Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHIEF WASHAKIE AND THE SHOSHONE
The Shoshone Indians have inhabited the United States for thousands of years.
Their language is one of the Uto-Aztecan languages spoken by indigenous people
throughout the western United States, extending through Mexico and into South
America. Also known as the Snake Indians by early European traders and explorers,
they were one of the first tribes to acquire horses from the Spanish. On horseback
they spread out to cover much of Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and Colorado. The tribe
that occupied most of western Wyoming was known as the Eastern Shoshone, and
their most famous leader was Chief Washakie.
Born around the turn of the 19th century to a Flathead (Salish) father and a Shos-
hone (Lemhi) mother, Washakie lived through the most tumultuous century for Nat-
ive Americans. At an early age his father was killed during a Blackfeet raid, and
he and his mother left to live with the Lemhi people in Idaho. During his adoles-
cence, Washakie joined a nomadic band of Bannocks, and eventually settled with the
Shoshone who called the Green River Basin in southwest Wyoming their home. Dur-
ing the early 1820s Washakie met and befriended a young Jim Bridger, who would
later become a celebrated explorer and mountain man. Together they hunted, trapped,
and traded. Their friendship was so great that one of Washakie's daughters became
Bridger's third wife. Although trading and trapping ingratiated him with the white
settlers and explorers, Washakie also earned the respect of his fellow Indians as a
skilled warrior by participating in numerous raids.
By the mid-1800s, before Washakie became a chief, he was already an influential
leader, having forged a much-needed alliance between the Shoshone and the
Europeans. During the 1840s, the Shoshone actively traded with travelers and set-
tlers. There are even stories of the Eastern Shoshone helping pioneers traverse diffi-
cult streams and round up stray cattle as they crossed through Wyoming.
The skills Washakie acquired through his friendship with Bridger and other
traders and trappers served him well as a leader. He was able to negotiate ardently for
the best interests of his people, getting them much-needed supplies, tools, and food.
At one point, younger warriors questioned his leadership. In response, Washakie left
camp and headed east, only to return a week later with seven Sioux scalps, challen-
ging anyone who questioned him to match the feat.
