Sheepeater Band of Shoeshone

United States Indigenous Peoples of the US  Shoshone Tribes  Idaho  Indigenous Peoples of Idaho  

The Sheepeater Indians are actually a part of the Shoshone Tribe and were also known as the Mountain Shoshone. Their name may have come from the fact that they were hunters and eaters of Rocky Mountain sheep.

History
The Mountain Shoshone or Sheepeaters were located in the Yellowstone and northern Rocky Mountains along the Idaho-Montana border. Some of them settled in the Lemhi Valley near Tendoy, Idaho. A reservation was established for them in 1875, called the Lemhi Reservation, and approximately 700 Shoshone, Sheepeater, and Bannock were placed on that reservation.

The Lemhi Reservation was never very successful and in 1906, 474 Native Americans from the Lemhi Reservation were moved to Fort Hall Reservation in eastern Idaho. Some of the Shoshone, especially those under Chief Tendoy remained in the central Idaho area near Salmon. Chief Tendoy died in May 1907 and was buried near Tendoy, Idaho.

Reservations
Lemhi Reservation

Additional References
A brief history of the Sheepeater and the Sheepeater Indian War of 1879 is available online.

Bands and Groups of Sheepeaters

 * Chief Tendoy's Band

Records
The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters.They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:


 * Allotment records
 * Annuity rolls
 * Census records
 * Correspondence
 * Health records
 * Reports
 * School census and records
 * Vital records

Many of the records of the Sheepeaters, 1875-1906, are included in the records of the Lemhi Reservation. Subsequent records mostly are at the Fort Hall Reservation, where many of the descendants of the early Sheepeaters now live.

There is also an Indian burial ground on a bench near Tendoy, Idaho.

Important Websites
"Sheepeater Indian War" article in Wikipedia.

Tribe

 * Dominick, David. "The Sheepeaters." Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 36, No. 2 (1964), pp. 131-168.