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An Environmental History of the Eastern Shoshone, 1000-1868

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An Environmental History of the Eastern Shoshone, 1000-1868 University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History History, Department of 5-2013 Adapting to a Changing World: An Environmental History of the Eastern Shoshone, 1000-1868 Adam R. Hodge University of Nebraska-Lincoln Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss Part of the History of Gender Commons, Other History Commons, and the United States History Commons Hodge, Adam R., "Adapting to a Changing World: An Environmental History of the Eastern Shoshone, 1000-1868" (2013). Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History. 55. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss/55 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. ADAPTING TO A CHANGING WORLD: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE EASTERN SHOSHONE, 1000-1868 by Adam R. Hodge A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: History Under the Supervision of Professor Margaret D. Jacobs Lincoln, Nebraska May, 2013 ADAPTING TO A CHANGING WORLD: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE EASTERN SHOSHONE, 1000-1868 Adam R. Hodge, Ph.D. University of Nebraska, 2013 Adviser: Margaret D. Jacobs Using the Eastern Shoshone Tribe as a case study, this dissertation argues that the physical environment must be considered integral to processes of ethnogenesis. It traces the environmental history of the people who became known as the Eastern Shoshone over the course of several centuries, exploring how those Natives migrated throughout and adapted to a significant portion of the North American West – the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, Columbia Plateau, and Great Plains – prior to the reservation era. In examining that history, this project treats Shoshones, other Natives, and Euro-Americans not as people who simply used the environment, but as major parts of ecosystems. It also critiques existing scholarship on Native American and Western history by asserting that instead of producing narratives that emphasize “post-contact” environmental degradation and the destruction of indigenous lifeways, historians should devote more attention to the dynamic and often catastrophic history of “pre-contact” Native America to reveal how the ramifications of that deeper past persisted into the “post-contact” era. Utilizing the analytical lens of environmental history requires this study to employ a highly interdisciplinary methodology. Drawing information from historical documents, historical scholarship, archaeological studies, anthropological reports, and works in the natural sciences (including climatology, epidemiology, biology, and ecology), it throws light on the relationship between the environment and everyday life. This includes Shoshone resource procurement and use, their dynamic gendered divisions of labor, their adoption of new technologies, their involvement in an expanding global market economy, how “Old World” infectious disease epidemics affected them, how they responded to climate change and the depletion of resources, and the relationship between the physical environment and intercultural relations. So, instead of presenting a human story in which the natural world functioned as a setting that only occasionally influenced the storyline, this dissertation offers a narrative in which humans interacted with one another and the world around them to make history. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completing this dissertation required me to incur many debts. Although I have had the good fortune to already begin repaying some of those, I look forward to the opportunity to return the favor or, at least, pay it forward. During my time at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I had benefitted from working with and learning from many intelligent and generous people. The thanks that I express here are but a small token of my gratitude. Margaret Jacobs kindly agreed to become my advisor about halfway through my studies at UNL. Her unfailing support, thoughtful advice, and subtle guidance made the comprehensive examination and dissertation processes proceed smoothly and enjoyably. Her shrewd assessments of my early drafts of this project challenged me to make this work a unique contribution to the historiography. I am most grateful that I had the opportunity to study under her. I also owe thanks to my other supervisory committee members. I wrote my first paper on the Eastern Shoshone for a seminar that I took with David Wishart. He, along with Victoria Smith, James Garza, and Susan Lawrence, asked important questions and gave valuable feedback that compelled me to consider my work from different angles. I also appreciate that I got to work with Andrew Graybill, Doug Seefeldt, and John Wunder while they were at UNL. That they continue to support me attests to their kindness. A number of colleagues have contributed to my development as a scholar and a teacher. Since we became friends during our time together at Kent State University, Greg Jones has been a great source of encouragement and knowledge. Greg also introduced me v to Matt McDonough, who has since become a good friend; his award-winning approach to teaching influences how I approach the classroom. I also have to thank these gentlemen because our common interest in playing online video games together provided us all with a much-needed diversion from the academic life. I am grateful for the pre- class dinner discussions that I had with Kellie Wilson about research, teaching, and life. Many other graduate students at UNL and Kent State University provided food for thought as well as enjoyable off-campus experiences; thank you all. I want to thank the faculty and staff in the Department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for teaching me, training me, and backing my research. I could not have completed my work without the help of the folks at Love Library (particularly Interlibrary Loan). My work also benefited from the generous support of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University, which came in the form of a 2012 Summer Award for Off-Campus Upper Division and Graduate Students. I used that fellowship to visit the archives at the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center, where Ginny Kilander and her staff facilitated a pleasant and productive visit. I also traveled to the Wind River Reservation, where John Washakie and Ben Snyder, Jr. graciously took some time to speak with me. I also enjoyed productive interviews with Pat Hnilicka and Bob Trebelcock in Lander. Finally, I want to thank my family. My gratitude extends to all of my relatives for their love and support, but I especially want to thank my parents for taking an interest in my work and encouraging me to keep at it. I am also thankful for the support shown by Loryn Clauson’s family. Loryn has made considerable sacrifices during the past couple of years for the sake of our relationship and my education, and I look forward to carrying the load when the time comes. Thank you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………………………….…….. iv Table of Contents………………………………………………………….………. vi Introduction………………………………………………………….…….……..... 1 Chapter 1. In the “Land beyond the Setting Sun”: Great Basin Numu Subsistence prior to 1500…………..………….….. 21 Chapter 2. Expanding North and East of the “Land beyond the Setting Sun”: Pedestrian Shoshone Migrations and Adaptations, 1500-1690.….….... 64 Chapter 3. “A Brave People Dreaded of All the Other Tribes”: The Epoch of Plains Shoshone Equestrianism, 1690-1780………..….. 99 Chapter 4. To “Live on Roots and Berries as the Bear Do”: Shoshone Subsistence in a World of Epidemics, Enemies, and Explorers, 1780-1806………………………………….. 151 Chapter 5. “They Have Not Yet Been Abused… They Are In a Primitive State”: Shoshone Subsistence in the Era of the Rocky Mountain Trapping System, 1807-1840………………………. 218 Chapter 6. “Wild Indians, Like Wild Horses, Must be Corralled upon Reservations”: Overland Travelers, Government Agents, and the Shoshone World, 1840-1868…………………………..……... 271 Epilogue……..………….……………………………………….….…….…….… 320 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………. 331 1 INTRODUCTION During the summer of 1843, an unidentified Shoshone woman joined John C. Frémont’s expedition as it prepared to depart from Fort Saint Vrain, at the confluence of the South Platte River and Saint Vrain Creek in what is now Colorado, to explore beyond the Rockies. Her husband, a French engagé, had been murdered at Fort Lupton on the Fourth of July, and she wanted to return to her people, whom she expected to find in the Bear River country in what is now Wyoming, Utah, or Idaho.1 Within days of that journey’s start, she provided her American companions with a glimpse into a longstanding core of Shoshone subsistence: women’s labor to dig up edible roots. While stopped along the Laramie River in what is now southern Wyoming, Frémont wrote: “At this place, I became acquainted with the yampah, (anethum graveolens), which I found our Snake woman engaged in digging in the low timbered bottom of the creek. Among the Indians along the Rocky mountains, and more particularly among the Shoshonee or Snake Indians, in whose territory it
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