Much has been written, motion pictures and television
shows have been made, and a lot has been taught about Indians in the west. In Wyoming
the focus is on the: Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Shoshones and Crow. But of
these tribes only the Shoshones were here long term.
In 1700 the tribes of Wyoming included, along with
the Shoshones, the Comanche, Kiowa and Staitans. By 1800 the Comanche had moved
south and the Crow and Cheyenne found a place to live in Wyoming. The Sioux were
soon to follow, arriving shortly after 1800.
Interesting that so little is written about the
century and a half of the more peaceful time for Native people in Wyoming. The
first mountain men/trappers came around 1820 and by the 1840s wagons were
rolling on the Oregon and Mormon trails, and the west of movies and television was
born.
4 comments:
You are quite correct, and I've often noted the same.
Of the tribes you note, early on one was actually a branch of another. The Comanche were a branch of the Shoshones, and were distinguished by their early adoption of the horse. Indeed, their name stems form that, as it roughly translates as "the arguers". The argument was about adopting the horse, which they favored early on.
Interaction between the Shoshone and the Comanche continued on for some time, and one Shoshone chief was named Comanche.
Adding just a bit, it's further interesting to note the Sioux and the Cheyenne were invaders from the prospective of the Crow and the Shoshone. That fact explains the late 19th Century alignment of those tribes in relation to the Sioux and Cheyenne. The Arapahoes were allied to the Sioux, although I now nothing about their origin.
Tribal groups in general were much more fluid that recalled in the popular imagination. We know that there were tribes in Wyoming's prehistory that had pit houses, for example, but we don't know who they were. In the southwest we always think of the Apache and the Navajo, but we now that they originally hailed from Canada's Great Slave Lake region, and had walked all that distance over time. This were more fluid that generally recalled.
This is nws to me. The Comanche and Kiowa are in my mind tribes of the Southwest. Not so.
Thanks Ron, most people do see Comanche and Kiowa as tribes of the southwest, interesting how much movement there was by early peoples.
Pat and Marcus thanks for the comments, always glad to find others interested in Wyoming history. I went to an interesting lecture this week on the Hell Gap dig site about the very early Indians of Wyoming (Dr. Marcel Kornfield) - good stuff.
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