Chief Washakie and his people were Native Americans. They were part of the Shoshone tribe. Their tribe moved around and traveled as far south as Salt Lake City.
In Salk Lake they sold their robes, buckskins, and furs. They also went up around Bear Lake and into Idaho and Montana. The Shoshones usually moved around in smaller parties. They did this for a number of reasons. In smaller parties they could find better grass. Better grass was needed for their horses. It made the hunting better too. Moving around helped in finding good wood. They needed the wood for their fires. And, with smaller groups, they could ‘make better time.’ The Shoshone would stay in a place for awhile and then move on. Shoshone tribes adapted to the places they lived. They adapted to the environment they lived in.
Chief Washakie and the Shoshone
Click or tap on each detail to see the examples.
Washakie was a peaceful Leader. He wanted to have peace with the whites and other tribes. Pocatello was another Shoshone chief. He and his tribe wanted constant war with the whites. Washakie wanted peace. Pocatello tried to talk Washakie out of being peaceful.
Unlike the Shoshone, the Crows were warlike. They would kill groups of Shoshone and steal their horses.
They caught the white-tailed deer by snaring them. The Shoshones would make rawhide hoops. They would then hang them along the trails in the willows.
Some of the work of the squaws, or women, was to carry wood and water.
Shoshone Indians acted as guides for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Shoshone Weapons
Chief Washakie once said to one of his sons, “. . . Keep away from the road where the white men travel, and have nothing to do with them; for they have crooked tongues; No one can believe what they say.”
There are more interesting things to know about the weapons the Shoshone used.
Arrows:
It was quite a process to make arrows. They took time to make, and there were a number of steps to make them. Shoshone Indians used limbs of service-berry bushes. They dried the wood for the arrows for a year. Then the cured wood was drawn through a hole in an antelope horn. This made the arrows straight. Next they would crease the shaft and feather them. Steel spikes or flint heads were put on at the tips. For long-distance shooting, arrow shafts were made heavier than the tips. For the close-range shooting the tips were made heavier. The heavier tips bring the arrow tips down more quickly.
Bows:
Most Shoshone bows were made from the wood of white cedar and strung with sinews. Some bows were made of mountain sheep horns. These bows would sometimes be thrown into hot springs to make them easier to bend. Balsam gum was used to fasten the string to the shaft. It worked like strong glue.
Spears:
Spears were made of pine tree shafts with steel spikes. The spikes were about four inches long. They could be removed from the shaft, sharpened, and used as knives. Spear heads were kept in buckskin scabbards or covers.
The Shoshones traded with the whites for knives, tomahawks, and guns.
The White Indian Boy, Elijah Nicholas Wilson and Howard R. Driggs;
-Painted faces to look fierce- p. 91
-Killing of buffalo with spear- p. 22
-Preparing meat- Drying and storing in bags
-Goshutes were run off out of other tribes.
-Shoshone tribes met all together once every three years.
-Shoshone region- Salt Lake to Montana, Southern California to Wyoming; Goshutes found roots and nuts and even ate horses. (Food was scarce for them.) They became known as good runners because they had eaten some of their horses.
-Nick Wilson describes the Shoshone clothes he wore when he returned from living with the Indians for two years.- p. 119
-Tribes fought over hunting grounds- p. 89
-Travels; Washakie- peaceful minded; Catching white-tailed deer, p. 35
-Duties of squaws; Sweat houses, pp. 69-78
-Weapons, p. 105
-Arrows, bows, and spears; Shoshone guides for Lewis and Clark Expedition; Quote to avoid roads where white men travel; How to make bow, arrow, and spear
http://www.ushistory.org/us/1.asp;
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/interview/tcrr-interview/ (Buffalo and Native Americans);
http://native-american-indian-facts.com/index.shtml;
“A Healing Ground” by John Devilbiss, UtahState Magazine, Winter 2021 (Notes)
Image Credits
Washakie: Shoshone Chief Washakie by the Architect of the Capitol- Wikimedia Commons;
Tepees 2 by Pearson-Scott-Foresman- Wikimedia Commons;
Arrow 2 by Pearson Scott Forseman- Wikimedia Commons;
Bow and Arrow by Pauthonic- Openclipart.org;
Deer 2 by Pearson Scott Foresman- Wikimedia Commons;
Indian weapons- Quiver of arrows, bow and arrow, and hatchet Colonial Massachusetts by Sarah E Dawes
On a cold winter day (January 29 of 1863) some 500 Shoshone tribe members were spending the winter at the Bear River bottomlands not far from present-day Preston, Idaho. They called the spot Mo-so-da Kahni, Home of the Lungs. The Shoshone were peacefully settled in that morning.
Not far away Col. Patrick E. Connor and his 220 cavalry soldiers were on the move. They were headed for the Shoshone encampment. That day the largest massacre of Native Americans in the Western United States took place. Some 400 Shoshone were killed that day.
In 2018, the Shoshone purchased 550 acres to honor their ancestors and provide a place to remember those who were cut down.
In Salk Lake they sold their robes, buckskins, and furs. They also went up around Bear Lake and into Idaho and Montana. The Shoshones usually moved around in smaller parties. They did this for a number of reasons. In smaller parties they could find better grass. Better grass was needed for their horses. It made the hunting better too. Moving around helped in finding good wood. They needed the wood for their fires. And, with smaller groups, they could ‘make better time.’ The Shoshone would stay in a place for awhile and then move on. Shoshone tribes adapted to the places they lived. They adapted to the environment they lived in. 
