LIFESTYLES

THE SHOSHONE HOMELANDS:

The Shoshone live mainly in the western United States. Most Shoshone live in Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada. The name Shoshone is thought to mean “Valley Dwellers.” For thousands of years, the Shoshone roamed the valleys and mountains of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and Montana. The Shoshone lived as one with the earth. They took only what they needed from the land.

THE ENDLESS SEARCH FOR FOOD:

The Shoshone for the most part lived in small groups called bands. Some bands had only about ten people, all related. Larger bands were made up of several Families. No single place had enough food to support a band. This meant that the Shoshone, could not build permanent villages. They moved about a great deal while searching for food.

The Shoshone obtained food by hunting and fishing and by gathering plants. Among the animals they hunted with their bows; and arrows were wild sheep, antelope, squirrels, and birds. Some Shoshone traveled onto the plains and hunted buffalo. Shoshone also ate roots seeds, berries, and grasshoppers.

Shoshone bands were known by the names of the main foods. The members of a band that ate lot of “Salmon Eaters”. Those who depended on roots were “Root Eaters”. Among the other food names of Shoshone bands were the “Buffalo Eaters,” “Squirrel Eaters," and “Sunflower Seed Eaters.”

SHOSHONE HOUSING AND CLOTHING:

The Shoshone lived in a variety of dwellings. Some Shoshone used branches or animal hides to build their shelters. Other Shoshone bands dug shelters out of hillsides. Still others lived; in tents called tepees, which were made with poles and buffaloskins..

In the summer, the Shoshone wore little clothing. The men wore only loincloths, while the women wore a kind of apron. In winter the Shoshone made warm robes out of rabbit and other furs.

SHOSHONE FAMILY LIFE:

Many Shoshone who married went to live with the man’s family. Sometimes Shoshone men and women were allowed to have more than one marriage partner at a time. Shoshone women and men had equally important roles in helping the family survive. The men did the hunting. They also served as the chiefs, or leaders, of the bands. The women did most of the child raising. They also did most of the plant gathering. The Shoshone used the plants to prepare medicines as well as foods. Medicines made from plants were used to treat everything from heart trouble to ulcers.

THE WHITE PEOPLE ARRIVE:

The Shoshone had little to do with white people until the early 1800’s. In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson sent two men to explore what is now the northwestern United States. The two were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. They set out for Missouri in the spring of 1804 and headed northwest.
In North Dakota Lewis and Clark asked a teenaged Shoshone woman named Sacajawea to join them. Sacajawea had been kidnapped form the Shoshone during a raid in about 1800. She had lived with other Indians since then, as well as with a French fur trader she had been forced to marry. Lewis and Clark wanted Sacajawea to guide them through Shoshone lands and to act as and interpreter.
Sacajawea was a great help to Lewis and Clark Expedition. She dug up roots and found berries to help feed Lewis and Clark and their men. Once when a boat tipped in the Missouri River she saved the supplies from floating off. But Sacajawea performed her greatest service for Lewis and Clark in 1805.
In August the expedition met a large force of Shoshone warriors near the border of Montana and Idaho. Some of the Indians reached for their bows, ready to attack. This was an important moment in U.S. history. If the American expedition had been wiped out, England might have tried to claim what became the northwestern United States.
Sacajawea yelled out happily when she saw the Indians, because they were her people. The Chief was her brother Cameahwait. Instead of attacking, the Shoshone sold Lewis and Clark the horses needed to reach the Pacific Ocean
Sacajawea had helped make the Lewis and Clark Expedition a success. But this exploration eventually opened the way for American settlers to seize Shoshone lands.

SHOSHONE BELIEFS:

Like other Indians, the Shoshone did not spank or punish their children. They thought that punishment would break the young people’s spirits. Shoshone children rarely misbehaved anyway. They helped their parents with food gathering and preparation, and with the family’s other work.
The Shoshone had no written language and no schools. Children learned by working alongside adults and by listening to the songs and stories of the elders.

The Shoshone believed in one being called Duma Appah. This being was also called Our Father or the Creator. Each morning many Shoshone faced the Sun in the east and sang a prayer song to Appah. They believed that the rays of the Sun carried their words up to Appah. Appah was said to have created the Earth with the help of the animal nation. Coyote was thought to have created human beings at the time when he had taken on a human form. The Shoshone believed that, they went to live in the spirit world.
Tales about the spirit world and the animal nation were told. These stories often bad a moral lesson.

RECREATION:

The Shoshone loved to sing, dance, and tell stories. White settlers who came to Shoshone lands in the 1800’s observed them singing as they were fishing. Many of the songs, dances, and stories had religious meaning to the Shoshone.
The Shoshone also loved games and sports. The “hand game" was very popular. A small object was passed from player to player. The guesser had to figure out who was pretending. The Shoshone also played a kind of ball made of animal skin stuffed with rabbit hair. Shoshone children liked to run races, juggle mud balls, and throw their fathers’ arrows at targets.

THE SHOSHONE CAPTURE HORSES:

During the 1500’s Spanish explorers brought horses with them to explore the new country. As the horses escaped the Spanish, they bred and soon were roaming through what is now the western United States. Some Shoshone began capturing horses about 1600. About 1700 one group of Shoshone that had horses moved southward. These Shoshone became a separate tribe-the Comanches. But most Shoshone remained in the northwest.

THE SHOSHONE ARE PUSHED OFF THEIR LANDS:

The American Northwest became part of the United States. Only a few white people came to Shoshone lands in the early 1800’s. First came people who wanted valuable furs from beavers and other animals. Some of these people trapped the animals themselves. Others traded beads, fishhooks, and tools to the Shoshone in exchange for the furs.
The white fur traders and trappers got along well with the Shoshone. A few of them married Shoshone women. But during the early 1800’s more and more white people entered Shoshone lands. Some whites went there to farm or mine. Others passed over the Oregon Trail that led to California and Oregon. By the 1850's several wagon trails cut through Shoshone lands.

At first, the Shoshone were friendly toward the whites. But a number of the white people were cruel to the Indians. Some who hated Indians fired upon the Shoshone for no reason. Others shot and ate the animals that the Shoshone needed for food. In turn, Chief Pocatello and some other Shoshone tried to drive the non-Indians off Indian lands. But most Shoshone followed the advice of:

Chief Washakie (1798-1900)

Although he was a great warrior, Washakie knew that his people could not drive out the American soldiers who patrolled Shoshone lands. Washakie told his people to avoid fights with the American settlers and soldiers.

During the 1860’s the Shoshone signed treaties with the U.S. government. By then, the great herds of buffalo that served as a food source had been destroyed. The Shoshone sold much of their land in the northwestern United States. In return they received food and supplies that they badly needed. The Shoshone were placed on several reservations. From the start, reservation life was hard for the Shoshone. Many died of disease and starvation. The Shoshone also had trouble finding jobs and earning enough money to support their families.

THE SHOSHONE TODAY:

Today, there are about 10,000 Shoshone Indians. Several live on two reservations. One is the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. The other is the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho, which the Shoshone share with the Bannock tribe. Shoshone also live on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation at the border of Idaho and Nevada. Thousands more are scattered across the United States.

The map of the United States contains many place names handed down from the Shoshone Indians. The towns of Pocatello (Idaho) and Fort Washakie (Wyoming) are named for Shoshone chiefs. Wyoming has a town called Shoshoni and a woodland area called the Shoshone National Forest. The Shoshone Falls in Idaho and the Shoshone River and Shoshone Lake in Wyoming are three other landmarks that were named for the Shoshone Indians. Mountain peaks in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and Idaho are named for Sacajawea. A lake in North Dakota is also named for the young Shoshone woman who played an important role in American history.