talbot's observations, however, and give a picture of simultaneous use of the abundant salmon run by people of diverse locality and condition. But it is possible that mounted and more powerful people occupied the choicest sites. During the late 1850's, the hostilities that broke out throughout Utah and Idaho also affected the Snake River. Wallen reported Indians peacefully fishing at Shoshone Falls in 1859, but commented that the Bannock upstream were well armed and formidable (Wallen, 1859, pp. 220, 223). In the same year. Will Wagner met on Goose Creek "several men of the band under the chief Ne-met-tek" (Wagner, 1861, p. 25) and encountered both Shoshone and Bannock in the high country between the Humboldt and Snake rivers (p. 26). Not all the Indians met exhibited hostile intentions in 1859 or in 1862 and 1863, when punitive forces were sent against the hostiles. Colonel Maury noted that "those perhaps who are more hostile are near Salmon Falls, or on the south side of Snake River" (War of the Rebellion, 1902, p. 217). Actually the hostiles were raiding along the Oregon Trail south of the Snake River, and it is probable that many of the peaceful Indians encountered also indulged in occasional attacks when in the neighborhood of the whites. Seventeen lodges and about 200 Indians were found near Shoshone Falls in August, 1863; these people reported that "the bad Indians are all gone to the buffalo country" (ibid, p. 218). Further information from the military forces indicates a continuation of the older nomadic patterns. Colonel Maury said of Camas Prairie (ibid., p. 226):
In October, 1863, after the mounted people had left the fishing sites, Colonel Maury reported on the population along the Snake River (ibid., p. 224):
A party of 20 Indians was attacked by the military on the Bruneau River and there were signs in the upper part of the valley of a large force. Maury commented: "All the roaming Indians of the country visit the Bruneau River more or less." Further evidence of the mobility of the population is given in the report of attacks in the vicinity of Salmon Falls Creek by Indians from the Owyhee River under a medicine man named Ebigon (ibid., p. 388). With the cessation of hostilities, most of the Shoshone and Bannock of Idaho were rapidly rounded up by the military and a few years later were settled at Fort Hall. Governor Lyon reported visiting the "great Kammas Prairie tribe of Indians" in 1865 (Lyon, 1867, p. 418), and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Cooley described the latter's territory as the "area around Fort Hall and the northern part of Utah" (Cooley, 1866, p. 198). Evidently the Indians who congregated annually at Camas Prairie were mistaken as a single tribe, and there is little further reference to such a group. While it is almost impossible to identify Indians in the southwest Idaho region, west of the Bruneau River, Ballard's 1866 report of a mixed Paiute and Shoshone population probably represents the real situation (1867, p. 190).
The reports of Indian Agents already cited in the section on the Boise River region indicate that the Bruneau River population was Shoshone. Their numbers are given as 400 in 1866 (ibid.) and 300 in 1868, after they had been brought to the Boise River (C. F. Powell, 1869, p. 661). The frequent mention of a band of Bruneau Shoshone in the later reports of the Indian agents is somewhat misleading. Information from contemporary informants indicates that there was no distinct and separate population of the Bruneau River, as opposed to near-by stretches of the Snake River. Furthermore, the fisheries of the Bruneau River were often used by mounted Indians from the Fort Hall prairies. There were no boundaries, as such, in southwest Idaho. Stewart's Tagotoka band of Northern Paiute is represented as occupying most of southwestern Idaho (Stewart, 1939, map 1, facing p. 127), while Blythe's equivalent "Tagu Eaters" are placed in the Owyhee River Valley (Blythe, 1938, p. 404). Blythe notes that east of this population there were "no pure Paiute bands." Steward's map places the limit between the Paiute and the Shoshone about equidistant between the Owyhee and Bruneau Rivers (Steward, 1938, fig. 1, facing p. ix). There was no hard and fast line between Shoshone and Paiute, and the high country south of Snake River was usually entered only in the summer when hunting parties of either linguistic group wandered through southwest Idaho. Further information the pattern of occupation of the Snake River and southwestern Idaho is given in the following ethnographic material. Despite the extent of the region in question, there were not many permanent, or winter-dwelling, inhabitants. Greater use was made of the natural products of this region by the more numerous Shoshone and Bannock, who wintered elsewhere, than by the small local population. The two chief resources were the extremely rich root grounds at Camas Prairie, in the vicinity of Fairfield, Idaho, and the fishing sites scattered between Glenn's Ferry and Shoshone Falls. Camas Prairie was used by the Bannock and, to varying degrees, by all the Shoshone of Idaho, as well as occasionally by other tribes, like the Flathead and the Nez PercÉ; the fisheries were used by the Bannock and all the Shoshone of the upper Snake River above Shoshone Falls, the limit of the salmon run. Some large stretches of territory were used very little, if at all. We were unable to obtain information on use or occupancy of the country north of the Snake River and south of the Sawtooths between Camas Prairie and Idaho Falls. This is extremely arid and infertile country, strewn with lava beds and containing little water. It was often traversed, but little subsistence was drawn from it. Also, scanty information was available on the territory west of the Bruneau River. One informant said that Silver City, Idaho, was within the limits of Paiute territory; according to other informants, the Bruneau River Valley was definitely within the Shoshone migratory range. It seems evident that southwest Idaho was not much used by either the Paiute or Shoshone, and, while both groups entered the area on occasion, boundaries could hardly have been narrowly defined. The population which wintered in the general area of the middle Snake River and drew year-round subsistence from the resources of the region was usually referred to by the term Taza agaidika, or "Summer Salmon Eaters." Other terms used were Yahandika, or "Groundhog Eaters," and Pia agaidika, or "Big Salmon Eaters." Steward reports the use of the terms AgaidÜka and YahandÜka for the area (Steward, 1938, p. 165). One informant said that these were alternate terms which, however, did not change with the season or activities of the people designated. Lowie's KuembedÜka (Lowie, 1909, pp. 206-208) were not reported by our informants. Apparently, the names covered any and all people who wintered in the region and who were more or less permanent residents. The population included in these terms did not form a social or political group, nor did they unite for any collective purposes. The Shoshone of the middle Snake River resemble the Nevada Shoshone in social, political, and economic characteristics more than does any other part of the Idaho population, and Steward lists them with the Western Shoshone for this reason. They had few horses and took no part in the buffalo-hunting activities of their neighbors of the Fort Hall plains, and warfare was virtually nonexistent. Property in natural resources was absent, and other Shoshone and the Bannock availed themselves freely of the fishing sites on the Snake River without interference or resentment on the part of the local population. While chiefs are reported from most parts of Idaho, we were unable to obtain the name of a leader from the middle Snake River. Not only were there no band chiefs, but the winter villages lacked headmen. The Especially pronounced among the Shoshone of this area is the practice of splitting into a number of scattered and very small winter camps. Among the winter camps were: Akongdimudza, a camp at King Hill, Idaho, named for a hill which abounded in sunflowers; BiËsoniogwe, a winter camp near Glenn's Ferry; Koa agai, near the hamlet of Hot Spring, Idaho, on the Bruneau River; and Paguiyua, a camp on Clover Creek near a hot spring, immediately up the Snake River from the town of Bliss, Idaho. Winter camps were commonly located on the Snake River bottoms, where there was wood and shelter. The camps consisted of two or three lodges, each of which housed a family and a few relatives. The list of winter camps above is by no means complete; Steward gives three, two of which were below the town of Hagerman, a third near Bliss (Steward, 1938, pp. 165-166). There were undoubtedly several more, but it should be remembered that the place names above referred to sites which were not necessarily inhabited every winter. The composition of the winter camps varied. While it was common for kinsmen to camp together, they by no means always did so. Also, the same people did not camp together every winter. Each family head decided each year where to spend the winter, and families were free to shift from one site to another annually. Steward's data confirm this practice (ibid., p. 169):
The Shoshone of the middle Snake River relied heavily on the salmon runs for food and fished during spring, summer, and fall. One fish weir, maintained on the Bruneau River, was frequently visited by Fort Hall Bannock, with whom the catch was shared. Glenn's Ferry was one of the better fishing sites; the waters between the three islands in the Snake River at this point were shallow enough for weirs to be used. Immediately above Hagerman, on the Snake River, the Indians caught salmon by spearing, although the water was too deep for weirs. Basketry traps were used in small creeks. The Shoshone of this area took part in root gathering and festivities every summer on Camas Prairie. During the fall, deer were taken on Camas Prairie and in the country immediately south of the Snake River. Deer and elk were taken in the fall in the mountain country north of Hailey, and bighorn sheep were also pursued in the mountainous crags of this area. In the great expanse of territory between Shoshone Falls and Bannock Creek only one small group is reported. These people were referred to as Paraguitsi, a word denoting the budding willow tree, and were said to inhabit Goose Creek and vicinity. Goose Creek is above the limit of the salmon run and only trout could be caught in its waters. Whether they fished below Shoshone Falls is uncertain. The area of the Goose Creek Mountains was entered also by people who wintered in other sections and was a frequent resort of Idaho and Nevada Shoshone in search of pine nuts. Informants agreed that the Paraguitsi were a wild and timid people who remained isolated in the fastnesses of Goose Creek and the Goose Creek Mountains. This range provided them with deer and pine nuts, but their economy was meager and they were reported to resort to cannibalism in the winter. Other Shoshone avoided them because of this abhorrent practice. One informant reported a category of "Mountain Dwellers," or Toyarivia. This was evidently a generic term for mountaineers as opposed to those who dwell in valleys, or Yewawgone. The Mountain Dwellers customarily spent the winter on the Snake River bottoms in the same area as the people generally called Taza agaidika. They joined in the salmon fishing at Glenn's Ferry and above, but hunted in the highlands on the Idaho-Nevada border during the fall. This division of mountain and valley people seems thus to have been occasionally used to distinguish Shoshone who hunted south of the Snake River from those who roamed to the north. THE SHOSHONE OF THE SAWTOOTH MOUNTAINSAll informants agreed that the Sawtooth Mountains west of the Lemhi River and south of the Salmon River were inhabited by a Shoshone population designated as Tukurika (Dukarika and other variants). No Tukurika, or "Sheepeater," informants were interviewed on the Fort Hall Reservation, and we obtained only fragmentary information from Lemhi Shoshone and other Idaho Shoshone and Bannock. Historical information on the Sheepeaters is scanty and mostly concerned with later periods. The earliest reference available comes from Ferris' journals. The Ferris party was in the Sawtooth Mountains, probably in or near Stanley Basin, in July, 1831. Ferris wrote (1940, p. 99):
The Stanley Basin region, it will be remembered, was a fall hunting range of the Shoshone of Boise River and was probably entered by others from Snake River. But as this was salmon season on both the Boise and Snake rivers, it is probable that Indians mentioned by Ferris were part of the more permanent population of the Sawtooths, i.e., Sheepeaters. The southern Sawtooths were no doubt utilized, like so many of our other areas, by people who customarily wintered in diverse places. In June, 1832, John Work met "a party of Snakes consisting of three men and three women" near Meadow Creek on the Salmon River waters (Work, 1923, p. 160). Later references to the Sheepeaters indicate that they impinged upon the Shoshone of the Boise River on the west and the Lemhi on the east. Indian Agent Hough reported from the Boise River in 1868: "The Sheep The Tukurika were not a single group, but consisted of scattered little hunting groups having no over-all political unity or internal band organization. They had few horses and hunted mountain sheep and deer on foot. Salmon were taken in the waters of the Salmon River. The Tukurika had their closest contacts with the Lemhi Shoshone, although some occasionally visited the valleys of the Boise and Weiser rivers. I have no evidence of Tukurika trips to Camas Prairie for roots, although such visits are indicated by Steward's map (Steward, 1938, p. 136). Steward lists five winter villages in the Sawtooth Mountains (ibid., pp. 188-189). These are: 1. Pasasigwana: This is the largest of the winter villages. It consisted of thirty families under the leadership of a headman who acted as director of salmon-fishing activities on the Salmon River. In the summer, the thirty families split into small groups and hunted on the Salmon River and its East Fork and in the Lost River and Salmon ranges. Steward reports that they obtained horses during a trip to Camas Prairie and thereafter joined the buffalo hunt. The village was situated north of Clayton. 2. Sohodai: Steward places this small village of six families on the upper reaches of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. 3. Bohodai: This, the second largest Tukurika village, was on the Middle Fork of the Salmon near its confluence with the Salmon. 4. Another winter village was on the upper Salmon River and was merely an alternate camp for people who ordinarily wintered in Sohodai. 5. Pasimadai: This village, consisting of only two families, was on the upper Salmon River. It is the only one of the five listed that had no headman, although in another context Steward says (p. 193) that formal village chiefs were lacking before the consolidation with the Lemhi people. The distribution of the Shoshone of the Sawtooth Mountains demarcates the northern limits of the Shoshone range. Steward's map of villages and subsistence areas in Idaho places the Shoshone on the Salmon River and the Middle Fork of the Salmon, while the lower parts of the Salmon River, below its junction with the South Fork, are assigned to the Nez PercÉ (p. 136). In his general map of the Basin-Plateau area (ibid., fig. 1, facing p. ix), Steward extends the Shoshone zone to the east side of Lost Trail Pass in Montana. The data above represent substantial agreement with our own findings. Moving from west to east, the Snake River north of its junction with the Powder River (Oregon) is in precipitous canyon country and was no doubt little used. Mixed Shoshone and Mono-Bannock-speaking groups occupied the lower part of the Weiser River, but, as has been here stated, traded with the Nez PercÉ in the upper part of the valley. Some of the action of the Sheepeaters' War of 1878 took place in the mountains between the middle and south forks of the Salmon River, and there is no evidence of Shoshone use of the country north of the Salmon River. However, other groups apparently reached the Salmon River and its southern tributaries. Ferris met a village of Nez PercÉ on the Lemhi River in October, 1831 (Ferris, 1940, p. 120), and Wyeth reported a Nez PercÉ camp on the Salmon River in May 1833 (Wyeth, 1899, p. 194). The Nez PercÉ were also reported camped on Salmon River waters only one day from Fort Hall in August, 1839 (Farnham, 1906, p. 29). In the northeast corner of the area in question, Lewis and Clark first met the Flathead on the far side of Lost Trail Pass near present-day Sula, Montana, in August, 1805 (Lewis and Clark, 1904-06, 3:52). Shoshone no doubt crossed the pass occasionally and hunted there also, but this encounter and those reported in the preceding references indicate that the northern region of Shoshone nomadic activities was an area frequently entered and used by other peoples. Again, there is no strict boundary, but a zone of interpenetration. THE SHOSHONE OF BANNOCK CREEK AND NORTHERN UTAHThere is little historic information on the specific area of Bannock Creek, Idaho. Almost all references to those Shoshone who were later found to have ranged through the area during part of the year is under the heading of Pocatello's band. This band was a hostile group under Chief Pocatello that raided white settlers and emigrants in the late 1850's and early 1860's. Pocatello's followers were mentioned along many points on the Oregon Trail through southern Idaho and were just as frequently reported in Box Elder and Cache counties in northern Utah. The Fort Hall Indian Reservation is today effectively divided into two parts by the Portneuf River and the city of Pocatello. Most of the population, including the descendents of the Bannock and of the Lemhi, Fort Hall, Boise-Weiser, and Snake River Shoshone, live on the larger and more fertile northeastern section. On the southwestern half live many Shoshone Indians from northern Utah and from the area of Bannock Creek, which runs through this part of the reservation. The two populations mix to only a limited degree; each holds its own Sun Dance, and the people of the northern part of the reservation feel a true difference between themselves and those of the southern half. This separateness evidently goes back to pre-reservation times. The Bannock Creek Shoshone did not merge or interact very closely with the Shoshone of Fort Hall, and Bannock informants claim that they never had much to do with the latter. The Bannock Creek Shoshone, as they are often called today, have been assigned a number of names. The most common, and the one most frequently used, is Hukandika or, as Hoebel transcribes it, Hkandika (Hoebel, 1938, p. 410). Steward also reported this name for the Bannock Creek people, but since the Shoshone of Promontory Point were also so designated, Steward uses the alternate food name of Kumuduka, or "jackrabbit eaters," for the residents of Bannock Creek (Steward, 1938, p. 217). Other names are Yahandika (also applied to the salmon-fishing population of the middle Snake River), Yambarika ("yamp-root eaters"), and Sonivedika ("wheat eaters"). This last term is, of course, post-white and illustrates the adaptability of these names. Hukandika, or variants thereof, were reported in earlier times, although as More than any other Shoshone group in Idaho, the Bannock Creek people developed in the immediate post-contact period all the characteristics of the "predatory band," familiar to us from the Oregon Paiute and the Nevada Shoshone. The "predatory band" as illustrated among the latter population and among certain Ute and Nevada Shoshone groups, was a response to contact with the whites. The aborigines saw the sources of their subsistence threatened and were forced to defend themselves against the whites. Through trade and hostilities they acquired horses and thereby achieved the increased mobility and ease of communication necessary to a centrally led band organization. Plunder from wagon trains and ranches opened up new sources of wealth to them and made warfare attractive, over and above the needs of self defense. But always the nucleating force behind the bands was warfare and the prestige of certain war leaders. The war leader of the Bannock Creek Shoshone was Pocatello, a name given him by the whites. Pocatello's band was listed among the "Western Snakes" by Lander in 1860: "Po-ca-ta-ra's band. Goose Creek Mountains, head of Humboldt, Raft Creek, and Mormon settlements horses few" (Lander, 1860, p. 137). Pocatello was also one of the signers of a treaty with Governor Doty at Box Elder on July 30, 1863; this treaty was an aftermath of General Connor's slaughter of the Shoshone on Bear River in January of the same year (Doty, 1865, p. 319). There was very little difficulty with the band after the Bear River battle. Superintendent Irish wrote in 1865 (1866, p. 311):
Superintendent Head's report of 1866, however, indicates a continuing relation between the Indians of southern Idaho and northern Utah and those of Wyoming (Head, 1867, p. 123).
In the following year, Head summarized the distribution of mixed groups of Shoshone and Bannock in the region (1868, p. 176).
According to Steward, Pocatello's band was an innovation in Bannock Creek (1938, p. 217):
Actual war parties were led by Pocatello and numbered only ten to twenty men, according to one informant. Hostile activities were conducted especially on the Oregon Trail, which ran through southern Idaho, and his band was responsible also for the attack at Massacre Rocks (near the Snake River) and for various raids in northern Utah. When not on the warpath, the Bannock Creek Shoshone followed a more prosaic round of native subsistence activities. Information on the winter quarters of the Bannock Creek people is uncertain. There were some winter camps on Bannock Creek, and one informant reported that Pocatello also wintered on the Portneuf River between Pocatello and McCammon. Others said that Pocatello wintered at times on the Bear River near the Utah-Idaho line. Pocatello was not the only chief among the Bannock Creek people. Two others were named Pete and Tom Pocatello, although their relation to Pocatello himself was doubtful. These chiefs had their own followers, who were nonetheless known as Hukandika by informants. Tom Pocatello remained in the general area of Malade City, Idaho, and Washakie, Utah, and wintered on the Bear River. When they were not engaged in or threatened by hostilities, the Bannock Creek Shoshone split into small camp groups much as they did in pre-white days. At least part of the band went to Glenn's Ferry on the Snake River in the springtime, where they remained throughout the salmon run. Similarly, many went—probably as individual families and camp groups—to Camas Prairie for summer root digging. Others might travel into the Bear River and Bear Lake country, while still others journeyed to Nevada to visit or to be present for the September pine-nut harvests. Those who were mounted even traveled into Wyoming and visited and hunted buffalo with the Eastern Shoshone. With the previously mentioned Paraguitsi, the Bannock Creek people were the only Idaho Shoshone who depended upon the pine nut for an important part of their winter's provisions. These nuts could be obtained in the Goose Creek and Grouse Creek Mountains in late September. One informant reported that, if the harvest failed, many people went into the mountains west of Wendover and Ibapah, Utah, for the gathering there. A family could gather sufficient pine nuts in the fall, it was claimed, to last it until March. The general round of migrations of the Bannock Creek people brought them into contact with the Shoshone FORT HALL BANNOCK AND SHOSHONEAbove American Falls, the native population consisted of both Shoshone and Bannock Indians who were mounted and seasonally pursued the buffalo. Population aggregations were, in general, considerably larger than in any of the foregoing areas of Idaho. Ogden saw a "Snake" camp of 300 tents, 1,300 people and 3,000 horses on Little Lost River in November, 1827 (Ogden, 1910, p. 364), and Beckwourth claimed that he had met thousands of mounted and hostile Indians at the mouth of the Portneuf River in the spring of 1826 (Beckwourth, 1931, pp. 64-65). The journal of Warren Angus Ferris contains many references to the population in eastern Idaho in the period 1831-1833. The area evidently was frequently entered by warlike Blackfoot parties and by more peaceful groups of Flathead, Nez PercÉ, and Pend Oreille trappers and buffalo hunters (cf. Ferris, 1940, pp. 87, 146, 153-155, 185). Buffalo were still to be found and Ferris encountered large herds on the upper Snake River (ibid., p. 87); Nez PercÉ and Flathead Indians were seen on the divide between Birch Creek and the Lemhi River en route to hunt buffalo (ibid., p. 146). But the Indians most frequently encountered in the region were Bannock and Shoshone. On the Snake River plains near Three Buttes Ferris noted (p. 132):
In November, 1832, it was reported that "a village of Snakes and Ponacks amounting to about two hundred lodges on Gordiez [Big Lost] River" was attacked by a party of Blackfoot (ibid., pp. 185-186). The "Snakes" drove them off, but the "Horn Chief" was killed. The Horn Chief was reported on the Bear River in 1830 (ibid., pp. 71-73). This group may have been the same one mentioned a month later as being in winter camp on the Portneuf River (ibid., p. 188). Another Bannock camp was found in December, 1832, on the Blackfoot River. Ferris wrote (ibid., pp. 189-190):
Ferris' description does not seem typical of the Plainslike Bannock Indians. There are two possible explanations: these Bannock had been attacked by hostiles and had lost their possessions; or they had recently moved westward from Oregon. The latter possibility cannot be ruled out, for the Bannock and the Northern Paiute were in contact during the salmon season and the Oregon people drifted over to join their colinguists on the upper Snake River until much later in the century. The presence of the Horn Chief on the Big Lost River in Idaho and the Bear River in Utah bespeaks the fact that the residents of eastern Idaho entered the northern Utah region quite as frequently as did the Shoshone of western Wyoming. Zenas Leonard reported meeting Bannock Indians some four days' travel west of the Green River. Depending on their speed, the trappers may have been in southern Idaho or some part of northern Utah. Leonard wrote of the Bannock (1934, p. 105):
It would be difficult to imagine a people without horses traveling across the Continental Divide for buffalo, and it must be assumed that the near-by herds that then existed were used. Bonneville met a Bannock winter camp in January, 1833, near the Snake River, in the vicinity of Three Buttes (Irving, 1850, p. 88). They numbered 120 lodges and were said to be deadly enemies of the Blackfoot, whom they easily overcame when their forces were equal. In the following winter the Bannock camp was at the mouth of the Portneuf River, near the last season's site (Irving, 1837, 2:41). And in August, 1834, Townsend saw two lodges of some twenty "Snakes" who were "returning from the fisheries and traveling towards the buffalo on the 'big river' (Shoshone's) [Snake River]" (Townsend, 1905, p. 245). Russell's journal provides further description of buffalo hunting on the upper Snake River. He himself hunted buffalo out of the newly established Fort Hall post in 1834 (Russell, 1955, pp. 7-8). On October 1 of that year a village of 60 lodges of "Snakes" was found on Blackfoot River; the chief was "Iron wristbands" or "Pah-da-her-wak-un-dah." On October 20 a camp of 250 "Bonnak" lodges arrived at Fort Hall. Russell met some 332 lodges, of six persons each, hunting buffalo in the vicinity of Birch Creek in October, 1835 (p. 36). Their chief was "Aiken-lo-ruckkup," a brother of the late Horn Chief. The trapper also found 15 lodges of "Snakes" in the same area (p. 37). Twenty-five miles east of the Bannock camp, Russell found a buffalo-hunting camp of 15 "Snake" lodges under "Chief Comb Daughter," or the "Lame Chief" Lieutenant John Mullan encountered two "Banax" Indians in December, 1853, on the Jefferson River in Montana. They had crossed the mountains from the Salmon River country in hopes of meeting other Bannock returning from the buffalo hunt. He noted the inroads on their numbers made by smallpox and the Blackfoot and commented (Mullan, 1855, p. 329. "The most of them now inhabit the country near the Salmon River, where, in their solitude and security, they live perfectly contented in spearing the salmon, and living on roots and berries.") Across the divide between Montana and Idaho, in the vicinity of Camas Creek, they met a single Bannock lodge en route to the mountains (p. 333). North of Fort Hall, the party came upon three or four families of "Root Digger Indians" whose destitute condition was described by Mullan (p. 334). The Bannock had visited Fort Bridger for purposes of trade over a period of many years and continued the practice after the end of the fur boom. Superintendent Jacob Forney reported that some 500 Bannock under chief "Horn" appeared there in 1859 and claimed a home in the Utah Territory (Forney, 1860a, p. 31). Forney granted them permission to remain in the region claimed by Washakie. A body of Bannock was in the vicinity of Fort Bridger in 1867, but Washakie refused to share the Eastern Shoshone allotment with them. It will be remembered that a part of the Bannock population had been collected on the Boise River prior to this time. Indians denominated as Bannock were evidently to be found in a number of places during this period. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Taylor reported in 1868 (1869, p. 683):
In the same year Mann assembled 800 Bannock for a treaty conference, but one-half of this number left the gathering in June, 1868, when the commissioner failed to appear (Mann, 1869, p. 617). The 800 Bannock were gathered by Chief "Taggie" (Tygee), who was also mentioned in the 1869 report of the Fort Hall Agent (Danilson, 1870, p. 730). Unless the Bannock were an amazingly mobile people, they must have traveled in a number of groups during the late 1860's. Superintendent Sully of Montana wrote in September, 1869 (Sully, 1870, p. 731):
However, Superintendent Floyd-Jones of Idaho reported in 1869 (1870, p. 721):
Groups of Bannock were variously reported in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho during these years, and it is to be assumed that they sought both buffalo and rations. Governor Campbell of Wyoming wrote in October, 1870, that the Bannock had spent the summer with the Crow Indians (J. A. Campbell, 1871, p. 639) after leaving Wind River. The Bannock were evidently the most difficult to settle of all the Idaho Indians, and their nomadic propensities were restrained only after the conclusion of the Bannock War of 1878. The data that follow were gathered through ethnographic means and continue and summarize the foregoing historical account. The Bannock population of the Fort Hall plains was undoubtedly resident in that area for a considerable period. Living on the western slope of the Continental Divide, they crossed the mountains frequently to hunt in the buffalo country of the Missouri drainage. In the process they came into contact with tribes of the Plains and borrowed a good deal of culture from them. However, contact with the Paiute of Oregon continued. During the Bannock War of 1878 the Fort Hall insurgents were joined by the rebellious inmates of the Malheur Agency in eastern Oregon. Also, genealogies given by informants indicate that many Northern Paiute were still leaving their Oregon habitat as late as the time of the treaty and thereafter and were joining the Bannock in their more abundant and exciting life of warfare and buffalo hunting. In effect, these migrants became "Bannock" when they began to live with the Bannock. The formation of the Bannock in southeastern Idaho from Oregon Paiute who managed to get horses and were attracted by the buffalo hunt was not a single occurrence at some indefinite time in the past; it was a continuing process that lasted into the reservation period. There is no evidence placing the Bannock in the Fort Hall area before the introduction of the horse. It is doubtful that they predated this time, given the fact that buffalo hunting on horse was one of the main attractions of eastern Idaho. The relation of the Bannock to neighboring Shoshone groups, denominated by the generic term, "Wihinait," is somewhat problematic and can best be understood from detailed consideration of the two populations. Steward says that "the Fort Hall Bannock and Shoshoni were probably comparatively well amalgamated into a band by 1840" (Steward, 1938, p. 202), but also notes (p. 10) that "Bannock and Shoshoni, though closely cooperating and living on terms of equality, were politically distinct in that each had its band chief." Our evidence indicates that there was a good deal of social intercourse and intermarriage and coÖperation in the buffalo hunt between the two groups, but except when engaged in some joint endeavor each appears to have maintained its autonomy. Although there were organized bands, their lines were not very clear-cut because of their frequent fission (ibid., p. 202):
Despite the presence of many Plains Indian culture elements, the social structure of the Fort Hall people was basically that of the Shoshonean population of the Basin-Plateau. While they grouped into larger units for certain defined purposes, these units functioned only during part of the year. The internal organization of the bands was fluid, amorphous, and shifting. The question of the constitution of the bands also remains: was there one large Fort Hall Shoshone and Bannock band, were there one Fort Hall Bannock and one Fort Hall Shoshone band, or were both populations split into smaller groups? Both Steward and Hoebel reject the first possibility, and the answer seems to lie somewhere between the second and third. Hoebel names four Bannock bands (1938, p. 412): Cottonwood Salmon Eaters, Deer Eaters, Squirrel Eaters, Plant (?) Eaters. One informant told us also of four food names among the Bannock. These were: Biviadzugarika ("root [?] eaters,") Topihabirika ("root [?] eaters"), Tohocharika ("deer eaters"), and Yaparika ("yamp eaters"). Only part of the Fort Hall Bannock population bore these names. The names did not refer to band groupings of any type, and their bearers were of various bands. Our informant did not know the origin of this nomenclature. It is possible that the names designated Oregon food areas and were applied to more recent migrants from the Oregon Paiute, but the names do not bear sufficiently close correspondence to those given by Blythe and Stewart to validate this assumption. Bannock informants claimed that there was a head chief of all the Bannock, Tahgee, and that subchiefs under him were leaders of smaller groups at certain times of the year. The subchiefs were said to have attended the treaty conference at Fort Bridger with Tahgee. Their names were Patsagumudu Po'a, Kusagai, Totowa, Pagoit, and Tahee. Tahgee represented the Bannock in their affairs with the whites and was the leader of the buffalo hunt. Otherwise, he seems to have exerted little direct authority over his people, although he had great influence in council. Bannock informants all asserted that people went where they wished when they wished and did not necessarily travel under any form of leadership. Bannock chieftainship was nonhereditary and was assigned by general agreement to a man noted for wisdom and courage. Among the Shoshone of the Fort Hall region, leadership was more clearly a function of interaction with the whites. One man was said to have become chief "because he helped the whites." Two chiefs were reported, Aidamo and Aramun; the bands of both roamed through southeastern Idaho and into northern Utah. These Shoshone were called by the Bannock, "Winakwat," or "Wihinait" in Shoshone. The name evidently did not refer to a single band but designated all Shoshone-speaking people of the immediate area. I could find no confirmation of Hoebel's Elk Eaters, Groundhog Eaters, and Minnow Eaters, all of whom were said to live in the area roamed over by the various Fort Hall Shoshone and Bannock groups (Hoebel, 1938, pp. 410-413). In the Fort Hall area, as in the rest of Idaho, winter habitat supplies the only stable criterion for identifying the several groups or populations. The Bannock customarily wintered on the Snake River bottoms above Idaho Falls and at the mouth of Henry's Fork near Rexburg, Idaho. They also wintered downstream in the vicinity of the modern town of Blackfoot, Idaho; historical sources mention Bannock winter camps at the mouth of the Portneuf River. The Snake River—Henry's Fork sites were favored because of the abundance of the mule-tailed deer, which came into the bottomlands in the winter. Another source of subsistence in winter was cottontail rabbits, which were caught among the willows in the bottoms with a noose snare or by surrounding them and killing them with the bow and arrow. The main winter subsistence, and the food source that provided the margin of survival, was the dried meat of buffalo, elk, and deer taken in the fall hunts, supplemented by dried roots and berries. Food caches were maintained near camp, but they were generally resorted to only in the spring, when the dried food kept in the lodges was exhausted. The location of the cache was known only to the family that made it. Caches and their contents were considered private property. Dried roots, berries, and salmon were generally kept in the underground caches, but not meat. Bannock winter camps were spread out along the river; there was no central encampment. The population was predominantly Bannock, although many Shoshone lived among them either through in-marriage or by choice. Not all of the Bannock wintered on the Snake River. Those who crossed the divide for buffalo frequently did not return in time to cross the mountains before the snows blocked the high passes and so generally wintered in western Montana, not joining the rest until spring. The Wihinait, or Shoshone of the Fort Hall area, were said to have wintered apart from the Bannock on the Portneuf River. Winter camps ranged along the Portneuf between Pocatello and McCammon, and other places as far south as Malade City, Idaho, were sometimes occupied. Here, too, the population lived off stored food and whatever game could be taken. The winter quarters of the Shoshone were more secure from enemy attack, however, than were those of the Bannock. The only hostile tribe to enter southern Idaho with any frequency was the Blackfoot. They pressed their attacks vigorously, especially against the Bannock, and were a subject of some wonder owing to their practice of sending out war parties in the middle of winter. Blackfoot war parties, consisting only of men, frequently came south from Montana before the passes were closed by the winter snows and made camp on Henry's Fork, near the present site of St. Anthony, Idaho. From this convenient point they sent small raiding parties against the Bannock camps. The main purpose of these raids was to capture horses, which were driven north to the Blackfoot country when the passes opened in the spring. Although the Bannock were kept on the defensive, they were not the helpless prey of the Blackfoot. Defensive tactics were frequently too late, for the enemy drove off horses surreptitiously by night, but counterraids were made and pursuit was given in return. The Blackfoot occasionally pressed their raids farther downstream and entered the Portneuf Valley, but such forays were less frequent. Historical records, however, mention Blackfoot raids in Yellowstone Park and Jackson Hole and When spring arrived the winter camp broke up and both Shoshone and Bannock split up into small groups, each of which went their separate ways. Hunting was the first undertaking after breaking up winter camp. The spring hunt was usually conducted in Idaho rather than in more distant places, since most people wished to return later in the spring for salmon fishing at Glenn's Ferry. Small parties of only a few lodges each roamed through the mountains of Caribou County, Idaho, in search of deer and elk, while others went southwards into the Bear River and Bear Lake country. Chub were caught in Bear River, and duck eggs were gathered and ducks killed in the marshes at the north end of Bear Lake. During the spring wanderings, roots were dug also. The route to Bear River went through much the same country as modern U.S. Highway 30 N. Parties ascended the Portneuf River and crossed the divide to the Bear River at the site of Soda Springs. They continued south on the Bear River to Montpelier. Those who did not intend to return for salmon but wished to visit the Eastern Shoshone ascended the Bear River to Cokeville and Sage and crossed the Bear River Divide, passing the fossil-fish beds en route. As has been mentioned, not all the Shoshone and Bannock went to Glenn's Ferry to take salmon; those who did went in small groups rather than in a body. Parties followed the Snake River down to Glenn's Ferry, where they fished with harpoons. The Fort Hall people apparently did not make fish weirs. The weirs were usually the work of the winter population of the salmon areas, but one informant stated that the Bannock shared in the catch. Some Bannock continued downstream past Glenn's Ferry and fished in the Bruneau River, while others went to the Boise and Weiser rivers. Trade was conducted with the Nez PercÉ in the Weiser Valley; informants did not believe that the Bannock or the Shoshone took part in the trade with the Columbia River tribes in the Grand Ronde Valley in northeastern Oregon. This trade was, however, before the memories of any of our informants (or of their fathers). At the conclusion of the spring salmon run, the scattered camp grounds of Fort Hall Shoshone and Bannock went to Camas Prairie, where they dug camas, yamp, and other roots and fattened their horses for the fall hunt. Roots could also be dug in other areas, like the Weiser Valley and the plains and foothills near Fort Hall, and some families did not go to Camas Prairie. In most years Camas Prairie served as the marshalling grounds for the annual buffalo hunt. On these occasions, Bannock and mounted Shoshone of the Fort Hall area joined forces. While it is possible that these groups combined also with the Lemhi Shoshone for the buffalo hunt, we could obtain no corroboration of this grouping from informants. Informants generally stated that the buffalo party was composed chiefly of Bannock and was led by the Bannock chief. While many Fort Hall Shoshone took part, most hunted elk, moose, and deer on the western side of the Continental Divide. Furthermore, some Bannock did not take part in the hunt and similarly hunted in Idaho and southwestern Wyoming. It should be noted that information on the entry of Shoshone or Bannock groups into the buffalo grounds of Montana occurs very early in the historical period in the reports of Lewis and Clark, and also very late in this period. It is true that there is little pertinent historical data on southwestern Montana, but there is a distinct possibility that the Shoshone and Bannock did not cross the Divide annually. Buffalo were found on the upper Snake River prairie until about 1840, and the presence of the Blackfoot in Montana made ventures there risky. It is noteworthy that in the early reservation period the Bannock crossed the Divide into the Big Horn drainage in company with the Eastern Shoshone; the trip through Green River and thus to Wind River was not by any means the shortest route to the buffalo country. On the other hand, informants gave highly detailed information on the trail to the Montana buffalo grounds and showed detailed traditional knowledge of it. Without more continuous historical data such as is available on transmontane hunting patterns in Wyoming, any question of historical changes in hunting itineraries must remain open. From Camas Prairie, contemporary informants say, the buffalo party skirted the southern end of the Sawtooth Mountains and went up the Little Lost River, crossing over to the Lemhi River. They then traveled down the Lemhi and across the Divide via Lemhi Pass. Descending the east side of the mountains, the buffalo party arrived on the Beaverhead River at a point close to Armstead, Montana. They then traveled down the Beaverhead past Twin Bridges to the point where the Beaverhead becomes the Jefferson River and thence downstream to the Three Forks of the Missouri. One informant said that the Beaverhead Valley contained buffalo in earlier times, but by the period preceding the treaty it was necessary to go much farther east. From Three Forks, Montana, the buffalo route followed the present line of U.S. Highway 10 through Bozeman and over Bozeman Pass. The party pressed eastwards until it arrived in the country called Buffalo Heart by the Bannock because a near-by mountain supposedly had the shape of a buffalo heart; this was the fall and winter hunting grounds of the Idaho Shoshone and Bannock. It was near the Yellowstone River between Big Timber and Billings, Montana, though the migratory habits of buffalo and buffalo hunters would dictate considerable movement within the region. The buffalo hunters remained to the west of the Bighorn River and, presumably, they did not encroach too heavily upon the Crow. While the Crow considered the Eastern Shoshone enemies, we have no information on hostilities between them and the Idaho people. The Bannock actually camped with the Crow in the late 1860's and early 1870's. To return to the route to the buffalo country, some alternate trails must be noted. After leaving Camas Prairie the party sometimes passed through Arco and Idaho Falls, Idaho, and then headed north over the Divide, via Monida Pass. They followed Red Rock Creek down to its confluence with the Beaverhead and followed the previously described trail. Also, the buffalo party did not always reach Bozeman Pass via the Three Forks of the Missouri. The alternate route crossed from the Beaverhead River to the Madison River via Virginia City. The party continued down the Madison a short distance and then went east to Bozeman where the trail joined the one already outlined. There were undoubtedly several other routes that are no longer remembered by informants. The buffalo hunt was conducted by much the same techniques as already described for the Eastern Shoshone. Two scouts were sent out to report upon the presence of buffalo, and the party surrounded and pursued the herd as a group. No police societies to prevent hunting by individuals were reported by our Idaho Shoshone and Bannock informants, nor is there historic evidence of the institution. Guns, spears, and the bow and arrow were used. Meat was jerked and dried on the plains and the slain buffalo were skinned and their hides dried. When as much of these commodities as the pack horses could carry was accumulated, the party struck out for home. Owing to the great distance between the Snake River Valley and the buffalo country, winter usually overtook the party en route. If the passes were still open when the hunters reached the Divide, they went into winter quarters on the Snake River. If the heavy snows caught the party while still far from the mountains, they kept traveling slowly westward and attempted to encamp in one of the well wooded and sheltered valleys on the east side of the Divide. When the passes opened in the spring, they crossed into Idaho. During the winter the party subsisted upon the dried buffalo meat and whatever game could be killed. An important product of the hunt, the most important according to one informant, was the buffalo hides from which tipis and robes were made. Since there was no spring hunt and other game was plentiful in eastern Idaho and western Wyoming in the fall, the hides may well have been the primary attraction of the buffalo country. Those Shoshone and Bannock who did not follow the buffalo party carried on the fall hunt in southeastern Idaho, northern Utah, and western Wyoming. The elk and deer hunted could best be taken by small groups, hence hunting parties were not large and communal techniques were not necessary. Also, since these animals were scattered throughout the region and did not travel in the huge herds characteristic of the buffalo, the population had to spread out accordingly. Somewhat larger groups gathered to hunt antelope, but these were temporary aggregations. The actual size of the fall hunting groups is uncertain. One informant said that each consisted of about fifteen tipis, while another said that groups of two to four tipis were common. These smaller camp groups were known as nanogwa. Their size was said to have made them more vulnerable to attack than the somewhat larger concentrations. Some locales were known to have a plentiful supply of certain game animals. Caribou County in southeastern Idaho was considered good for deer hunting, while Jackson Hole and Yellowstone Park were noted for elk. The arid highlands of southwestern Wyoming abounded in antelope. Of course, all of these areas contained other types of game, and wild vegetables could be obtained in all. The fall hunt began at the end of August or in early September when the game was growing fat. Some parties went from Camas Prairie to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone via Idaho Falls and the Snake River. The route used was much the same as that followed by U.S. Highway 26. One informant spoke of Targhee Pass and West Yellowstone, Idaho, as being a point of entry to and departure from the Yellowstone country. The Snake River Trail was more commonly used to enter Jackson and Yellowstone, although West Yellowstone seems to have been more frequently traveled on the homeward journey. The Other Bannock and Shoshone camp groups went southward through the Portneuf Valley and over to the Bear River at Soda Springs; they followed the Bear River until they bore eastward to Kemmerer, Wyoming. Most camps of the Idaho Indians remained on the west side of the Green River. The chief game of the area was the antelope herds which were found on affluents of the Green River, northeast of Kemmerer. The Idaho Shoshone and Bannock were joined in the antelope hunt by the Eastern Shoshone of Wyoming and by the Ute, some of whom crossed the Uinta Range in early autumn for this purpose. Whether all these people actually combined for communal hunts is uncertain. It is more probable that small groups from each population amalgamated. Another attraction of the Green River country was Fort Bridger, where many of the Indians went for trade. A few camps might remain to winter in the Green River country, but most of them continued their hunt in other parts while returning to winter quarters. Some camps retraced their outward route, but others traveled northward through Star Valley in western Wyoming and thence up the Snake River to Jackson Hole. It must be kept in mind that there was no central camp group nor were there fixed hunting trails that each group had to follow and that were recognized as their rightful grounds. Camp groups could travel where they pleased and when they pleased. Proprietary rights to hunting grounds were not recognized. The individual camp groups changed in composition and membership annually. A small camp of only a few tipis might consist of consanguineally and affinally related people, but such association was not a fixed rule. Also, a family could leave one hunting group and join another at will. The hunting season ended with the advent of winter. Camp groups drifted into the previously described winter quarters and awaited spring, when the cycle would begin again. LEMHI SHOSHONEOne of the most cohesive of all Shoshone groups lived in the valley of the Lemhi River on the western slope of the Continental Divide. The Lemhi Shoshone were commonly known by the term Agaidika, or "salmon eaters." Like the people of the Fort Hall plains they had fairly large herds of horses, which enabled them to take part in the transmontane buffalo hunt. Excellent data on the early historic period in Lemhi Valley is found in the journals of Lewis and Clark, who crossed the Continental Divide to the Lemhi River on August 13, 1805. A certain amount of information on the Shoshone penetration of Montana can be derived from this source. Sacajawea, the young Shoshone woman who acted as guide and interpreter for Lewis and Clark, said that she had been kidnaped during an attack upon the Shoshone at a camp at the Three Forks of the Missouri River (Lewis and Clark, 1804-06, 2:283). On their return journey from the Pacific the explorers passed through Big Hole Valley, slightly above the present town of Wisdom, Montana, where it was noted that they were "in the great plain where Shoshonees gather Quawmash and cows etc." (ibid., 5:250-251). The party proceeded westward up the The main body of Shoshone was encountered by Lewis and Clark on their westward trip in the Lemhi River Valley. The natives were fishing at the time, and their camps were found scattered along the stream. Camps of seven families and of one family (ibid., 3:6, 11), and another of 25 lodges (ibid., 2:175) serve as examples of the residence units met. Lewis estimated the population of the valley as 100 warriors and 300 women and children (ibid., p. 372). They possessed some 700 mounts, including 40 colts and 20 mules; this, it would seem, was not an adequate number for the needs of extensive buffalo hunting beyond the Continental Divide. The social needs of buffalo hunting evidently produced some degree of band political integration among the Shoshone. But the "principal Chief," Ca-me-ah-wait (ibid., p. 340) had only limited powers. Lewis writes (ibid., p. 370):
The title of chief was nonhereditary, and, in fact, everybody was to varying degrees a "chief," Lewis noted; the most influential of the men was recognized by the others as the "principal chief." The Shoshone had been pushed westward by the incursions of Indian tribes armed by the Canadian traders. Ca-me-ah-wait told Lewis that the Shoshone would be able to remain on the Missouri waters if equipped with firearms, but under the circumstances had to live part of the year on the Columbia waters, where they ate only fish, roots, and berries (ibid., p. 383). A few Shoshone in the Lemhi Valley had firearms that they obtained from the Crow Indians of the Yellowstone River (ibid., p. 341). The winter quarters of the Lemhi Shoshone are not described in the journals, but Lewis wrote that they remained on the Columbia waters during the time of the salmon run, from May to September, and then crossed the Divide to the Missouri waters where they spent the winter (p. 373). The presence of powerful and hostile tribes in the buffalo country forced the Lemhi Shoshone to travel in numbers. They were joined by Shoshone from other areas in the Lemhi Valley and were reinforced by more Shoshone groups and the Flathead at the Three Forks of the Missouri (p. 324). The Lemhi Shoshone were preparing to leave for the buffalo hunt on August 23, 1805. The salmon run was dwindling at the time of the explorers' visit, for Clark noted that the Indians were living largely on berries and roots and were quite hungry (ibid., p. 367). Antelope were hunted by horsemen pursuing the animals in relays, but it was observed that 40 to 50 men might spend a half-day in this activity and take only two or three antelope (ibid., p. 346). The relations of the Shoshone with the outer world gives some indication of their pattern of movement. They ranged southward to the Spanish settlements, for some of their mules were obtained from the Spaniards and articles of Spanish manufacture were noted (ibid., p. 347). The Shoshone were already suffering from smallpox and venereal disease (ibid., p. 373). Enemy tribes inflicted losses upon the Shoshone. The "Minetaree of Fort de prairie" had attacked them and stolen horses and tipis (ibid., p. 343), and they had but recently made peace with the Cayuse and Walla Walla (ibid., 5:157-158). The Nez PercÉ also had frequent clashes with the Shoshone (ibid., pp. 24, 55-56, 113); the territorial situation between the Shoshone and Nez PercÉ was evidently the same as in later times, for Ca-me-ah-wait stated that the Nez PercÉ lived on the Salmon River, "below the mountains" (ibid., 2:382). Friendly relations were maintained with the Flathead, who, according to the journals, lived on the Bitterroot River, but fished on the Salmon River (ibid., 3:22). Later references to the Lemhi River region and adjacent portions of Montana are few. Ferris hunted on the Ruby River in Montana in the early fall of 1831 and mentioned no Shoshone. He did, however, meet a Nez PercÉ camp of 25 lodges (Ferris, 1940, p. 118). Another Nez PercÉ camp was encountered after Ferris crossed the Divide to the Lemhi River (ibid., p. 120). Ferris went to the Ruby River again in 1832 and again found no Shoshone. His party was attacked by the Blackfoot and the trappers found refuge in a camp on the Beaverhead River consisting of 150 lodges of "Flatheads, Pen-d'oreilles, and others" (ibid., pp. 177-178). In 1831, Ferris crossed over Deer Lodge Pass to Big Hole River, where he noted that they were on the edge of Blackfoot country (ibid, p. 109). However, he met 100 lodges of Pend Oreilles on Big Hole River who were en route from Salish House to the buffalo country. Ferris then joined the Pend Oreille and some Flathead lodges in a buffalo hunt on the Beaverhead River (ibid., p. 113). An obvious conclusion from the preceding data is that the Shoshone did hunt in southwestern Montana, but so also did other peoples. The flux of various hunting parties in the area was undoubtedly increased during the fur-trapping period. The extent of their entry into Montana remains undetermined, but their range undoubtedly shifted during the historic period as a direct result of the recession eastward of the buffalo herds. It is uncertain what proportion of the Lemhi population went on the buffalo hunt, and we lack historical information on their winter camps across the Divide. However, casual entry of small parties into southwestern Montana for winter residence would have been most dangerous throughout the historic period because of the continual threat of Blackfoot attacks. Leadership patterns were well developed among the Lemhi people. In 1859 Lander mentioned "Tentoi" who "is not a chief, but has very great influence with the tribe, and has distinguished himself in wars with the Blackfeet" (Lander, 1860, p. 125). Tendoy was subsequently Informants agreed that the Agaidika formed a unified band under Tendoy. No other chiefs were named, although there were said to be a number of minor leaders. Tendoy acted as leader in such communal pursuits as the making of salmon traps or in the annual buffalo hunt. Informants said that he called a council of leading men of the band when any decision affecting the whole group was to be made, and the results were announced to the people by a man who held the office of "announcer." Councils might be held before the salmon season and the buffalo hunt or to plot strategy when on the buffalo hunt. While the Lemhi Shoshone intermarried with other Shoshone and with Bannock, there was a clear-cut geographical separation between them and the above groups. Some Shoshone wintered in Montana on the other side of the Divide, but they were generally considered to be of the Lemhi band. To the west was the Sawtooth Range and the Tukurika. Although the Tukurika had some contact with the Lemhi people, there were considerable cultural differences between them, owing to the proximity of Plains Indian tribes to the Agaidika and to the different subsistent cycles of the two groups. North of the Lemhi country was the land of the Flathead; to the south the arid Snake River plains intervened between them and the Fort Hall plains population. The Lemhi Shoshone were by no means isolated, but there was considerably less overlapping of activities than in southeastern Idaho. Winter was usually spent in the valley of the Lemhi River in the area between the modern town of Salmon and the old Mormon post of Fort Lemhi. One informant said that the population was distributed in villages of about a dozen buffalo-hide tipis, each village having a leader. During the winter the population subsisted upon dried stores of berries, roots, and the meat of buffalo and other game. The Lemhi Valley was secure from enemy attack in the winter, for the Blackfoot concentrated their attention on the Bannock encampments on the Snake River. Other Shoshone were said to have wintered occasionally on the Beaverhead River in Montana. Steward notes that "possibly a few families lived in the vicinity of Dillon, Montana" (1938, p. 188). He lists a large winter camp of some forty families named "Unauvump," which was situated along Red Rock Creek from Lima, Montana, to Red Rock Lake (ibid.). Steward notes that this name refers to the "locomotive" and thus to the Union Pacific Railroad, which follows the Beaverhead River. We obtained the same name, but our informant thought it was merely a place name and not a camp site. Also the site was a short distance up the Beaverhead River from Dillon, Montana. In any case, the reference to the locomotive established the recency of the name. In view of the Blackfoot incursions in that area it is doubtful whether the camp on Red Rock Creek much pre-dated the treaty. However, Bannock and Shoshone buffalo-hunting parties were frequently forced to spend the winter in Montana, although the exact location of these camps is not known. When winter ended, the Lemhi population did not move far afield in search of subsistence, but hunted and awaited the spring salmon run in April. The Indians fished with harpoons, set basketry traps, and made fish weirs. Most fishing was done in the Lemhi River, but some families fished in the Pahsimeroi River, an affluent of the Salmon River which flowed west of and parallel to the Lemhi. Some fishing took place on the main stream of the Salmon River below its confluence with the Lemhi, but only harpooning was effective owing to the depth of the water. The weirs were put in the water each spring and dismantled in the fall and stored. Certain men were considered especially proficient in the construction and operation of fish weirs and assumed supervision over the operation. When the salmon runs had ended, many of the Lemhi people went to Camas Prairie. Some preferred to dig roots in the Lemhi country or to hunt deer in the ranges on either side of the valley. These hunting groups were quite small and usually numbered only two to four tipis. The sojourn on Camas Prairie lasted only about a month and the Lemhi people returned for the summer-fall salmon run. When this was over at the end of August, preparations were made for the trip to the buffalo country. At least three horses were required for the buffalo hunt: one for the hunter, another for his wife, and a third for packing purposes. Even this number was inadequate, since children also needed mounts and one pack horse was not enough to transport a good take of meat and hides. Also, the hunter should preferably have a specially trained buffalo horse, which he would ride only while the buffalo herd was being chased. While the Lemhi were richer in horses than were most Shoshone, some people were forced to stay at home. These hunted game in the mountains of the Lemhi region and adjoining areas on the Montana side of the Divide and depended to some extent on the largesse of the returning buffalo party. The buffalo hunters crossed the Divide through Lemhi Pass to the Beaverhead River and went out to the hunting grounds along the previously described routes. Our informants had no recollection of alliances with other Shoshone or with other tribes on the buffalo hunt except for one who said that the Lemhi Shoshone hunted with Nez PercÉ parties after an earlier period of hostility. At this earlier time the Nez PercÉ and the Flathead were said to have been enemies of the Lemhi people. Lemhi informants claimed that the buffalo parties usually succeeded in reaching winter quarters on the Lemhi River before the snows closed the passes. In view of Lewis and Clark's information and our data from Fort Hall, however, it might be supposed that they were often forced to remain in Montana for the winter. |