This important family occupied a large part of the great interior basin
of the United States. Upon the north Shoshonean tribes extended far into
Oregon, meeting Shahaptian territory on about the forty-fourth parallel
or along the Blue Mountains. Upon the northeast the eastern limits of
the pristine habitat of the Shoshonean tribes are unknown. The narrative
of Lewis and Clarke[79] contains the explicit statement that the
Shoshoni bands encountered upon the Jefferson River, whose summer home
was upon the head waters of the Columbia, formerly lived within their
own recollection in the plains to the east of the Rocky Mountains,
whence they were driven to their mountain retreats by the Minnetaree
(Atsina), who had obtained firearms. Their former habitat thus given is
indicated upon the map, although the eastern limit is of course quite
indeterminate. Very likely much of the area occupied by the Atsina was
formerly Shoshonean territory. Later a division of the Bannock held the
finest portion of southwestern Montana,[80] whence apparently they were
being pushed westward across the mountains by Blackfeet.[81] Upon the
east the Tukuarika or Sheepeaters held the Yellowstone Park country,
where they were bordered by Siouan territory, while the Washaki occupied
southwestern Wyoming. Nearly the entire mountainous part of Colorado was
held by the several bands of the Ute, the eastern and southeastern parts
of the State being held respectively by the Arapaho and Cheyenne
(Algonquian), and the Kaiowe (Kiowan). To the southeast the Ute country
included the northern drainage of the San Juan, extending farther east a
short distance into New Mexico. The Comanche division of the family
extended farther east than any other. According to Crow tradition the
Comanche formerly lived northward in the Snake River region. Omaha
tradition avers that the Comanche were on the Middle Loup River,
probably within the present century. Bourgemont found a Comanche tribe
on the upper Kansas River in 1724.[82] According to Pike the Comanche
territory bordered the Kaiowe on the north, the former occupying the
head waters of the upper Red River, Arkansas, and Rio Grande.[83] How
far to the southward Shoshonean tribes extended at this early period is
not known, though the evidence tends to show that they raided far down
into Texas to the territory they have occupied in more recent years,
viz, the extensive plains from the Rocky Mountains eastward into Indian
Territory and Texas to about 97°. Upon the south Shoshonean territory
was limited generally by the Colorado River. The Chemehuevi lived on
both banks of the river between the Mohave on the north and the Cuchan
on the south, above and below Bill Williams Fork.[84] The Kwaiantikwoket
also lived to the east of the river in Arizona about Navajo Mountain,
while the Tusayan (Moki) had established their seven pueblos, including
one founded by people of Tañoan stock, to the east of the Colorado
Chiquito. In the southwest Shoshonean tribes had pushed across
California, occupying a wide band of country to the Pacific. In their
extension northward they had reached as far as Tulare Lake, from which
territory apparently they had dispossessed the Mariposan tribes, leaving
a small remnant of that linguistic family near Fort Tejon.[85]
[Footnote 79: Allen ed., Philadelphia, 1814, vol. 1, p. 418.]
[Footnote 80: U.S. Ind. Aff., 1869, p. 289.]
[Footnote 81: Stevens in Pac. R. R. Rep., 1855, vol. 1, p. 329.]
[Footnote 82: Lewis and Clarke, Allen ed., 1814, vol. 1, p. 34.]
[Footnote 83: Pike, Expl. to sources of the Miss., app. pt. 3, 16,
1810.]
[Footnote 84: Ives, Colorado River, 1861, p. 54.]
[Footnote 85: Powers in Cont. N.A. Eth., 1877, vol. 3, p. 369.]
A little farther north they had crossed the Sierras and occupied the
heads of San Joaquin and Kings Rivers. Northward they occupied nearly
the whole of Nevada, being limited on the west by the Sierra Nevada. The
entire southeastern part of Oregon was occupied by tribes of Shoshoni
extraction.