![Northern Shoshone map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Northern_Shoshone_map.svg)
Northern Shoshone are
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
* Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming
* Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho
* Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah
* Goshute: western Utah, easter ...
of the
Snake River Plain
image:Snake River view near Twin Falls, Idaho.jpg, The Snake River cutting through the plain leaves many canyons and Canyon#List of gorges, gorges, such as this one near Twin Falls, Idaho
The Snake River Plain is a geology, geologic feature ...
of southern
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
and the northeast of the
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...
where Idaho,
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
and
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
meet. They are culturally affiliated with the
Bannock people
The Bannock tribe were originally Northern Paiute but are more culturally affiliated with the Northern Shoshone. They are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People. Their traditional lands include northern Nevada, southeastern Oreg ...
and are in the
Great Basin classification of Indigenous People.
Language
Northern Shoshone is a dialect of the
Shoshone language
Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone (; Shoshoni: soni ta̲i̲kwappe'', ''newe ta̲i̲kwappe'' or ''neme ta̲i̲kwappeh'') is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone ...
, a
Central Numic language
Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Plains. The word Numic ...
in the
Uto-Aztecan language family
Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...
. It is primarily spoken on the
Fort Hall
Fort Hall was a fort in the western United States that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Ida ...
and
Wind River reservations in Idaho and Wyoming, respectively.
[
]
Bands
Bands of Shoshone people were named for their geographic homelands and for their primary foodsources.
Mountain Shoshone bands:
:* Agaideka
The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of Northern Shoshone, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".Murphy and Murphy, 306 The name "Lemhi" comes from Fort Lemhi, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the Lemhi Ri ...
or Agai-deka (Akaitikka
The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of Northern Shoshone, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".Murphy and Murphy, 306 The name "Lemhi" comes from Fort Lemhi, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the Lemhi Ri ...
, Salmon Eaters
The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of Northern Shoshone, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".Murphy and Murphy, 306 The name "Lemhi" comes from Fort Lemhi, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the Lemhi Ri ...
, Lemhi Shoshone
The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of Northern Shoshone, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".Murphy and Murphy, 306 The name "Lemhi" comes from Fort Lemhi, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the Lemhi Ri ...
, living on the middle and lower Snake River
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...
and in the Lemhi River Valley, Lemhi Range
The Lemhi Range is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Idaho, spanning the eastern part of the state between the Lost River Range and the Beaverhead Mountains. The highest point in the range is Diamond Peak at , the fourth highest peak in Ida ...
and Beaverhead Mountains
The Beaverhead Mountains, highest point Scott Peak, el. , are a mountain range straddling the Continental Divide in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho. (See also the GNIS link here.) They are a sub-range of the Bitterroot Range, and divide Be ...
in Idaho,[Murphy and Murphy 306][ originally following the same lifeway as the Tukudeka. After acquiring horses in the eighteenth century, they adopted a Plains style and went on buffalo hunts. They were also called ''Kuccuntikka'' or ''Kuchun-deka'' (Guchundeka, Kutsindüka, Buffalo Eaters)
:* ]Tukudeka
The Tukudeka or Mountain Sheepeaters are a band of Shoshone within the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Shoshone.Shimkin 335 Before the reservation era, they traditionally lived in the central Sawtooth Range of Idaho and the mountains of what is ...
or Tuku-deka ( Tukkutikka, Dukundeka), Sheep Eaters
The Tukudeka or Mountain Sheepeaters are a band of Shoshone within the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Shoshone.Shimkin 335 Before the reservation era, they traditionally lived in the central Sawtooth Range of Idaho and the mountains of what is ...
, Mountain Sheep Eaters
The Tukudeka or Mountain Sheepeaters are a band of Shoshone within the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Shoshone.Shimkin 335 Before the reservation era, they traditionally lived in the central Sawtooth Range of Idaho and the mountains of what is ...
, living along the Salmon River, Salmon River Mountains, in the Sawtooth Valley
The Sawtooth Valley is a valley in the Western United States, in Blaine and Custer counties of central Idaho. About long, it is in Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) in the Sawtooth National Forest. It is surrounded by the Sawtooth Moun ...
surrounded by the Sawtooth Range, upper Payette River, in the Bitterroot Mountains
The Northern and Central Bitterroot Range, collectively the Bitterroot Mountains (Salish: čkʷlkʷqin), is the largest portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains and Idaho Batholith, located in the panhandle of Idaho and west ...
and Beaverhead Mountains
The Beaverhead Mountains, highest point Scott Peak, el. , are a mountain range straddling the Continental Divide in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho. (See also the GNIS link here.) They are a sub-range of the Bitterroot Range, and divide Be ...
in Idaho, and in the Wind River Range
The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short) is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW–SE for approximately . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and inclu ...
in western Wyoming. They also traveled north toward the upper Beaverhead drainage. and the upper Yellowstone River in northern Wyoming and southern Montana. The Tukkutikka bands living in the Wind River Range and the Yellowstone River region settled with the main body of Eastern Shoshone
Eastern Shoshone are Shoshone who primarily live in Wyoming and in the northeast corner of the Great Basin where Utah, Idaho and Wyoming meet and are in the Great
Basin classification of Indigenous People. They lived in the Rocky Mountains du ...
onto the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.[DIVERSITY IN COSMOLOGY: THE CASE OF THE WIND RIVER SHOSHONI](_blank)
/ref> Later the Tukkutikka bands living in the Yellowstone River region settled with the main body of Eastern Shoshone
Eastern Shoshone are Shoshone who primarily live in Wyoming and in the northeast corner of the Great Basin where Utah, Idaho and Wyoming meet and are in the Great
Basin classification of Indigenous People. They lived in the Rocky Mountains du ...
onto the Wind River Reservation. The majority joined the Northern Shoshone as part of the Lemhi Shoshone
The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of Northern Shoshone, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".Murphy and Murphy, 306 The name "Lemhi" comes from Fort Lemhi, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the Lemhi Ri ...
.[ These were also known as Doyahinee][ (]Mountain people
Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains.
This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation.
The climate is generally harsh, with s ...
) or Banaiti Doyanee(Bannock Mountaineers, because of great intermarriage with Bannock people).
Northwestern Shoshone bands:
:* Kammitikka, Kamu-deka or Kamodika (Jack Rabbit Eaters, Black Tailed Rabbit Eaters, Bannock Creek Shoshone), Snake River, Great Salt Lake[ living from a base on Bannock Creek and Arbon Valley, they claimed lands extending from ]Raft River
The Raft River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 4, 2011 tributary of the Snake River located in northern Utah and southern Idaho in the United States. It is part ...
to the Portneuf River and Portneuf Range in northern Utah and southern Idaho. Their territory took in part of the Fort Hall Reservation
The Fort Hall Reservation is a Native American reservation of the federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (Shoshoni language: Pohoko’ikkateeCrum, B., Crum, E., & Dayley, J. P. (2001). Newe Hupia: Shoshoni Poetry Songs. University Press o ...
when it was established in 1867. In 1873, the three major Bannock Creek bands (Chief Pocatello, with 101 people; San Pitch, with 124; and Sagwitch, with 158) moved to the reservation at Fort Hall. A small group went to Wind River; possibly synonymous with Hukundüka or Hukan-deka (Porcupine Grass Seed Eaters, Wild Wheat Eaters).[
:* Painkwitikka or Pengwideka (Penkwitikka, Fish Eaters, Bear Lake Shoshone), ranged from McCammon to Bear Lake along the Bear River and ]Logan River
The Logan River ( Yugambeh: ''Dugulumba'') is a perennial river located in the Scenic Rim, Logan and Gold Coast local government areas of the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The -long river is one of the dominant waterways in South ...
in the border region between Idaho and Utah, and on over to the continental divide, they lived generally north of the Cache Valley Shoshone band.
:* Cache Valley Shoshone ranged into Idaho and Utah with their major base in Cache Valley
Cache Valley is a valley of northern Utah and southeast Idaho, United States, that includes the Logan metropolitan area. The valley was used by 19th century mountain men and was the site of the 1863 Bear River Massacre. The name, Cache Valley i ...
- called in Shoshone ''Seuhubeogoi'' - ″Willow Valley″ - and on the lower reaches of Bear River not far from the later Wyoming border. They were practically wiped out at the Bear River Massacre (Battle of Bear River) (Idaho’s largest Indian battle), January 29, 1863, by Colonel P. E. Connor’s California Volunteers. Followed two months later by a similarly destructive campaign by Jefferson Standifer’s Placerville Volunteers against the Shoshone at Salmon Falls; this fight led to a series of Shoshone and Bannock treaties (Fort Bridger, July 2; Box Elder, July 30; Ruby Valley, October 1; Soda Springs, October 14) affecting Idaho, as well as the Tooele Valley Band of Goshute of the Western Shoshone Western Shoshone comprise several Shoshone tribes that are indigenous to the Great Basin and have lands identified in the Treaty of Ruby Valley 1863. They resided in Idaho, Nevada, California, and Utah. The tribes are very closely related cultural ...
. The survivors settled on Fort Hall Reservation.
:* Weber Utes, a Shoshone band farther south along the Weber River
The Weber River ( ) is a long river of northern Utah, United States. It begins in the northwest of the Uinta Mountains and empties into the Great Salt Lake. The Weber River was named for American fur trapper John Henry Weber.
The Weber River ...
to the Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...
in Utah, because having intermarried with neighboring Cumumba Band of Utes, they speak the same dialect as the other Northwestern bands with a slight Ute accent, and were therefore usually called ''Weber Utes'' - but they speak Shoshone and are primarily of Shoshone stock; were overlooked in the treaty-making process and never got a reservation, Chief Little Soldier headed the misnamed "Weber Ute" band of about 400 people.
Fort Hall Shoshone Bands:
:* Boho'inee or Pohokwi ( Pohogwe, Pohoini
Eastern Shoshone are Shoshone who primarily live in Wyoming and in the northeast corner of the Great Basin where Utah, Idaho and Wyoming meet and are in the Great
Basin classification of Indigenous People. They lived in the Rocky Mountains dur ...
, Sage Grass people, Sagebrush Butte People,[ which refers to Ferry Butte at Fort Hall), mixed ]Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
* Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming
* Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho
* Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah
* Goshute: western Utah, easter ...
-Bannock
Bannock may mean:
* Bannock (food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle
* Bannock (Indigenous American), various types of bread, usually prepared by pan-frying
* Bannock people, a Native American people of what is now southeastern Oregon ...
band, living in southeastern Idaho on the Snake River Plain
image:Snake River view near Twin Falls, Idaho.jpg, The Snake River cutting through the plain leaves many canyons and Canyon#List of gorges, gorges, such as this one near Twin Falls, Idaho
The Snake River Plain is a geology, geologic feature ...
, in the Wind River Range
The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short) is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW–SE for approximately . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and inclu ...
, Salmon Falls on Snake River
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...
and wintered in the vicinity of the trading post Fort Hall
Fort Hall was a fort in the western United States that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Ida ...
, but also claimed the Camas Prairie
The name camas prairie refers to several different geographical areas in the western United States which were named for the native perennial camassia or camas. The culturally and scientitifcally significant of these areas lie within Idaho and Monta ...
as home, later called Fort Hall Shoshone or "Sho-Bans", also considered part of the Eastern Shoshone
Eastern Shoshone are Shoshone who primarily live in Wyoming and in the northeast corner of the Great Basin where Utah, Idaho and Wyoming meet and are in the Great
Basin classification of Indigenous People. They lived in the Rocky Mountains du ...
Bands
Western Bands of Northern Shoshone:
:* Yahandeka or Yahantikka ( Yakandika, Groundhog Eaters, grouped into three main geographical groupings of mixed Northern Shoshone-Northern Paiute bands):
:** Boise Shoshone, among the early mounted Shoshone bands, they traveled over a considerable range by the beginning of the nineteenth century, with their main hunting lands along the lower Boise River and Payette River
The Payette River () is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 3, 2011 river in southwestern Idaho and is a major tributary of the Snake River.
Its headwaters originate ...
. When Donald MacKenzie developed the Snake country fur trade after 1818, the most prominent of the Boise Shoshone, Peiem (a Shoshoni rendition of “Big Jim”, their leader’s English name), became the most influential leader of the large composite Shoshoni band that white trappers regularly encountered in the Snake country. Peiem served as the most important Shoshone spokesman at MacKenzie’s great peace conference on Little Lost River in 1820, and figured conspicuously in Shoshone affairs when Alexander Ross and Peter Skeene Ogden led the Snake expedition later in the decade. Peiem’s son, and successor, Captain Jim, was a leader of the Boise Shoshone at the time of their removal, March 12-April 13, to the Fort Hall Reservation, which had been established for the Boise and Bruneau Shoshone, June 14, 1867, a mixed Shoshone-Northern Paiute group of ''Koa'aga'itöka'' ("Salmon Caught in Traps Eaters") of Northern Paiute and local Northern Shoshone groups.
:** Bruneau Shoshone, were not organized into bands, occupied southwestern Idaho, mainly south of Snake River
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...
along the Bruneau River
The Bruneau River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. tributary of the Snake River, in the U.S. states of Idaho and Nevada. It runs through a narrow canyon cut into ancient lava flows in south ...
and from Goose Creek to Owyhee River
The Owyhee River is a tributary of the Snake River located in northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon in the United States. It is long.Owyhee Rive accessed November 3, 2019
The river's drainage basin is in area, one of the l ...
, when the gold rush to Boise Basin brought settlers in after 1862, a mixed Shoshone-Northern Paiute group of ''Tagötöka/Taga Ticutta'' ("Root Tuber Eaters") and ''Wadadökadö/Wadatika (Waadadikady)'' ("Wada Root and Grass-seed Eaters") of Northern Paiute and local Northern Shoshone groups. After their treaty of April 12, 1866, went unratified, the Fort Hall Reservation was set aside partly for them. Later in 1877, the Duck Valley Reservation was established in their lands.
:** Weiser Shoshone or Shewoki / Sohuwawki Shoshone, lived along the lower Weiser River to New Plymouth
New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...
,[Murphy and Murphy 287] this country was called ''Shewoki'', ''si.wo.kki?i'' or ''Su:woki'' - "willow-striped" or "Row of Willows" by the Shoshone, some of whom resisted placement on the Malheur Reservation
The Malheur Indian Reservation was an American Indian reservation established for the Northern Paiute in eastern Oregon and northern Nevada from 1872 to 1879. The federal government discontinued the reservation after the Bannock War of 1878, und ...
, finally settled at Fort Hall and on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation
The Duck Valley Indian Reservation () was established in the 19th century for the federally recognized Shoshone- Paiute Tribe. It is isolated in the high desert of the western United States, and lies on the state line, the 42nd parallel, betwee ...
, a mixed Shoshone-Northern Paiute group of ''Wadadökadö/Wadatika (Waadadikady)'' ("Wada Root and Grass-seed Eaters") and ''Koa'aga'itöka'' ("Salmon Caught in Traps Eaters") of Northern Paiute and Shoshone groups from Bruneau and Boise Rivers.
Tribes and reservations
The Northern Shoshone have people who are members of three federally recognized tribes in Idaho and Utah:
*Duck Valley Indian Reservation
The Duck Valley Indian Reservation () was established in the 19th century for the federally recognized Shoshone- Paiute Tribe. It is isolated in the high desert of the western United States, and lies on the state line, the 42nd parallel, betwee ...
, Idaho, for the Western Shoshone-Northern Paiute Tribe
*Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation of Idaho
The Fort Hall Reservation is a Native American reservation of the federally recognized Shoshone- Bannock Tribes (Shoshoni language: Pohoko’ikkateeCrum, B., Crum, E., & Dayley, J. P. (2001). Newe Hupia: Shoshoni Poetry Songs. University Press ...
, 544,000 acres (2,201 km²) in Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
. Lemhi Shoshone
The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of Northern Shoshone, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".Murphy and Murphy, 306 The name "Lemhi" comes from Fort Lemhi, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the Lemhi Ri ...
with the Bannock Indians, a Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pai ...
band with which they have merged.
* Lemhi Indian Reservation (1875–1907) in Idaho. This reservation was closed and the people relocated to Fort Hall Reservation, where they are counted with the Shoshone-Bannock peoples.
*Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation
The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation ( shh, So-so-goi) is a federally recognized tribe of Shoshone people, located in Box Elder County, Utah. They are also known as the Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Indians.Pritzker 239
Current land hold ...
Notes
References
* Murphy, Robert A. and Yolanda Murphy. "Northern Shoshone and Bannock." Warren L. d'Azevedo, volume editor. ''Handbook of North American Indians
The ''Handbook of North American Indians'' is a series of edited scholarly and reference volumes in Native American studies, published by the Smithsonian Institution beginning in 1978. Planning for the handbook series began in the late 1960s and ...
: Great Basin, Volume 11.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986: 284–307. .
Further reading
*
*
External links
{{commons category
Northern Shoshoni treaties
The Sheepeaters