Bannock ( from Panátǐ,
their own name). A Shoshonean tribe whose habitat previous to being
gathered on reservations can not be definitely Outlined. There were two
geographic divisions, but references to the Bannock do not always note
this distinction. The home of the chief division appears to have been
south east Idaho, whence they ranged into west Wyoming. The country
actually claimed by the chief of this southern division, which seems to
have been recognized by the treaty of Ft Bridger, July 3, 1868, lay
between lat. 42° and 45°, and between long. 113° and the main chain of the
Rocky Mountains. It separated the Wihinasht Shoshoni of west Idaho from
the so-called Washaki band of Shoshoni of west Wyoming. They were found in
this region in 1859, and they asserted that this had been their home in
the past. Bridger (Ind. Aft. Rep., 363, 1859) had known them in this
region as early as 1829. Bonneville found them in 1833 on Portneuf River,
immediately north of the present Ft Hall reservation. Many of this
division affiliated with the Washaki Shoshoni, and by 1859 had extensively
intermarried with them.
Ft Hall reservation was set apart by Executive order in
1869, and 600 Bannock, in addition to a large number of Shoshoni,
consented to remain upon it. Most of them soon wandered away, however, and
as late as 1874 an appropriation was made to enable the Bannock and
Shoshoni scattered in south east Idaho to be moved to the reservation. The
Bannock at Ft Hall were said to number 422 in 1885. The northern division
was found by Gov. Stevens in 1853 (Pac. R. R. Rep., f, 329, 1855) living
on Salmon River in east Idaho. Lewis and Clark, who passed through the
country of this northern division in 1805, may have included them under
the general term Shoshone, unless, as is most likely, these are the Broken
Moccasin Indians they mention (Expel., Coues ed., ]r, 523, 1893). In all
probability these Salmon River Bannock had recently crossed the mountains
from the eastward owing to pressure of the Siksika, since they claimed as
their territory south west Montana, including the rich areas in which are
situated Virginia City, Bozeman, and other towns (Ind. Aff. Rep., 289,
1869). Stevens (1853) states that they had been more than decimated by the
ravages of smallpox and the inroads of the Siksika. It is probable that at
no distant time in the past, perhaps before they had acquired horses, the
various groups of the entire Bannock tribe were united in one locality in
south east Idaho, inhere they were neighbors of the Shoshoni proper, but
their language is divergent front the latter.
The Bannock were a widely roving tribe, a
characteristic which favored their dispersal and separation into groups.
Both the men and the women are well developed; and although Shoshonean in
language, in physical characters the Bannock resemble more closely the
Shahaptian Nez Percé than other
Shoshonean Indians. Kroeber reports that the language of the Fort hall
Bannock connects them closer with the Ute than with any other Shoshonean
tribe. At the same time Powell and Mooney report that the tribes of west
Nevada consider the Bannock very nearly related to themselves.
The loss of hunting lands, the diminution of the bison
herds, and the failure of the Government to render timely relief led to a
Bannock outbreak in 1878, the trouble having been of long standing. During
the exciting times of the
Nez Percé
war the Bannock mere forced to remain on their inhospitable
reservation, to face the continued encroachment of the whites, and to
subsist on goods provided from an appropriation amounting to 2½
cents per capita per diem. During the summer a drunken Indian of the tribe
shot and wounded two teamsters; the excitement and hitter feeling caused
by his arrest, Nov. 23, 1877, resulted in the killing of an agency
employee. Troops were called for, and the murderer was pursued, captured,
tried, and executed. This episode so increased the excitement of the
Indians that, fearing what was assumed to be threatening demonstrations,
the troops surrounded and captured two Bannock camps in Jan., 1878; but
most of the Indians were afterward released. On account of insufficient
food the Bannock left the reservation in the spring and went to Camas
prairie, where they killed several settlers. A vigorous campaign under
Gen. Howard resulted in the capture of about 1,000 of them in August, and
the outbreak came to all end after a fight on Sept. 5, at Clark's ford,
where 20 Bannock lodges were attacked and all the women and children
killed.
Bridger states that when he first knew them (about 1829) the southern
Bannock numbered 1,200 lodges, indicating a population of about 8,000.
In 1869 they were estimated as not exceeding 500, and
this number was probably an overestimate as their lodges numbered but 50,
indicating a population of about 350. In 1901 the tribe numbered 513, so
intermixed, however, with the Shoshoni that no attempt is made to
enumerate theta separately. All the Bannock except 92 under Lemhi agency
are gathered on Ft Hall reservation, Idaho. Practically nothing is known
of the former organization of the Bannock or of their divisions. The names
of four divisions were obtained by Hoffman, and a fifth is given by
Schoolcraft. These are Kutshundika, or Buffalo-eaters; Penointikara, or
Honey-eaters; Shohopanaiti, or Cottonwood Bannock; Yambadika, or
Root-eaters; Waradika, or Rye-grass seed-eaters.
