Wind River Indian Agency (Wyoming)

Wind River Indian Agency is the administrative office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Its supervising office is the Billings Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Shoshone, Arapaho Indians

History
The Wind River Agency was originally called the Shoshone and Bannock Agency from its establishment in 1870 until 1883, when it became the Shoshone Agency. It was the successor to the Fort Bridger Agency.

Most of the Bannock moved to the Fort Hall Reservation in 1872. In 1878 some Northern Arapaho moved onto the Wind River Reservation. In 1937, the name was changed to the Wind River Agency. The agency serviced the Shoshone and Bannock Indians living on a reservation in the Wind River area of Wyoming from 1870-1872. Most of the Bannock Indians moved to Fort Hall in 1872 and some Northern Arapaho moved onto the reservation in 1878.

Records
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.

Many of the historical records of this agency and its predecessors are housed in the National Archives Rocky Mountain Region (Denver), Colorado. Records in that collection which may be of assistance to the genealogist include:


 * Land allotment records, 1896-1946
 * Census records, 1894-1907, 1931-1958
 * Record of employees at the Shoshone Agency, 1907-1922


 * Wind River Agency. Agency Records, 1889-1953. FHL first of 6 films: 1205740

Many more records of lesser genealogical value are also in this collection.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Shoshone Indian Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Shoshone Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 73, Shoshone Agency], in Fremont County, Wyoming.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1938-1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 663. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.

An additional census roll for years 1934,1952 purchased by the Genealogical Society of Utah from the Federal record Center Seattle, Washington (microfilm number 295703 Item 2)

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Wind River Agency, 1938 only, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Rolls 169, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their.