Historical Background
Legislative Foundation
Federal/Tribal Govt Hierarchy
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Fort Hall
Treaties and Cession Agreements
Resolutions
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Pat Tyhee, credit: Idaho Museum of Natural History
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Shoshonean Nation geographically existed over the territories from Mexico to Canada. We were hunters and gathers who moved with the seasons to gather various foods and products.
We called ourselves the names of the food we ate (Augi Dika, Tuka Dika, Coo chun Dika) from our geographical areas.
Some of the tribes composed of the nation are tribes known today as the Shoshones, Bannock, Paiute, Comanche, Hopi, Ute, Cahuilla, Mission, and other linguistic Uto Aztecan speaking groups.
The Shoshones and Bannocks entered into peace treaties in 1863 and 1868 known today as the Fort Bridger Treaty. The Fort Hall Reservation was reserved for the various tribes under the treaty agreement.
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The Indian Allotment act was legislated in 1887 to divide lands and allow private ownership of land parcels on reservations to every Indian in efforts to civilize and domesticate Indians to western society.
Today we are organized under federal corporations called federally recognized tribes legislated through the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act.
The Shoshone Bannock Tribes adopted a tribal constitution and bylaws under the IRA in 1936.
Powers and Duties granted under the IRA allows for an elected tribal council and to set up Departments of Law & Order, Health, Education, etc.
The BIA holds in trust 55.7 million acres of land for Indian tribes. There are twelve area offices covering the United States.
This involves management of 100,000 leases for individual Indians and tribes collecting approximately 357 million dollars annually from coal, oil and gas leases, rights- away, grazing and farming.
Currently, a lawsuit (Cobell vs Kempthorne, previously Norton, and Babbit) involving mismanagement of trust assets are in litigation.
The BIA Regions are identified as: Alaska; Eastern; Eastern Oklahoma; Great Plains; Mid West; Navajo; Northwest; Pacific; Rocky Mountain; Southern Plans; Southwest; and Western.
The Area Offices in these twelve regions are located in Juneau, Alaska; Nashville, Tennessee; Muskogee, Oklahoma; Aberdeen, South Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Gallup, New Mexico; Portland, Oregon, Sacramento, California; Billings, Montana; Anadarko, Oklahoma; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Phoenix, Arizona.
There are fifteen agencies located in the Northwest Region serving multiple tribes.
Fort Hall has a BIA Agency located in the Northwest Region. The Shoshone Bannock Tribes and the Northwest Band are under the BIA Agency as trustee.
The Fort Hall Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Shoshone and Bannock people in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is located in southeastern Idaho on the Snake River Plain north of Pocatello, and comprises 2,110.514 kmē (814.874 sq mi) of land area in four counties: Bingham, Power, Bannock, and Caribou counties. Founded in 1863, it is named for Fort Hall, a trading post that was an important stop along the Oregon Trail and California Trail in the middle 19th century.
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The ruins of the fort are located on the reservation. The community of Fort Hall, along Interstate 15, is the largest population center on the reservation. The total population of the reservation was 5,762 at the 2000 census.
There are 5,191 enrolled tribal members. 3,809 currently live on the reservation with 1,382 who live off the reservation. Compared to the demographics of American citizens where the baby boomers compose the greatest population statistics, Fort Hall has opposite percentage figures for the same age group.
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Treaties Impacting Fort Hall
- October 14, 1863: Soda Springs Treaty - UNRATIFIED
- October 10, 1864: Treaty of Fort Boise - UNRATIFIED
- April 12, 1866: Bruneau Treaty - UNRATIFIED
- August 21, 1867: Long Tom Creek Treaty - With Bannock Indians and Gov. D.W. Ballard. Agreed to remove the Bannocks from the Boise Valley and go to Fort Hall Reservation provided that such reservation belong to the Bannocks.
- June 14, 1867: Executive Order - adopting recommendation of Commissioner of Indian Affairs to establish boundaries as defined by the local Indian agents: The Boise and Bruneau bands of Shoshones and Bannock Reservation: "Commencing on the south bank of Snake River at the junction of hte PortNeuf Riverwith the Snake River; then south 25 miles to the summit of the mountains dividing the waters of Bear River from those of the Snake River; thence easterly along the summit of said range of mountains 70 miles to a point where Sublette road crosses said divide; thence north about 50 miles to the Blackfoot River; thence down said stream to its junction with the Snake River; thence down Snake River to the place of beginning." Embracing about 1,800,000 acres and comprehending Fort Hall on the Snake River within its limits.
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Treaties/Cession Agreements
- July 3, 1868: Treaty with the Shoshoni (Eastern band) and Bannock tribes of Indians, 1868 (Fort Bridger Treaty) 15 Stat. 673.
- September 24, 1868: Treaty with the Shoshones, Bannocks and Sheepeaters - UNRATIFIED - Virginia City, Montana
- July 30, 1869 : President Grant adopts recommendation of Secretary of Interior; Bannock reservation mentioned by the second article of the Treaty of 1868 to be included within reservation established by June 14, 1867 Executive Order.
- February 12, 1875: Lemhi Reserve established by Executive Order for the exclusive use of the mixed tribes of Shoshone, Bannock, and Sheepeater Indians.(Lemhi-Shoshone)
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