In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

[First Page] [179], (1) Lines: 0 to 41 ——— 1.5pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [179], (1) 8 Sacajawea’s People They have Sacajawea heritage days, they have Sacajawea arts and crafts, they have everything but the real Indians who are Sacajawea’s people in the valley. The feeling we get is, “We don’t want you here, but we want your Sacajawea heritage.” . . . My kids come up here with me to fish and camp in the summer, and they say “Dad, how could you ever give this land up?” But we haven’t given up. The Lewis and Clark bicentennial is going to be our last fight. In 1805 the Americans asked for our help. Now we’re asking for theirs. Rod Ariwite, Lemhi Shoshone, 1999 When Lewis and Clark ventured into the Salmon River country in 1805, the various ethnic groups inhabiting the region—Salmoneaters, Sheepeaters, and Buffaloeaters—were beginning to coalesce into the tribal entity historically known as the Lemhi Shoshones. This process of cultural fusion, or ethnogenesis, culminated over the course of the nineteenth century, as the Lemhis incorporated Paiute-speaking Bannocks from the south into their sociopolitical system and maneuvered to meet the challenges that came with the increasing non-Indian presence in their aboriginal homeland. Under the leadership of Chief Tendoy, the Lemhis proved skillful at maintaining good relations with the whites who settled in and around the town of Salmon, Idaho. Tendoy earned the gratitude of early settlers by keeping the Lemhis neutral during the Nez Perce, Bannock, and Sheepeater wars of the late 1870s. But this show of good faith was not enough to stem the tide of change. Despite decades of Lemhi resistance to removal and pleas made by non-Indians on the Lemhis’ behalf, the federal government eliminated their tiny LemhiValley reservation and sent them into exile at Fort Hall in 1907. Interactions with neighboring Plateau and Plains culture groups and subsistence activities in the Salmon River country set the Lemhis apart from their Northern Shoshone relatives to the south,but interactions with non-Indians also helped to shape Lemhi identity during the nineteenth century. The need to negotiate with government officials 179 [180], (2) Lines: 41 to ——— 13.5pt PgV ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [180], (2) required that the Lemhis develop a new and foreign form of political leadership—a permanent chief or spokesman who could negotiate with whites on behalf of the tribe. When the federal government engaged in treaty making with the Lemhis, it assumed that they were a distinct group or tribe; it thereby helped to make them one. After removal there remained no incentive for the federal government to treat with the four hundred to five hundred Lemhis as equals. The Bureau of Indian Affairs administered the Fort Hall Reservation as a single tribal entity. But the Lemhi Shoshones’ experiences as a minority on a multitribal reservation only served to reinforce their identity. Shortly after the Lemhis arrived at Fort Hall, superintendents there ceased the practice of enumerating them separately from other Indian peoples on the reservation. When the Fort Hall tribes adopted a constitution in 1936 under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Lemhi autonomy was further eroded. Although the ira was designed to preserve tribal culture and to allow Indian peoples to enjoy greater participation in decisions concerning their affairs, it had the opposite effect for the Lemhis. To retain a voice in decisions at Fort Hall, the Lemhis enrolled as members of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, thus losing a measure of their Lemhi identity. Consequently, when the Lemhis organized a committee to secure annuities promised but never paid to them, they faced difficulties. The Lemhi Committee succeeded in forcing federal officials to turn their attention to a Lemhi annuity fund that they had long ignored. By 1939 officials had compiled a census of Lemhi descendants eligible to receive payment. Slowly, individual per capita shares were distributed. But when it came time to dispense the surplus from the fund, the Lemhis were required to request the funds through the General Council of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. The Lemhis met and agreed to use the funds for a celebration of Lemhi heritage, but the resolution passed by the Fort Hall Tribal Business Council asked that the funds be released to all tribal members. The bia refused, explaining that the Lemhis held exclusive rights to the monies. At the same time, the bureau refused to allow the Lemhis to exercise those rights because it determined...

Share