Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and SocietyMurphy, Robert F. (Robert Francis)
History
Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and Society
Murphy, Robert F. (Robert Francis)
Bannock Indians; Shoshoni Indians
Among the Shoshone of the Fort Hall region, leadership was more
clearly a function of interaction with the whites. One man was said to
have become chief "because he helped the whites." Two chiefs were
reported, Aidamo and Aramun; the bands of both roamed through
southeastern Idaho and into northern Utah. These Shoshone were called
by the Bannock, "Winakwat," or "Wihinait" in Shoshone. The name
evidently did not refer to a single band but designated all
Shoshone-speaking people of the immediate area. I could find no
confirmation of Hoebel's Elk Eaters, Groundhog Eaters, and Minnow
Eaters, all of whom were said to live in the area roamed over by the
various Fort Hall Shoshone and Bannock groups (Hoebel, 1938, pp.
410-413).
In the Fort Hall area, as in the rest of Idaho, winter habitat
supplies the only stable criterion for identifying the several groups
or populations. The Bannock customarily wintered on the Snake River
bottoms above Idaho Falls and at the mouth of Henry's Fork near
Rexburg, Idaho. They also wintered downstream in the vicinity of the
modern town of Blackfoot, Idaho; historical sources mention Bannock
winter camps at the mouth of the Portneuf River. The Snake
River--Henry's Fork sites were favored because of the abundance of the
mule-tailed deer, which came into the bottomlands in the winter.
Another source of subsistence in winter was cottontail rabbits, which
were caught among the willows in the bottoms with a noose snare or by
surrounding them and killing them with the bow and arrow.
The main winter subsistence, and the food source that provided the
margin of survival, was the dried meat of buffalo, elk, and deer taken
in the fall hunts, supplemented by dried roots and berries. Food
caches were maintained near camp, but they were generally resorted to
only in the spring, when the dried food kept in the lodges was
exhausted. The location of the cache was known only to the family that
made it. Caches and their contents were considered private property.
Dried roots, berries, and salmon were generally kept in the
underground caches, but not meat.
Bannock winter camps were spread out along the river; there was no
central encampment. The population was predominantly Bannock, although
many Shoshone lived among them either through in-marriage or by
choice.
Not all of the Bannock wintered on the Snake River. Those who crossed
the divide for buffalo frequently did not return in time to cross the
mountains before the snows blocked the high passes and so generally
wintered in western Montana, not joining the rest until spring.
The Wihinait, or Shoshone of the Fort Hall area, were said to have
wintered apart from the Bannock on the Portneuf River. Winter camps
ranged along the Portneuf between Pocatello and McCammon, and other
places as far south as Malade City, Idaho, were sometimes occupied.
Here, too, the population lived off stored food and whatever game
could be taken.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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