The historic Shoshone Indians, of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock,
occupied territory in California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming,
although most of them seemed to be settled in the Snake river area in Idaho.
Historical documents from the Lewis & Clark expedition often refer to
the Shoshone as the "Snake Indians"; the actual name "Shoshone" means
"The Valley People" . The
name means “inland”, or "in the valley". The Shoshone were few
in numbers, their total population being somewhere in the area of
8000.
In 1875, resident Ulysses S. Grant established a 100 square mile
executive order reservation for the Lemhi Valley Shoshone,
establishing the Lemhi Valley Indian Reservation for use by the
Shoshone, Bannock, and Sheepeater tribes.
In 1905, nearly one hundred years after their first contact with the
white man, the Lemhi Shoshone began their "Trail of Tears", being
forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands to the Fort Hall
Indian Reservation to their newly "appointed" home.
An article by Professor Orlan J. Svingen of the History Department at
Washington State University brings forth several injustices suffered
by the Lemhi Shoshone. Prof. Svingen writes:
"But perhaps the ultimate act of dispossession was the Indian
Claims Commission settlement involving the Lemhi people. During the
1960s, the ICC and the federal government determined that the Lemhi
Claim to aboriginal lands would have to be submitted as part of the
larger Shoshone-Bannock Claim. The Lemhis were prohibited from filing
their own independent claim. When their claim, Docket #326-1, came
before the ICC, the Lemhi claim to their land 200 miles north of Fort
Hall totaled $4.5 million. Based on pressure from the federal
government, the ICC, the Sho-Bans, and the Sho-Bans attorneys, the
$4.5 million was assigned to the Shoshone Bannock general fund. Rather
than dividing the 1971 Lemhi settlement among the approximately 500
Lemhis living at Fort Hall, it was, essentially, divided among as many
as 3000 people living at Fort Hall--the overwhelming majority of whom
had no direct or indirect tie to Lemhi lands.20 Opposition to the
settlement was widespread among the Lemhi, but their dissatisfaction
fell on the deaf ears of the Shoshone-Bannock majority and the Sho-Ban
attorneys from the firm of Wilkinson, Cragun & Barker. Udale Simmer
Tendoy, a Lemhi descendant, typified Lemhi opposition with his
assessment of the ICC decision in 1971."
Today, the Shoshone are still
waiting to become a Federally recognized tribe, along with over
200 other Native American tribes such as the California
Chumash and the
North-Eastern Abenakis. There has been much controversy
surrounding the U.S. Government's plans to commemorate the
bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark expedition.
Prof. Svingen comments on the proposed bicentennial celebration:
"...as the nation prepares to celebrate the bicentennial of
the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it is difficult to consider how the
country can celebrate the Corps of Discovery while such a debt to
Sacajawea and her people remains such a scandal."
For more details on the history of the Lemhi Shoshone, visit
www.lemhishoshone.com
