Shoshone Tribe

The Shoshone Native Americans are a peaceful, ancient tribe. Direct descendants from the Newe(people), they are a culture that prefers peaceful hunting and gathering to attacking other tribes. They have beautiful clothing, multiple religions and ceremonies, and men and women were treated as equals. They have lived in the Midwest for hundreds of years, and will continue to live there for hundreds more.

The Shoshone Native Americans began Migrating to the Plains around the 1500’s. They occupied the Great Basin region, from Southern Idaho to Death Valley, and from the Smith Creek Mountains to Ely, Nevada. Their homeland was named Pia Sokopia, which meant “Earth Mother”. The valley floors the inhabit lie at around 4-6,000 feet, and the surrounding

Different family groups could be more violent than others, and the tribe of Tosawihi became very violent during the gold rush. White gold miners were taking trails through their territory to get to the gold, and were being disrespectful to the natives. When hunting they would start shooting the Shoshone for no real reason, and some families started becoming known for violence and aggression against whites. 7 years later, on August 7th, 1855, a Utah territorial agent named Garland Hurt met and negotiated a treaty with hundreds of Shoshones. The Shoshone were tired of fighting, and they agreed to sign a treaty that granted them $3,000 worth of food, and no more trouble from the whites.. While this treaty did stop the fighting, Garland Hurt wasn’t qualified to negotiate a treaty, and the “treaty” was never ratified. However, no one knew yet, so the miners left and the Shoshones returned to their normal

People would wear decorative clothes during religious celebrations. Important dances include the Round dance, the Father dance, and the Sun dance. The Round dance was performed when food was plentiful or as a mourning ritual, the Father dance was performed when paying tribute to “the creator”, and the Sun dance was performed after a buffalo hunt, and was a way to express “tribal unity and spirituality”(Crum, 1994). The Shoshone had two religions- one based on personal success and one based on the good of the tribe. The belief based on personal success was about the “acquisition of success and survival through supernatural spirits”(Madsen, 1985). The belief based on the good of the tribe was about how the well being of the community and nature to ward off evil