Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE SHEEP EATERS OF YELLOWSTONE
During the early 18th century, the horse was introduced to many of the Native Amer-
ican tribes that frequented the Yellowstone area. With the acquisition of this new,
strong, and agile animal, they were able to spread out across the plains, travel-
ing farther and longer to follow the bison. Hunting and warfare became more effi-
cient almost overnight. A small group of Shoshone chose not to use horses or guns,
however, and instead remained committed to their traditional mountain living.
The Sheep Eaters, also known as the Tukudika, were forest dwellers considered
to be the only Native Americans to have inhabited Yellowstone year-round. They
lived in
wikiups
—temporary shelters made of aspen poles, pine bows, and other
brush—rather than animal-hide tipis, and they traveled the mountain ridges rather
than the river paths as their counterparts on the plains did. Living in small bands of
10-20 people, they relied on their wolf dogs to help them move provisions up and
down the mountains. They were named for the animal whose migration they fol-
lowed: the bighorn sheep. The Sheep Eaters developed highly effective sheep traps,
the remains of which can be seen around Dubois, Wyoming, and they utilized the
animal for both food and tools. They heated the sheep's horns in the hot springs of
Yellowstone to mold them into exquisite and strong bows, powerful enough to drive
an arrow through a bison. The reputation of these bows spread to other tribes and
were highly sought-after. The European outsiders who made their way into the park
during the early and mid-1800s described the Sheep Eaters as destitute and forlorn,
not owning nor seeming to want the modern trappings of the Plains Indians. Con-
temporary views suggest that these people revered their environment and ancestors'
way of life and were more intent on maintaining their customs than competing and
conquering.
Unfortunately, their traditions did not allow the Sheep Eaters to escape the same
ultimate fate as other Native Americans. Devastated by smallpox and considered an
obstacle to westward expansion, the Sheep Eaters fought the U.S. Army in the last
Indian war in the Pacific Northwest. Unfairly accused of murdering five Chinese
miners, the last remaining Sheep Eaters, a group of 51 people that included woman
and children, were relentlessly pursued in the Idaho wilderness along the Middle
Fork of the Salmon River in the fall of 1879. When the Army purportedly captured
a woman who had just given birth, the remaining members of the tribe surrendered,
