3. After 1750, the northern tribes, especially the Blackfoot, acquired the horse and firearms and drove the Shoshone south and west, where they retreated beyond the Continental Divide, in contiguity with those Shoshone who had remained in the Great Basin. By this time, the Comanche had become differentiated from their northern colinguists.
4. The fur period began about 1810, and from this time, Shoshone history became inextricably connected with that of the American frontiers. Although the game supply declined during this epoch, the Shoshone were not dispossessed from their hunting grounds and continued substantially the same subsistence cycle.
5. The year 1840 saw the end of the fur trade and the beginning of westward emigration. As will be seen, the buffalo herds west of the Divide had disappeared by this date, and the Shoshone were increasingly forced to seek winter supplies on the Missouri waters.
6. The Shoshone signed treaties in 1868 in which they were forced to accept reservation life. At about this time, gold miners entered the Sweetwater country, and the transcontinental railroad was completed. The following decade saw the end of the buffalo in the west and the introduction of open-range cattle grazing. Shoshone history then became merged with the history of the American West.
During the periods of the fur trade and early emigration increasing amounts of information on Shoshonean and Mono-Bannock speakers became available. Political organization among these peoples was characteristically amorphous, and the early diarists and chroniclers had little basis for distinguishing subgroups in this vast region. With the exception of the Paiute-Shoshone split, language differences gave no firm basis for differentiation, and even this major division of the Uto-Aztecan stock was commonly not recognized. Accordingly, travelers classified the Indians of the region on the basis of their most obvious characteristic, whether or not they possessed horses and hunted buffalo. Alexander Ross observed (1924, pp. 239-240):
The great Snake nation may be divided into three divisions, namely, the Shirry-dikas, or dog-eaters; the War-are-ree-kas, or fish-eaters; and the Ban-at-tees, or robbers; but as a nation they all go by the general appellation of Sho-sho-nes, or Snakes. The word Sho-sho-nes means, in the Snake language, "inland." The Snakes, on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, are what the Sioux are on the east side—the most numerous and powerful in the country. The Shirry-dikas are the real Sho-sho-nes, and live in the plains, hunting the buffalo. They are generally slender, but tall, well-made, rich in horses, good warriors, well dressed, clean in their camps, and in their personal appearance bold and independent.
The War-are-ree-kas are very numerous, but neither united nor formidable. They live chiefly by fishing, and are to be found all along the rivers, lakes, and water-pools throughout the country. They are more corpulent, slovenly, and indolent than the Shirry-dikas. Badly armed and badly clothed, they seldom go to war. Dirty in their camp, in their dress, and in their persons, they differed so far in their general habits from the Shirry-dikas that they appeared as if they had been people belonging to another country. These are the defenceless wretches whom the Blackfeet and Piegans from beyond the mountains generally make war upon. These foreign mercenaries carry off the scalps and women of the defenseless War-are-ree-kas and the horses of the Shirry-dikas, but are never formidable nor bold enough to attack the latter in fair and open combat.
The Ban-at-tees, or mountain Snakes, live a predatory and wandering life in the recesses of the mountains, and are to be found in small bands or single wigwams among the caverns and rocks. They are looked upon by the real Sho-sho-nes themselves as outlaws, their hand against every man, and every man's hand against them. They live chiefly by plunder. Friends and foes are alike to them. They generally frequent the northern frontiers, and other mountainous parts of the country. In summer they go almost naked, but during winter they clothe themselves with the skins of rabbits, wolves, and other animals.
Ross's "Ban-at-tees" undoubtedly include the people now termed the Northern Paiute of Oregon; this seems confirmed by his placement of the western limits of the "Snakes" at the western end of the Blue Mountain Range in Oregon. The loose inclusion of the Oregon Northern Paiute as Snakes results in some obscurity in the early sources. They are frequently (and on valid linguistic grounds) lumped with the Bannock, as was done by Ross. It is noteworthy that contemporary Fort Hall informants still speak of the Oregon Paiute as Bannocks.
The distinction between mounted and unmounted peoples continues in Zenas Leonard's journal (1934, p. 80):
The Snake Indians, or as some call them, the Shoshonie, were once a powerful nation, possessing a glorious hunting ground on the east side of the [Rocky] mountains; but they, like the Flatheads, have been almost annihilated by the revengeful Blackfeet, who, being supplied with firearms, were enabled to defeat all Indian opposition. Their nation had been entirely broken up and scattered throughout all this wild region. The Shoshonies are a branch of the once powerful Snake tribe, as are also the more abject and forlorn tribe of Shuckers, or, more generally termed, Diggers and Root-eaters, who keep in the most retired recesses of the mountains and streams, subsisting on the most unwholesome food, and living the most like animals of any race of beings.
Russell also commented that half the Shoshone live in large villages and hunt buffalo, while the other half travel in small groups of two to ten families, have few horses, and live on roots, fish, seeds, and berries (Russell, 1955, p. 143). Wilkes follows this same dichotomy (1845, 4:471-472):