Shoshone Flag of Fort Hall Reservation An Indian tribe that doesn’t have a presence in Montana today, but which has quite a bit of history in the state, is the Shoshone. No one who visits the state today can escape seeing at least one reference to the most famous Shoshone, the young girl named Sacagawea who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition on their Voyage of Discovery through the state.
The Shoshone can be divided into three different groups: the Northern Shoshone, who were largely concentrated in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming; the Western Shoshone, who lived primarily in Oregon and Idaho; and the Eastern Shoshone, mainly found in Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana. Each group ranged quite a bit from where they lived, and members of each group passed through Montana in its early history.
The Shoshone can be divided into three different groups: the Northern Shoshone, who were largely concentrated in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming; the Western Shoshone, who lived primarily in Oregon and Idaho; and the Eastern Shoshone, mainly found in Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana. Each group ranged quite a bit from where they lived, and members of each group passed through Montana in its early history.
Early Expansion
Shoshone Falls on Snake River, Idaho But the Shoshone have a far more detailed and nuanced history than that which surrounds their most famous member, and it’s a long history as well. The Shoshone may have lived around the Upper Snake River Valley in Idaho as early as 3,500 BC, and archeological evidence suggests that they were hunting and fishing in the area at that time. Around 1350 the “Little Ice Age” struck the Great Basin and the Columbia River Plateau, causing the large amounts of animals that were hunted for food to move east toward the plains, and the Shoshone followed.
The Western and Eastern Shoshone adopted horses early, and utilized them to their fullest. They moved out of the mountains and onto the plains, and adopted many of the traits associated with the Plains Indians, such as hunting buffalo, using tipis, and raiding other tribes for horses. The Northern Shoshone preferred to only use the horse as a draft animal, and they didn’t become fully mounted until the mid-19th century.
Still, the Shoshone’s push east onto the plains didn’t last long, for by 1750 the Blackfeet had arrived, pushed west by the Europeans, and they drove the Shoshone back. The Shoshone were no match for the Blackfeet, for they had no guns to match those the Blackfeet had gotten from the Europeans.
To add insult to injury, a smallpox epidemic struck in both 1781 and 1800. These double intrusions, of Blackfeet and smallpox, reduced the Shoshone numbers so much that by the time Lewis and Clark came through the state, they had no permanent presence, and did little more than scout in single-person or small groups.
The Western and Eastern Shoshone adopted horses early, and utilized them to their fullest. They moved out of the mountains and onto the plains, and adopted many of the traits associated with the Plains Indians, such as hunting buffalo, using tipis, and raiding other tribes for horses. The Northern Shoshone preferred to only use the horse as a draft animal, and they didn’t become fully mounted until the mid-19th century.
Still, the Shoshone’s push east onto the plains didn’t last long, for by 1750 the Blackfeet had arrived, pushed west by the Europeans, and they drove the Shoshone back. The Shoshone were no match for the Blackfeet, for they had no guns to match those the Blackfeet had gotten from the Europeans.
To add insult to injury, a smallpox epidemic struck in both 1781 and 1800. These double intrusions, of Blackfeet and smallpox, reduced the Shoshone numbers so much that by the time Lewis and Clark came through the state, they had no permanent presence, and did little more than scout in single-person or small groups.
Sacagawea
Sacagawea statue in Bismarck, North Dakota And it was under those weakened conditions that Sacagawea was to become famous. The Hidatsa tribe kidnapped her and quite a few other girls when they raided a band of the Lemhi Shoshone of Idaho in 1800. The raid left four men and four women of the tribe dead, as well as several young boys. And Sacagawea was ripped from her home and taken all the way across Montana to North Dakota.
A year later, when she was about 13 years old, she was married to Toussaint Charbonneau, a fur trapper native to Quebec. Toussaint already had another Shoshone wife, a young girl named Otter Woman, and it’s still unclear whether he purchased the girls, or won them gambling.
Either way, it was while he was living in North Dakota that the Lewis and Clark expedition pulled in to stop for the winter, building Fort Mandan as a winter base. They needed skilled interpreters, but they found Toussaint’s language skills inadequate. But when they learned that he had two Shoshone wives, they hired him right away, and Montana has never been the same since.
Notes
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. p 285-306.
Pritzer, Barry. Native Americans [2 Volumes]: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Peoples. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, 1998. p 236-7.
Stamm, Henry E., IV. The People of the Wind River: The Eastern Shoshone, 1825-1900. The University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 1999. p 3-8.
A year later, when she was about 13 years old, she was married to Toussaint Charbonneau, a fur trapper native to Quebec. Toussaint already had another Shoshone wife, a young girl named Otter Woman, and it’s still unclear whether he purchased the girls, or won them gambling.
Either way, it was while he was living in North Dakota that the Lewis and Clark expedition pulled in to stop for the winter, building Fort Mandan as a winter base. They needed skilled interpreters, but they found Toussaint’s language skills inadequate. But when they learned that he had two Shoshone wives, they hired him right away, and Montana has never been the same since.
Notes
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. p 285-306.
Pritzer, Barry. Native Americans [2 Volumes]: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Peoples. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, 1998. p 236-7.
Stamm, Henry E., IV. The People of the Wind River: The Eastern Shoshone, 1825-1900. The University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 1999. p 3-8.
