Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and Society

by Robert F. Murphy; Yolanda Murphy

Bonneville met a Bannock winter camp in January, 1833, near the Snake River, in the vicinity of Three Buttes (Irving, 1850, p. 88). They numbered 120 lodges and were said to be deadly enemies of the Blackfoot, whom they easily overcame when their forces were equal. In the following winter the Bannock camp was at the mouth of the Portneuf River, near the last season's site (Irving, 1837, 2:41). And in August, 1834, Townsend saw two lodges of some twenty "Snakes" who were "returning from the fisheries and traveling towards the buffalo on the 'big river' (Shoshone's) [Snake River]" (Townsend, 1905, p. 245).

Russell's journal provides further description of buffalo hunting on the upper Snake River. He himself hunted buffalo out of the newly established Fort Hall post in 1834 (Russell, 1955, pp. 7-8). On October 1 of that year a village of 60 lodges of "Snakes" was found on Blackfoot River; the chief was "Iron wristbands" or "Pah-da-her-wak-un-dah." On October 20 a camp of 250 "Bonnak" lodges arrived at Fort Hall. Russell met some 332 lodges, of six persons each, hunting buffalo in the vicinity of Birch Creek in October, 1835 (p. 36). Their chief was "Aiken-lo-ruckkup," a brother of the late Horn Chief. The trapper also found 15 lodges of "Snakes" in the same area (p. 37). Twenty-five miles east of the Bannock camp, Russell found a buffalo-hunting camp of 15 "Snake" lodges under "Chief Comb Daughter," or the "Lame Chief" (p. 38). Presumably, Russell's "Snakes" were Shoshone. The buffalo evidently disappeared from the Snake River drainage by 1840, for the last reference to their presence in this region is in January, 1839, when Russell mentions the presence of buffalo bulls on the upper Snake River (p. 93).

Lieutenant John Mullan encountered two "Banax" Indians in December, 1853, on the Jefferson River in Montana. They had crossed the mountains from the Salmon River country in hopes of meeting other Bannock returning from the buffalo hunt. He noted the inroads on their numbers made by smallpox and the Blackfoot and commented (Mullan, 1855, p. 329. "The most of them now inhabit the country near the Salmon River, where, in their solitude and security, they live perfectly contented in spearing the salmon, and living on roots and berries.") Across the divide between Montana and Idaho, in the vicinity of Camas Creek, they met a single Bannock lodge en route to the mountains (p. 333). North of Fort Hall, the party came upon three or four families of "Root Digger Indians" whose destitute condition was described by Mullan (p. 334).

The Bannock had visited Fort Bridger for purposes of trade over a period of many years and continued the practice after the end of the fur boom. Superintendent Jacob Forney reported that some 500 Bannock under chief "Horn" appeared there in 1859 and claimed a home in the Utah Territory (Forney, 1860a, p. 31). Forney granted them permission to remain in the region claimed by Washakie. A body of Bannock was in the vicinity of Fort Bridger in 1867, but Washakie refused to share the Eastern Shoshone allotment with them. It will be remembered that a part of the Bannock population had been collected on the Boise River prior to this time. Indians denominated as Bannock were evidently to be found in a number of places during this period. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Taylor reported in 1868 (1869, p. 683):

The other tribes in Montana are the Bannock and the Shoshones, ranging about the headwaters of the Yellowstone, and reported to be in a miserable and destitute condition. These Indians it is believed are parties to a treaty made by Gov. Doty on the 14th of Oct., 1863, at Soda Springs, not proclaimed. As they occupy a part of the country claimed by the Crows, I think it advisable ... to induce them to remove to the Shoshone country, in the valley of the Shoshone (Snake) River.

In the same year Mann assembled 800 Bannock for a treaty conference, but one-half of this number left the gathering in June, 1868, when the commissioner failed to appear (Mann, 1869, p. 617). The 800 Bannock were gathered by Chief "Taggie" (Tygee), who was also mentioned in the 1869 report of the Fort Hall Agent (Danilson, 1870, p. 730).

Unless the Bannock were an amazingly mobile people, they must have traveled in a number of groups during the late 1860's. Superintendent Sully of Montana wrote in September, 1869 (Sully, 1870, p. 731):

... [the Bannock] are a very small tribe of Indians, not mustering over five hundred souls. They claim the southwestern portion of Montana as their land, containing some of the richest portions of the territory, in which are situated Virginia City, Boseman City, and many other places of note.

However, Superintendent Floyd-Jones of Idaho reported in 1869 (1870, p. 721):

The Bannacks, about six hundred strong, have always claimed this country, and promise that this winter's hunt in the Wind River Mountains shall be their last ...