The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of
Northern Shoshone, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".
[Murphy and Murphy, 306] The name "Lemhi" comes from
Fort Lemhi, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the
Lemhi River Valley and along the upper
Salmon River in
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
.
[ Bands were very fluid and nomadic, and they often interacted with and intermarried other bands of Shoshone and other tribes, such as the Bannock.][Murphy and Murphy, 288] Today most of them are enrolled in the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation of Idaho.
Traditional culture
The Akaitikka are Numic speakers, speaking the Shoshone language.[Murphy and Murphy, 287]
Fishing is an important source of food, and salmon, and trout were staples. Gooseberries and camas root, '' Camassia quamash'' are traditional vegetable foods for the Lemhi Shoshone. In the 19th century, buffalo hunting provided meat, furs, hides, and other materials.[Murphy and Murphy, 286]
History
During the 19th century, the Lemhi Shoshone were allied with the Flatheads and enemies of the Blackfeet. The Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Lemhi at the Three Forks of the Missouri River
The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...
in 1805.[ In the 1860s, Indian agents estimated the Lemhi population, which included Shoshone, Bannock, and Tukudeka (Sheepeaters), to be 1,200.][Murphy and Murphy, 289]
Tendoy was a prominent Lemhi chief in the mid-19th century.[ He became the Lemhi's leading chief in 1863 after Tio-van-du-ah was killed in Bannock County, Idaho.
The Lemhi Reservation, located along the Lemhi River, west of the Bitterroot Range and north of the Lemhi Range was created in 1875 and terminated in 1907.][ Most of the residents were moved to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Others remain near Salmon, Idaho.
Robert Harry Lowie studied the band and published ''The Northern Shoshone'', a monograph about them in 1909.][shoshoneindian.com]
"Shoshone Books", ''The Shoshone Indians.'' 21 May 2003 (retrieved 13 June 2010)
Notable Lemhi
* Sacagawea
Notes
References
*Murphy, Robert F. and Yolanda Murphy. "Northern Shoshone and Bannock." Warren L. D'Azevedo, vol. ed. ''Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11: Great Basin.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986. .
*Madsen, Brigham D. "The Lemhi: Sacajawea's People." The Caxton Printers, Ltd. Caldwell, Idaho 83605, 1979. .
External links
Sacajawea and her people, the Lemhi Shoshone
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Northern Shoshone
Native American tribes in Idaho
Uto-Aztecan peoples