The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of

Northern Shoshone Northern Shoshone are Shoshone of the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho and the northeast of the Great Basin where Idaho, Wyoming and Utah meet. They are culturally affiliated with the Bannock people and are in the Great Basin classificat ...

, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".Murphy and Murphy, 306 The name "Lemhi" comes from

Fort Lemhi Fort Lemhi was a mission approximately two miles (3 km) north of present-day Tendoy, Idaho, occupied by Mormon missionaries from 1855 to 1858. Approximately twenty-seven Mormon men left the Salt Lake Valley on May 18, 1855, as instructed by ...

, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the

Lemhi River The Lemhi River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 3, 2011 river in Idaho in the United States. It is a tributary of the Salmon River, which in turn is tributary t ...

Valley and along the upper Salmon River 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 Wyomi ...

. Bands were very fluid and

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

ic, and they often interacted with and intermarried other bands of Shoshone and other tribes, such as the

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 ...

.Murphy and Murphy, 288 Today most of them are enrolled in the

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 ...

Traditional culture

The Akaitikka are

Numic 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 com ...

speakers, speaking the Shoshone language.Murphy and Murphy, 287 Fishing is an important source of food, and salmon, and trout were staples. Gooseberries and camas root, ''

Camassia quamash ''Camassia quamash'', commonly known as camas, small camas, common camas, common camash or quamash, is a perennial herb. It is native to western North America in large areas of southern Canada and the northwestern United States. Descriptio ...

'' are traditional vegetable foods for the Lemhi Shoshone. In the 19th century, buffalo hunting provided meat, furs, hides, and other materials.Murphy and Murphy, 286

History

During the 19th century, the Lemhi Shoshone were allied with the Flatheads and enemies of the

Blackfeet The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Mon ...

. The

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...

encountered the Lemhi at the Three Forks of the Missouri River in 1805. In the 1860s, Indian agents estimated the Lemhi population, which included Shoshone, Bannock, and

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 ...

(Sheepeaters), to be 1,200.Murphy and Murphy, 289

Tendoy Tendoy is an unincorporated rural service point in Lemhi County, Idaho, United States, located at (44.9593700, -113.6447780) on State Highway 28, at an altitude of 4,842 feet (1,476 m). It consists of a small general store and house. ...

was a prominent Lemhi chief in the mid-19th century. He was half-Shoshone and half-Bannock. He became the Lemhi's leading chief in 1863 after

Tio-van-du-ah Tio-van-du-ah (died 1863), who was often called Chief Snag, was a Lemhi Shoshone Chief in what is today known as the Lemhi Valley of Idaho. This area was so named by Mormon missionaries who established Fort Limhi in the area in 1855. Tio-van-du-ah ...

was killed in Bannock County, Idaho. The

Lemhi Reservation The Lemhi Reservation was a United States Indian Reservation for the Lemhi Shoshone from 1875 to 1907. During almost all this time their main chief was Tendoy. The group of about 700 that the reservation was formed for in 1875 also included Sheep ...

, located along the Lemhi River, west of the

Bitterroot Range The Bitterroot Range is a mountain range and a subrange of the Rocky Mountains that runs along the border of Montana and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The range spans an area of and is named after the bitterroot (''Lewisia rediviva' ...

and north of the

Lemhi Range The Lemhi Range is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, 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 wit ...

was created in 1875 and terminated in 1907. Most of the residents were moved to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Others remain near Salmon, Idaho. Robert Harry Lowie studied the band and published ''The Northern Shoshone'', a monograph about them in 1909.shoshoneindian.com
"Shoshone Books", ''The Shoshone Indians.'' 21 May 2003 (retrieved 13 June 2010)

Notable Lemhi

* Sacagawea

Notes

References

*Murphy, Robert F. and Yolanda Murphy. "Northern Shoshone and Bannock." Warren L. D'Azevedo, vol. ed. ''Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11: Great Basin.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986. . *Madsen, Brigham D. "The Lemhi: Sacajawea's People." The Caxton Printers, Ltd. Caldwell, Idaho 83605, 1979. .

External links

Sacajawea and her people, the Lemhi Shoshone
{{authority control Shoshone Native American tribes in Idaho