Chapter III: The Shoshone and Bannock of Idaho (2)

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 Perce (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 Perce 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 Perce on the Lemhi River in October, 1831 (Ferris, 1940, p. 120), and Wyeth reported a Nez Perce camp on the Salmon River in May 1833 (Wyeth, 1899, p. 194). The Nez Perce 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 UTAH

There 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, Hzkandika (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 a group living in northern Utah. Dunn wrote of the "Ho-kan-di-ka" of the Salt Lake Valley and Bear River (Dunn, 1886, p. 277), and Lander reported the "Ho-kanti'-kara, or Diggers on Salt Lake, Utah" (Wheeler, 1875, p. 409). For purposes of convenience, we shall refer to these Indians in this report as Bannock Creek Shoshone, although the range of their activities extended to the south well beyond this valley and into Utah.

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):

There are three bands of Indians known as the northwestern
bands of the Shoshonees, commanded by three chiefs, Pocatello,
Black Beard, and San Pitch, not under the control of
Wash-a-kee; they are very poor and number about fifteen
hundred; they range through the Bear River lake, Cache and
Malade valleys, and Goose Creek mountains, Idaho Territory.

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).

A considerable number of these Indians [those of northern Utah
and southern Idaho known as Northwestern Shoshone after the
treaty of 1863], including the two chiefs Pokatello and Black
Beard, have this season accompanied Washakee to the Wind River
valley on his annual buffalo hunt.

In the following year, Head summarized the distribution of mixed groups of Shoshone and Bannock in the region (1868, p. 176).

They inhabit, during about six months in each year, the valleys
of the Ogden, Weber, and Bear rivers, in this territory. A
considerable portion of their numbers remain there also during
the whole year, while others accompany the Eastern Shoshone to
the Wind River valley to hunt buffalo. They claim as their
country also a portion of southern Idaho, and often visit that
region, but game being there scarce and the country mostly
barren, their favorite haunts are as before stated.

According to Steward, Pocatello's band was an innovation in Bannock Creek (1938, p. 217):

Apparently there were several independent villages in this
district in aboriginal days, but when the people acquired many
horses and the white man entered the country they began to
consolidate under Pocatello, whose authority was extended over
people at Goose Creek to the west and probably at Grouse Creek
[Utah].

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 of Nevada and with the small and scattered Shoshone groups of northern Utah, from whom they are almost indistinguishable. Buffalo hunting and common use of the Bear River region resulted in considerable interaction with the Eastern Shoshone, who also made use of this area in pre-reservation times. There was extensive intermarriage between the Eastern Shoshone and those of Bannock Creek and northern Utah, and one informant reports that their dialects were much alike. This affinity between the two groups finds further documentation in the belief of one of Steward's informants that the Bannock Creek people must have come from Wyoming (Steward, 1938, p. 217).

FORT HALL BANNOCK AND SHOSHONE

Above 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 Perce, 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 Perce 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 the evening two hundred Indians passed our camp, on their
way to the village, which was situated at the lower butte. They
were Ponacks, as they are generally called by the hunters, or
Po-nah-ke as they call themselves. They were generally mounted
on poor jaded horses, and were illy clad.

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):

I visited their village on the 20th and found these miserable
wretches to the number of eighty or one hundred families,
half-naked, and without lodges, except in one or two instances.
They had formed, however, little huts of sage roots, which were
yet so open and ill calculated to shield them from the extreme
cold, that I could not conceive how they were able to endure
such severe exposure.

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):

On the fourth day of our Journey we arrived at the huts of some
Bawnack Indians. These Indians appear to live very poor and in
the most forlorn condition. They generally make but one visit
to the buffaloe country during the year, where they remain
until they jerk as much meat as their females can lug home on
their backs. They then quit the mountains and return to the
plains where they subsist on fish and small game the remainder
of the year. They keep no horses and are always easy prey for
other Indians provided with guns and horses.

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" (p. 38). Presumably, Russell's "Snakes" were Shoshone. The buffalo evidently disappeared from the Snake River drainage by 1840, for the last reference to their presence in this region is in January, 1839, when Russell mentions the presence of buffalo bulls on the upper Snake River (p. 93).

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):

The other tribes in Montana are the Bannock and the Shoshones,
ranging about the headwaters of the Yellowstone, and reported
to be in a miserable and destitute condition. These Indians it
is believed are parties to a treaty made by Gov. Doty on the
14th of Oct., 1863, at Soda Springs, not proclaimed. As they
occupy a part of the country claimed by the Crows, I think it
advisable ... to induce them to remove to the Shoshone country,
in the valley of the Shoshone (Snake) River.

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):

... [the Bannock] are a very small tribe of Indians, not
mustering over five hundred souls. They claim the southwestern
portion of Montana as their land, containing some of the
richest portions of the territory, in which are situated
Virginia City, Boseman City, and many other places of note.

However, Superintendent Floyd-Jones of Idaho reported in 1869 (1870, p. 721):

The Bannacks, about six hundred strong, have always claimed
this country, and promise that this winter's hunt in the Wind
River Mountains shall be their last ...

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 cooperation 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):

Even with the advantage of the horse, it was not always
expedient for the combined Bannock-Shoshoni band to move as a
unit. They frequently split into small subdivisions, each of
which travelled independently through Southern Idaho to procure
different foods, to trade, and occasionally to carry on
warfare.

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 as far south as the valleys of the Green and Bear rivers and Great Salt Lake.

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 Perce 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 west slope of the Tetons, the area drained by Teton River, was used also by hunting parties.

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 SHOSHONE

One 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 Beaverhead River, where Sacajawea claimed the Shoshone were sometimes found (p. 321) and above Dillon saw one mounted Indian thought to be Shoshone (p. 329). No other Indians were sighted, although there were indications on the upper Beaverhead River that Indians had been digging roots (pp. 332, 334). Apparently the buffalo had been receding to the east even at that early time, for Sacajawea said that they used to come to the very head of the Beaverhead River; apparently they had been hunted out by the Shoshone, who tried to avoid the trip to the plains by killing as many buffalo as possible in the mountains (p. 261). It seems evident that the Indians' acquisition of the horse resulted in some depletion of the buffalo long before the American hide hunters arrived in the West.

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):

... each individual is his own sovereign master, and acts from
the dictates of his own mind; the authority of the Chief being
nothing more than mere admonition supported by the influence
which the propriety of his own exemplary conduct may have
acquired him in the minds of the individuals who compose the
band.

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 Perce also had frequent clashes with the Shoshone (ibid., pp. 24, 55-56, 113); the territorial situation between the Shoshone and Nez Perce was evidently the same as in later times, for Ca-me-ah-wait stated that the Nez Perce 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 Perce camp of 25 lodges (Ferris, 1940, p. 118). Another Nez Perce 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 said by Agent Rainsford to be the head chief at Lemhi (Rainsford, 1873, p. 666), and Agent Fuller later noted Tendoy as the chief of the entire reservation population, which included some 200 Bannock, 500 Shoshone, and 300 Sheepeaters (Fuller, CD 1639, p. 572). Further information on Tendoy was obtained from informants, but it is obvious that the establishment of a reservation in Lemhi Valley resulted in an eclectic population and the chieftaincy was part of the Indian Office pattern of reservation administration. There is no doubt, however, that a pre-reservation chieftaincy did exist, although for different purposes.

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.