The region of the Boise, Payette, and Weiser rivers and the near-by
shores of the Snake River are of considerable importance because of
the contiguity of Shoshone and Northern Paiute populations in this
area. We will present the historical data pertinent to an
understanding of the mode and extent of Shoshone ecology there and
will then give the material gathered through recent ethnographic
investigation.
Our earliest information on this region comes from the Stuart diary of
the Astoria party. Stuart wrote of the Boise River (1935, p. 83):
... the most renowned Fishing place in this Country. It is
consequently the resort of the majority of the Snakes, where
immense numbers of Salmon are taken.
The Hunt party arrived at the Boise River on November 21, 1811, and
met well-clad and mounted Indians there (ibid., p. 295). One week
later, the party came to Mann's Creek, a tributary of the Weiser
River, and there found "some huts of Chochonis" (p. 296):
They had just killed two young horses to eat. It is their only
food except for the seed of a plant which resembles hemp and
which they pound very fine.
In the mountains between Mann's Creek and the Snake River some dozen
huts of "Chochonies" were encountered (p. 299); the journals use Snake
and "Chochoni" or "Shoshonie" interchangeably.
The 1818-19 journals of Alexander Ross gave considerable
attention to hostilities between the "Snakes" and the Sahaptin
("Shaw-ha-ap-tens")-speaking peoples (Ross, 1924, pp. 171, 210, 214).
Part of this action took place in southwestern Idaho. Ross attempted
to arrange peace between the hostile populations and wrote of a
council held there under the chiefs "Pee-eye-em" and "Ama-qui-em" and
participated in by the "Shirry-dikas," "War-are-ree-kas," and
"Ban-at-tees" (p. 243). The two chiefs, said by Ross to be brothers,
were previously mentioned as the "principal chiefs" of "the great
Snake nation" (p. 238). They belonged to the people called
"Shirry-dika," a buffalo-hunting population, for Ross spoke of the
acquiescence of "Ama-ketsa," a chief of the "War-are-ree-kas"
(fish-eaters, according to Ross), in the maintenance of peace and the
cowing of the "Ban-at-tees" by the two leaders (p. 246). Ross
represents the Shoshone as having a very large population; those at
the peace conference were said to have stretched their camps along
both sides of a stream for a distance of seven miles. The
"Shirry-dikas" are depicted as the most powerful, and the
"War-are-ree-kas," though numerous, are said to lack power and unity.
The "Ban-at-tees, or Mountain Snakes" are described as a fragmented
population, living in the mountain fastnesses and preying upon the
trappers. This seems to characterize the Northern Paiute of Oregon
more accurately than the mounted buffalo-hunting Bannock of
southeastern Idaho.
The journal of John Work in June, 1832, mentioned (Work, 1923, pp.
165-167) "Snake" Indians on the Payette River, immediately below the
mouth of Big Willow Creek; on Little Willow Creek; on the Weiser
River; and on the east bank of the Snake River, between the mouths of
the Payette and the Weiser. Work used the term Snake in a broad sense
and we cannot identify this population as Shoshone with certainty. The
Indians had horses, and may thus have been a buffalo-hunting group
that had traveled west for salmon. Nathaniel Wyeth entered one of the
western Idaho valleys in October of the same year and observed
"extensive camps of Indians about one month old. Here they find salmon
in a creek running through it and dig the Kamas root but not an Indian
was here at this time" (Wyeth, 1899, p. 172). Wyeth was on the Boise
River in August, 1834, and encountered "a small village of Snakes."
His party proceeded on to the Snake River where they found "a few
lodges of very impudent Pawnacks" (p. 229). "Bannock" Indians were
also encountered on the Boise River in 1833 by Bonneville's party
(Irving, 1837, 2:38) and in the following year his journals noted that
"formidable bands of the Banneck Indians were lying on the Boisee and
Payette Rivers" (p. 194). The Bannock, or the Indians so termed by our
sources, evidently lived near the confluence of these streams with the
Snake River, for John Townsend, a young naturalist who joined Wyeth's
party, reported several groups of about twenty Indians fishing in the
Boise River each of which identified itself as Shoshone (Townsend,
1905, pp. 206-207). Farther down the Boise River the party "came to a
village consisting of thirty willow lodges of the Pawnees (Bannocks)"
(p. 210). The Shoshone and the Mono-Bannock speakers did not maintain
complete separateness, however, for Townsend wrote (1905, p. 266) that
the party met some ten lodges of "Snakes and Bannecks" on the west
side of the Snake River, near Burnt River.
The identity of the above-mentioned Bannock is somewhat doubtful.
Farnham met a number of Shoshone Indians engaged in fishing the Boise
River in September, 1839 (Farnham, 1843, pp. 75-76). Some thirty
traveling miles downstream from Boise, however, he noted in apparent
contradiction of Townsend, that there were no more "Shoshonie," for
"they dare not pass the boundary line between themselves and the
Bonacks." The Bannock are described as a "fierce, warlike, and
athletic tribe inhabiting that part of Saptin or Snake River which
lies between the mouth of Boisais or Reed's River and the Blue
Mountains." The question arises whether the Bannock mentioned in the
sources were the buffalo-hunting Mono-Bannock speakers who regularly
inhabited the upper Snake River or whether they followed the fishing
and seed-collecting pattern of the Mono-Bannock speakers of Oregon.
Townsend's report of their use of willow lodges suggests that they
were Mono-Bannock, but Farnham observed that the Bannock found on the
Snake River made war on the Crow and Blackfoot (p. 76). This would
definitely suggest life during part of the year in southeastern Idaho
and, also, the pursuit of the buffalo. Later historical data and the
testimony of contemporary informants suggest that both the Oregon and
eastern Idaho populations of Mono-Bannock speakers fished on the Snake
River and in the lower reaches of the Boise and Weiser rivers. There
was no clear boundary between the Shoshone and the Oregon people
termed Northern Paiute, and the mounted buffalo-hunting Bannock also
visited western Idaho to fish for salmon. It is thus doubtful whether
the ambiguities of the historical sources will ever be resolved.
The subsequent historical references to the native population of this
region cover the outbreak of hostilities against the white emigrants
on the Oregon Trail and the subsequent attempts to establish peace
with the Indians and place them on reservations. In 1862 Special
Indian Agent Kirkpatrick surveyed the southwestern Idaho Indians and
reported: "The Winnas band of Snakes inhabit the country north of
Snake river, and are found principally on the Bayette, Boise and
Sickley Rivers" (Kirkpatrick, 1863, p. 412). He reported them as
warlike and numbering some 700 to 800 people. Kirkpatrick's "Winnas
band" probably corresponds to the designation of the "Wihinasht" in
the Handbook of American Indians; these are said to be "a division of
Shoshoni, formerly in western Idaho, north of Snake River and in the
vicinity of Boise City" (Hodge, 1910, 2:951). During our field work,
we found that the term "Wihinait" was often applied generically to the
Shoshone population of Fort Hall Reservation.
In later years, other bands are reported in southwestern Idaho.
Governor Caleb Lyon made a treaty with "San-to-me-co and the headmen
of the Boise Shoshonees" on October 10, 1864 (Lyon, 1866, p. 418) and
in the following year placed some 115 "Boise Shoshone" at Fort Boise
(Lyon, 1867, p. 187). Special Indian Agent Hough mentioned Boise,
Bruneau, and Kammas bands of Shoshone in 1866 and commented: "The
Bruneau and Boise are so intermarried that they are in fact all one
people and are closely connected by blood, visiting each other as
frequently as they dare pass over the country" (Hough, 1867, p. 189).
Governor Ballard, in the same year, reported that the "Boise
Shoshones" numbered 200; insecurity due to Indian-white hostilities
kept them from camas-root digging during the summer (Ballard, 1867, p.
190). In 1867 many Shoshone of the Boise and Bruneau rivers and a
group of Bannock were placed temporarily on the Boise River, some
thirty miles upstream from Boise (Powell, 1868, p. 252). The Bannock
were said to have been under the leadership of a chief named "Bannock
John"; the report, dated July 31, 1867, also mentioned that these
Bannock engaged in salmon fishing in the Boise River and camas
collection on Camas Prairie during the summer, but intended to go east
for the buffalo hunt in the fall. That the above Bannock were mounted
buffalo hunters rather than Oregon Paiute seems manifest from this
statement. This was not the only Bannock band, however, for on July
15, 1867, Agent Mann of Fort Bridger, Wyoming, reported a conversation
with "Tahjee, the chief of the Bannacks" in which he learned that
"there does exist a very large band of Bannacks, numbering more than
100 lodges" (Mann, 1868, p. 189). Mann stated that 50 lodges of these
Indians were present that year. This and other references to the
diverse, but simultaneous, locations of the Bannock suggest that they
were not a unitary political entity.
References to the Bannock and to the Shoshone on the Boise and Bruneau
rivers continue during the next two years. Powell gave their numbers
in 1868 as 100, 283, and 300, respectively, and stated (C. F. Powell,
1869, p. 662):
... [the Bannock] remained under my charge for several months,
when they were permitted to go on their regular buffalo hunt,
their country ranging through eastern Idaho and Montana. When
through their hunt they return to the Boise and Bruneau camp;
they and the Boise and Bruneau are on the best of terms, all
being more or less intermarried.
Ballard reported that on August 26, 1867, a treaty was signed by
Tygee, Peter, To-so-copy-natey, Pah Vissigin, McKay, and Jim, in which
the Bannock agreed to settle on Fort Hall (Ballard, 1869, p. 658); the
Bannock and also the Bruneau and Boise Shoshone were removed from the
Boise Valley on December 2, 1868, and brought to Fort Hall (C. F.
Powell, 1870, p. 728). They were joined there by 500 Bannock under
Tygee, who had just returned from a joint buffalo hunt with the
Eastern Shoshone in Wind River Valley (p. 729). Indian Agent Danilson
of Fort Hall wrote that in 1869 there were 600 Bannock, 200 Boise
Shoshone, 100 Bruneau Shoshone, and 200 Western Shoshone on the
reservation (Danilson, 1870, p. 729). The beginning of the reservation
period marks the effective end of the independent occupancy of the
Idaho area by the Shoshone and Bannock. The rest of this section deals
with ethnographic data. In regard to extent of Shoshone settlement,
Omer Stewart has reported that eastern Oregon, about the mouths of the
Malheur and Owyhee rivers, and southwest Idaho as far east as a line
well past Boise, were the territory of a Northern Paiute band called
the Koa'agaitoka (Stewart, 1939, p. 133). Blythe places a Northern
Paiute band called "Yapa Eaters" in the Boise River Valley (Blythe,
1938, p. 396) and mentions data given by one informant to the effect
that a mixed band of Paiute and Shoshone called "People Eaters" lived
to the north of the Yapa Eaters (p. 404). Neither historical research
nor ethnographic investigation among the Shoshone confirms the
existence of such bands in the area described. On the contrary,
Steward writes (1938, p. 172):
Shoshone seem to have extended westward about to the Snake
River which forms the boundary between Idaho and Oregon. They
also occupied the Boise River Valley and probably to some
extent the valleys of the Payette and Weiser Rivers. They
probably never penetrated Oregon beyond the Blue Mountains.
But the area nearer the Snake River was not occupied exclusively by
Shoshone, for Steward continues (ibid.):
This population was neither well defined politically nor
territorially. It was scattered in small independent villages
of varying prosperity and tribal composition. Along the lower
Snake, Boise, and Payette Rivers Shoshone were intermixed with
Northern Paiute who extended westward through the greater
portion of southern and eastern Oregon. Slightly to the north
they were probably mixed somewhat with their Nez Perce
neighbors.
Our own field work, as presented below, tends to confirm Steward's
data on most points and is in accord with historical information.
Although there were salmon-yielding streams in Oregon, the Boise and
Weiser rivers were richer in these fish, and salmon could be caught on
the Boise River upstream to its headwaters. During the spring and fall
salmon runs, many Northern Paiute evidently crossed the Snake River
and fished in the Boise and Weiser. Relations seem to have been
friendly, and there was considerable intermarriage. Many Paiute
evidently wintered in this area and could therefore be said to be as
regular residents as the Shoshone. They maintained separate winter
villages and tended to remain along the downstream stretches of the
Boise and Weiser rivers. Informants disagreed on the extent of this
interpenetration. Some characterized the population, especially of the
Weiser Valley, as "mixed," while others said that only a very few
Northern Paiute remained through the winter. More reliable and older
informants characterized the population as mostly Shoshone. One old
woman, a present resident of Duck Valley Reservation, identified
herself as a Northern Paiute from the Weiser country. Her
conversation, however, immediately revealed that she was actually
speaking in the Shoshone language and that this was her first
language. This attempted deception is partially explained by the
somewhat greater prestige enjoyed by the Northern Paiute on that
reservation.
As has been mentioned, the composition of the population of this
region is further confused by the fact that some camp groups of
Bannock passed by the more commonly used fishing sites below Shoshone
Falls and fished on the Boise and Weiser rivers. An added inducement
to the Bannock was the possibility of trade with the Nez Perce Indians
in the upper valley of the Weiser River. The Bannock did not stay long
in the area, however, and never wintered there.
The Boise-Weiser country is relatively rich. The streams gave a good
yield of fish, roots abounded in the valleys, and game was found in
the near-by mountains. The floors of the valleys are well below 3,000
feet, and winters are comparatively mild. Although the Shoshone
residents of the area wandered far on occasion, a full subsistence
could be obtained within the immediate area. Stretches of mountainous
and barren lands tended to mark off this population from other
Shoshone to the east. The testimony of informants is somewhat
contradictory to Steward's statement (1938, p. 172) that the
Boise-Weiser Shoshone "imperceptibly merged with the Agaidueka of the
Snake River and the Tukadueka of the mountains to the north." It is
true that there were no concepts of territorial boundaries and that
the above-mentioned populations interacted, interchanged, and
interpenetrated, but the locus of movement of each of the above three
populations, especially their wintering places, did differ.
While Steward reports that the rubric "Yahandueka," or "Groundhog
Eaters," was applied to the residents of the Boise-Weiser areas, we
were unable to obtain this name. Yahandika was variously reported by
Fort Hall informants as referring to a district in Nevada; by others
as applied to certain Oregon Northern Paiute. Another informant said
that it was an alternate term for the Shoshone of the middle Snake
River, who are more generally called "Summer Salmon Eaters." The
latter, stated this informant, had very close relations with the Boise
population. All of the informants were probably right in a sense; only
the uncertainty of these appellations is indicated.
Steward obtained "Su:woki" as the name of the Boise-Weiser country. My
informants applied this name to the people of the region also, who
were called "Soehuwawki," or "Row of Willows." The place name had
evidently been transferred to the people or, more accurately, the
place name was applied to whatever people used the locale. The name
was especially used to denote the people and country of the Weiser
River, although one informant thought the name covered the Boise
people also. Another name given to the Weiser Shoshone was
"Woviagaidika," or "Driftwood Salmon Eaters." This name is derived
from the salmon's habit of lying under the driftwood in small streams.
Only one informant reported a name for the dwellers of the Boise
Valley, "Pa avi."
Informants sometimes spoke of the Boise-Weiser Shoshone as being "just
one bunch." Certainly the populations of this section of Idaho merged,
shifted, and interacted to such an extent that it would be difficult
to distinguish them, although "one bunch," two chiefs, Captain Jim and
Eagle Eye, were reported for the area. The former was said to be
chief of those who usually wintered in the vicinity of Boise; the
latter was chief of the winter residents of the Weiser valley. No
clear delineation of the functions of these chiefs could be obtained.
The actual nature of Boise-Weiser Shoshone society can be understood
better from their subsistence patterns. Winter was spent in small
camps scattered along the valleys of the streams. There was little
danger from hostile intruders, and camp grounds were not the larger
population nuclei that we find in the Fort Hall area. Favorite winter
camp sites were at the present site of the city of Boise, near
present-day Emmett on the Payette River, and on the lower Weiser
River, near the mouth of Crane Creek. Some families were said to have
wintered on both sides of the near-by Snake River. While it was common
for the same families to form winter camp groups, there was
considerable shifting and changing each year, dictated by personal
preference. Also, it was not necessary for the camps to spend every
winter in the same place, and changes occurred constantly.
Winter was spent by their caches of roots and salmon; the dried and
jerked game meat was said to have been kept in the lodge. The common
type of winter dwelling was a sort of tipi made of rye grass. Stored
food supplied the main subsistence during the winter, but sagehens,
blue grouse, and snowshoe rabbits were also taken. Antelope were
chased on horses (probably by the surround method), and deer
frequently came down from the mountains and were killed while
floundering in deep snow.
Springtime brought no extensive migrations. Some roots were available
in the area, but the chief source of springtime subsistence was the
salmon run, which began in approximately March or April. A second run
followed immediately upon the first and continued until the end of
spring. Fish traps were made on the Payette River, in the vicinity of
Long Valley, and on the lower Weiser River. Salmon were also taken in
the Boise River. According to informants, the people of this area did
not resort to the great salmon fisheries in the vicinity of Glenn's
Ferry and upstream to Shoshone Falls. The abundance of fish in local
waters made this unnecessary. Although the population divided and went
to various fishing sites, the salmon runs were periods during which
stable residence in small villages was possible.
At the end of spring and in early summer, many of the Indians of the
Boise-Weiser country traveled to Camas Prairie, where roots of various
kinds were dug. These people stayed there through part of the summer,
and during this time roots were collected and dried. This was also a
time of dances and festivities, for a large part of the Shoshone and
Bannock population of Idaho, plus a sprinkling of the Nez Perce and
Flathead, resorted at the same time to these root grounds. These were
probably the largest gatherings of people among all the Shoshone.
There was no large, single encampment, but families and camp groups
were in such close contiguity that social interaction was intense.
At the conclusion of the root-collecting season at Camas Prairie, the
inhabitants of the Boise and Weiser region wandered back to their
customary area and set out upon their late summer and fall activities.
Fish were taken during the fall run and dried for winter provisions,
but the chief activity was hunting. Both hunting and fishing could be
pursued at the same time in the upper waters of the Boise and Payette
rivers, although salmon did not ascend far up the Weiser. Hunting was
done by small camp groups of 3 to 4 lodges, and the population
scattered throughout the mountain country surrounding the river
valleys. The principal game taken was deer, elk, bear, and some
bighorn sheep. None required the collective efforts of a large number
of men, and all were found throughout the mountain area. The small
camp group was, therefore, the most effective social unit for the fall
hunt, as it was for the summer wanderings of the Wyoming Shoshone.
The hunters ranged up the Boise and Payette valleys into the Sawtooth
Mountains as far as the beginnings of the Salmon River watershed.
Though the Salmon River country was entered, the hunting parties did
not penetrate very far. A favored hunting territory was in the Stanley
Basin, at the headwaters of the Salmon River and in the vicinity of
the present-day village of Stanley. The kill of game was dried in the
mountains and packed down to the winter quarters in the valleys of the
Boise, Payette, and Weiser rivers.
In general, it is difficult to define the social organization of the
Boise-Weiser Shoshone. While Shoshone social organization is
characteristically amorphous, some groups developed a closer
integration owing to such factors as warfare and collective economic
activities, which demanded leadership. But warfare was rare in this
region, and hunting and root-and berry-collecting were essentially
carried on by families. The building and operation of fish traps and
the distribution of the catch undoubtedly called forth some leadership
functions, but not on the band level. Also, the presence of other
groups which fished the same streams during the appropriate seasons
seems to argue against the consolidation of either the Boise or Weiser
people into territorially delimited bands. It was impossible to elicit
exact information from informants on the functions of leaders, and it
can only be inferred that they probably served as intermediaries with
the whites or were simply local men enjoying some prestige as dance
directors or leaders of winter villages.
The Shoshone of this area were poorer in horses than the buffalo
hunters, but they did possess some. The valleys of the Boise, Payette,
and Weiser evidently afforded adequate grazing for small herds, and
the natives enjoyed a greater mobility than did their neighbors to the
northeast and southeast. The resulting ease of communication would
perhaps be conducive to band organization, but neither living
informants nor historical sources offer any confirmation of this. That
such sociopolitical groups did exist is suggested by mention of
chiefs, but the groups did not have clearly defined territories which
excluded other peoples, and they could only have been most loosely
organized.