Shoshone Tribes

Various Spellings: Shoshone, Shoshoni

Ancestral Homeland: west of Rocky Mouantains and east of the Sierra Nevada Eastern Shoshone near Grand Teton and Wind River Mountains

Northern Shoshone: Idaho, Eastern Oregon and Northern Nevada

Southern Shoshone: Nevada, Wyoming and Utah

Population: 1900: 7,000 1990: 9,215

Prominent Shoshone: Sacajawea joined the Lewis and Clark Expedition-1803-06

Brief Timeline

 * 1782: Smallpox epidemic
 * 1803-06: Lewis and Clark Expedition
 * 1825: Jedediah Smith
 * 1825: First Rocky Mountain rendezvous at Green River in Wyoming
 * 18--: The Oregon and Clifornia trails both go right through the homeland of the Shoshoni and Bannock.
 * 1847: Mormons settled in the Great Salt Lake valley
 * 1849: Gold in California
 * 1855: Treaty
 * 1857: Comstock Lode - Silver in Nevada
 * 1862: Colonal Patrick Conner founded Fort Douglas Salt Lake City
 * 1863: January 29, Bear River Massacre, Compaign lead by Colonal Patrick Conner, 300 soldiers, 224 indians killed only 22 soldiers killed
 * 1863: July, Treaty
 * 1868: Treaty
 * 1869: Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad met at Promontory Point, Utah
 * 1860-1870: all Shoshone bands asigned reservations
 * 1870's lack of sufficient rations continuing problem at Fort Hall
 * 1878: Bannock War
 * 1878: a band -Sheepeaters including Bannock and Shoshone Indians uprising in the Salmon River Mountains of Idaho.
 * 1880's: Railroad Rights-of-Way
 * 1982: Western Shoshone federally recognition

Reservations
Fort Hall Reservation: in eastern Idaho, Northern Shoshone

Western Shoshone Reservation in Duck Valley on the Nevada-Idaho border.

Goshute Reservation in eastern Nevada

Skull Valley Reservation

Additional References to the History of the Tribe
Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Shoshone tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.

Duckwater Shoshone:
Duckwater Shoshone Tribe of the Duckwater Reservation P.O. Box 140068 Duckwater, Nevada 89314 Telephone: (702) 863-0227 Fax: (702) 863-0301

Ely Shoshone:
Ely Shoshone Tribe 16 Shoshone Circle Ely, Nevada 89301 Telephone: (702) 289-3013 Fax:(702) 289-3156

Fallon Band of Paiute-Shoshone
Fallon Band of Paiute-Shoshone 8955 Mission Road Fallon, Nevada 89406 Telephone: (702) 423-6075 Local call from the Reno area: 323-3780 Fax:(702) 423-5202

South Fork Shoshone
South Fork Shoshone HC 30 Box B-13 Elko, Nevada 89801 Telephone: (702) 744-4273 Fax:(702) 744-4523

Wells Shoshone
Wells Shoshone P.O. Box 809 Wells, Nevada 89835 Telephone: (702) 752-3045

Yomba Band of Shoshone
Yomba Band of Shoshone HC 61 Box 6275 Austin, Nevada 89310 Telephone: (702) 964-2463 Fax:(702) 964-2443

Bands, Groups and Subdivisions of Shoshone Indians and Their Reservations
The term or designation of Shoshone Indians is a very broad categorization of several bands and/or federally recognized tribes within the group so named. For the most part, they have historically lived in the Great Basin area, and have ranged from Oregon and Idaho on the north to Arizona and southern California on the south, and from Wyoming on the east to northern California on the west. They were often referred to as the Snakes. Some of the tribes, bands, or groups of Shoshone, with their colonies or reservations, include:


 * Death Valley Shoshone -- see Timbisha Shoshone
 * Duckwater Shoshone -- Duckwater Reservation (Nevada)
 * Ely Shoshone Tribe of Nevada -- Ely Colony (Nevada)
 * Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes -- Fort McDermitt Reservation (Nevada and Oregon)
 * Mountain Shoshone or Sheepeaters -- Fort Lemhi and Fort Hall Reservation(Idaho and Montana)
 * Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Nation of Utah (Washakie)
 * Paiute-Shoshone Indians -- Bishop Colony (California)
 * Paiute-Shoshone Indians -- Fallon Reservation and Colony (Nevada)
 * Paiute-Shoshone Indians -- Lone Pine Reservation (California)
 * Ruby Valley Shoshone
 * Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation -- Wind River Reservation (Wyoming)
 * Shoshone-Bannock Tribes -- Fort Hall Reservation (Idaho)
 * Shoshone-Paiute Tribes -- Duck Valley Reservation (Idaho and Nevada)
 * Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone


 * Battle Mountain Band -- Battle Mountain Colony (Nevada)
 * Elko Band -- Elko Colony (Nevada)
 * South Fork Band -- South Fork Reservation (Nevada)
 * Wells Band -- Wells Colony (Nevada)


 * Timbisha Shoshone Tribe
 * Weiser (Eagle Eye's) Band
 * Yomba Western Shoshone Tribe -- Yomba Reservation (Nevada)

Records
The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Shoshone Indians of Northern Utah. These schedules were not classified in the Bureau of Census records as a separate district, but were simply included in District 207, Portage Precinct in Box Elder County, Utah. However, the Shoshone Indians in this precinct are recorded on Indian Population Schedules

Correspondence and Census

Treaties


 * 1855 June 9, referred to in Wallawalla Treaty
 * 1863 July 2, at Fort Bridger, with Eastern Shoshone
 * 1863 July 30, at Box Elder Shoshone-Northwestern Bands
 * 1863 October 1, at Ruby Valley with Western Shoshoni
 * 1863 October 12, at Tuilla Valley with Shoshoni-Goship
 * 1868: at Fort Bridger Eastern Band Shoshoni and Bannock

Vital Records


 * Wind River Agency, M595, births and deaths 1938-39, FHL Film: 583122 and births and deaths 1924-1932, FHL Film: 581878
 * Fort Hall Agency, M595, birth and deaths, FHL Film: 576497 and births and deaths 1924-1934, FHL Film: 576498 and 576499

Important Web Sites

 * The Shoshone Indians -- History and description of the Shoshone Indian, especially the Eastern Shoshone of the Wind River Reservation.
 * Ely Shoshone Tribe Constitution
 * Constitution and By-Laws for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation Idaho
 * Constitution and By-laws of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, Nevada
 * Constitution and By-Laws for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Nevada
 * Constitution of the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe of the Duckwater Reservation, Nevada
 * Shoshone Tribe Wikipedia