Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and SocietyMurphy, Robert F. (Robert Francis)
History
Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and Society
Murphy, Robert F. (Robert Francis)
Bannock Indians; Shoshoni Indians
It should be noted that information on the entry of Shoshone or
Bannock groups into the buffalo grounds of Montana occurs very early
in the historical period in the reports of Lewis and Clark, and also
very late in this period. It is true that there is little pertinent
historical data on southwestern Montana, but there is a distinct
possibility that the Shoshone and Bannock did not cross the Divide
annually. Buffalo were found on the upper Snake River prairie until
about 1840, and the presence of the Blackfoot in Montana made ventures
there risky. It is noteworthy that in the early reservation period the
Bannock crossed the Divide into the Big Horn drainage in company with
the Eastern Shoshone; the trip through Green River and thus to Wind
River was not by any means the shortest route to the buffalo country.
On the other hand, informants gave highly detailed information on the
trail to the Montana buffalo grounds and showed detailed traditional
knowledge of it. Without more continuous historical data such as is
available on transmontane hunting patterns in Wyoming, any question of
historical changes in hunting itineraries must remain open.
From Camas Prairie, contemporary informants say, the buffalo party
skirted the southern end of the Sawtooth Mountains and went up the
Little Lost River, crossing over to the Lemhi River. They then
traveled down the Lemhi and across the Divide via Lemhi Pass.
Descending the east side of the mountains, the buffalo party arrived
on the Beaverhead River at a point close to Armstead, Montana. They
then traveled down the Beaverhead past Twin Bridges to the point where
the Beaverhead becomes the Jefferson River and thence downstream to
the Three Forks of the Missouri. One informant said that the
Beaverhead Valley contained buffalo in earlier times, but by the
period preceding the treaty it was necessary to go much farther east.
From Three Forks, Montana, the buffalo route followed the present line
of U.S. Highway 10 through Bozeman and over Bozeman Pass. The party
pressed eastwards until it arrived in the country called Buffalo Heart
by the Bannock because a near-by mountain supposedly had the shape of
a buffalo heart; this was the fall and winter hunting grounds of the
Idaho Shoshone and Bannock. It was near the Yellowstone River between
Big Timber and Billings, Montana, though the migratory habits of
buffalo and buffalo hunters would dictate considerable movement within
the region.
The buffalo hunters remained to the west of the Bighorn River and,
presumably, they did not encroach too heavily upon the Crow. While the
Crow considered the Eastern Shoshone enemies, we have no information
on hostilities between them and the Idaho people. The Bannock actually
camped with the Crow in the late 1860's and early 1870's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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