The following division of the Shoshone-Bannock population of Idaho
into six main groups is admittedly arbitrary, although to a certain
extent the sectors conform to actual sociopolitical groups or to
populations designated by certain characteristics recognized by the
Indians themselves. Proceeding from west to east, these are: (1) the
population of the Boise and Weiser River valleys; (2) the Shoshone
Indians of the middle course of the Snake River between Glenn's Ferry
and Shoshone Falls and in the interior on both sides of the river; (3)
the Shoshone of the Sawtooth Mountains, west of the Lemhi River,
Idaho; (4) the population of Bannock Creek, Idaho, and south therefrom
to Bear River; (5) the Shoshone and Bannock of the Fort Hall plains on
the upper Snake River; and (6) the Shoshone Indians of the Lemhi
River.
It will be seen that the Shoshone population of Idaho was by no means
a unitary one, either socially or culturally. The people of these six
areas were not politically interrelated, nor were the populations of
each area integrated social or political units, although the Fort Hall
and Lemhi River people were more highly organized than those of other
areas. On the contrary, the Indians subsumed under each of the six
divisions primarily consist of people who lived under similar
ecological conditions and dwelt in geographical contiguity. Some
shared roughly the same nomadic pattern and united upon occasion for
diverse reasons. The populations represented by our sixfold division
interacted more frequently for economic, social, and religious
purposes with people within the area than they did with those from
other areas.
Although strong patterns of leadership and a tightly nucleated society
were alien to the Shoshone in general, the Shoshone gave verbal
recognition to the more frequent interaction that existed between
neighboring families or camp groups, especially when such
neighborhoods were geographically discontinuous with other
neighborhoods. Also, differences in food resources and habits of
peoples of certain demarcated ecological provinces apparently
impressed other Shoshone as significant criteria by which the people
of these neighborhoods could be named. This is the only logical
explanation for the common pattern among Northern Paiute and Shoshone
of the Great Basin of food names applied to the people of certain
neighborhoods. Thus we have "Wada Seed Eaters," "Salmon Eaters," etc.
In fact, it was quite common for the populations so designated to call
themselves by these names, although this was not always so. In any
event, it would be erroneous to say that such appellations implied
membership in any social group, whether defined by united political
leadership or by kinship. That individual families subsumed under some
name, usually derived from food habits, tended to act more frequently
together than with more distant neighbors cannot be denied, nor can we
ignore the fact that common environment tended to induce a
common subsistence pattern. That such groups were organized,
territory-holding units cannot be simply assumed without supporting
evidence, and this evidence is lacking. This view is shared by
Steward, who summarizes the political significance of the food names
in the following passage (Steward, 1939, p. 262):
The emphasis, I think, is clearly upon the territory rather
than upon any unified group of people occupying it. The extent
of the people so designated depended upon the extent of the
geographical feature or food in question. A name might apply to
a single village, a valley, or a number of valleys. Some Snake
River Shoshone vaguely called all Nevada Shoshone Pine Nut
Eaters, the pinyon nut not occurring in Idaho. Furthermore,
several names might be used for the same people. This system of
nomenclature served in a crude way to identify people by their
habitat. Upon moving to new localities, they acquired new
names.
In general, the remarks above apply to our Boise-Weiser, Bannock
Creek, middle Snake River, and Sawtooth Mountains populations and to
the Shoshone of Nevada. The Indians of the Fort Hall plains and the
Lemhi River were somewhat different. Both had horses at a relatively
early period, were involved in frequent wars, and pursued the buffalo.
These factors tended to promote a somewhat different sociopolitical
organization than we find farther west. Band organization, however
fluid and shifting, did exist in the Fort Hall and Lemhi areas.
Finally, it should be remembered that the Indians of our six regions
frequently wandered far from the areas designated. The areas, then,
were centers of gravity in a migratory life. They were areas where
subsistence was commonly obtained by the populations in question and,
more important, where winter, the most sedentary season of the year,
was passed.