Timeline

Legislation                Fieldwork previous page

1690 Northern Shoshone have drifted from the Snake country of Idaho and Wyoming into Montana and Utah. They acquire Spanish horses, probably via the Comanche, a Shoshone-speaking tribe that now ranges over a different geographical area to the south.

1805 Lewis and Clark meet a Lemhi Shoshone band.
1808 John Colter of the Lewis and Clark party returns to Shoshone country, exploring the Teton Valley and Upper Yellowstone.

1810 Andrew Henry founds “fort” on Henry’s Fork in upper Snake River Valley. Members of John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Trapping Company stay in the Snake River country.

1813 John Reid of the Pacific Fur Company builds post at confluence of the Boise and the Snake—in the middle of traditional Shoshone salmon fishery and summer grounds. This alienates the Bannock, who destroy the post.

1818 Iroquois band travelling with Donald Mackenzie stays with the Boise band of Shoshone for a season.

1824 Peter Skene Ogden takes over Snake expedition, and discovers that the Boise, Fort Hall, and other Northern Shoshone have formed into large bands for hunting, in order to resist Blackfeet.

1832 Captain B.L.E. Bonneville builds a winter post in Lemhi country.

1834 Annual trapper’s rendezvous continue to be held at Green River, Wyoming; Cache Valley, Utah; and Pierre’s Hole in southeast Idaho, with Native Americans attending.

1834 Construction of Fort Hall by Nathaniel Wyeth establishes the first “permanent” Euro-American post in the Southeast Idaho area. Late the same year Thomas McKay builds Fort Boise in the western part of the state.

1838 British Hudson’s Bay Company takes over management of Fort Hall, and Northern Shoshone remain under their influence.

1840 Bison are hunted out of the Green and Snake River areas, and fur trade has collapsed, with beaver gone and fur hats no longer fashionable.

1841 Beginning of westward migration of Euro-American settlers. The Oregon Trail goes over South Pass, Wyoming, ascends the Bear River to Soda Springs, Idaho, and cuts westward or southward from Fort Hall. Growing with Marcus Whitman’s wagon train in 1843, the movement becomes a flood by 1850.

1849 Establishment of 49th parallel as boundary between the United States and Canada immediately makes the Shoshone wards of the territorial government, although the fact is kept from them for many years.

1854 Destruction of their traditional hunting and fishing territory by immigrants leads to the massacre of 19 members of Ward party by Boise Shoshone.

1863 More than 200 Shoshone are massacred on banks of Bear River by volunteer soldiers from California, led by Colonel Patrick E. Conner. One of largest and first major massacres of Native Americans west on the Mississippi.

1864 Ratification of five Doty treaties with Shoshone tribes by the Senate. Treaty with Bannock and Fort Hall and Lemhi Shoshone is never ratified, however, so they do not receive annuities.

1868 Treaty of Fort Bridger allows relocation of Bannocks and Fort Hall Shoshones to the Fort Hall Reservation, established in 1867 for the Boise and Bruneau bands.

1875 Assignment of Sheepeater and Lemhi populations to reservation in Lemhi valley.

1878 Sheepeater War perpetrated by Euro-American miners in Salmon River district.

1878 Bannock War at Camas Prairie marks the last battle with whites in this area.

1880 Shoshone-Bannocks agree to cede southern portion of Fort Hall reservation and to accept the Lemhi, if they agree to move.

1882 First Indian police force of eight men organized at Fort Hall reservation.

1883 Fort Hall Military post on Lincoln Creek is closed.

1885 Major Crimes Act allows certain major crimes commited within tribal jurisdiction to be tried in federal courts.

1887 General Allotment Act (Dawes) allots 160 acres to each head of household and 40 acres to each minor, and opens surplus lands to white settlers against protest of the Indians.

1888 Pocatello townsite cession of 1,840 acres is made and compensation received by the tribes for 1878 right-of-way, to remove whites from reservation.

1888 Tribal Court established.

1890 Wounded Knee Massacre of 200 Sioux. The Plains Indian sun dance is adopted by Eastern Shoshone of Wind River Reservation and diffuses to Fort Hall a few years later.

1891 Amendment to Dawes Act provides 80 acres of agricultural land and 160 acres of grazing land to each Indian on the Fort Hall reservation.

1892 Congress passes a special act to grant Chief Tendoy pension of $15.00 a month for surrendering lands and dealing honestly with whites.

1898 Agreement with Fort Hall Indians for sale of 418,560 acres with compensation at $1.25 an acre, which reduces the reservation to half its original size.

1900 Shoshone-Bannocks receive $600,000, with $75,000 being used for a school building.

1907 The Lemhi reservation is terminated and remaining families are removed to Fort Hall.

1911 Congresionl Act provides for allotment of land in severalty at Fort Hall.

1921 Act to establish Minidoka Project and construction of American Falls Reservoir

1922 Act establishing town of Fort Hall, Idaho.

1925 Native American Church established at Fort Hall.

1930 Organization of Fort Hall Business Council.

1934 Indian Reorganization Act profoundly changes direction of U.S. Government policy toward Native Americans.

1936 Shoshone and Bannock of Fort Hall approve constitution and by-laws for self-government and ratify a corporate charter in 1937.

1938 Boarding school closed and day schools opened at Ross Fork, Lincoln Creek, and Bannock Creek.

1944 Ross Fork and Lincoln Creek day schools closed and students placed in public schools in counties.

1947 Contract with Simplot Fertilizer Company to mine phosphates at Gay Mine on reservation.

1960 Contract with Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation to mine phosphates on reservation.

1968 $15,700,000 is awarded to Northern and Eastern Shoshone by the Indian Claims Commission, strengthening tribal economy.

1975 Indians Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act is passed, allowing tribes to contract directly with federal programs.

1976 Land Use Policy Ordinance is approved for Shoshone-Bannock by Secretary of Inderior.

1978 Indian Child Welfare Act is passed.

1985 Changes in the Fort Hall Tribal Constitution allow reservation-wide voting and a primary election prior to general election.

This section is from Idaho State University’s E.S. Lohse.

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