The Shoshone
Tribe
Stone Fox was a Shoshone Indian. He entered the dog sled race to
raise money so he could buy farm land for his people. After reading the short
history below you will understand why Stone Fox felt the need to help his people.
^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^
The Shoshone were divided into four groups:
- West Texas
- Northern Shoshone of Idaho and Utah
- Western Shoshone - did not use horses and lived on nuts and wild
vegetation
- Wind River Shoshone of Wyoming.
The Shoshone lived both east and west of the Rocky Mountains in the
area that is now the states of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho. The Shoshone lived in
tepees. The Northern Shoshone had horses and hunted on the Great Plains. They hunted
everything from bighorn sheep to rabbits and lizards. The men of this group made bows and
arrows and hunted, while women collected plants and made baskets. The Western Shoshone did
not have horses. They lived on fruits, seeds and plants. Pinyon pine nuts and mesquite
beans were major parts of their diet.
In the early 1800's the enemies of the Shoshone were able to get
guns from the Canadian fur traders. The Shoshones traded with the Spanish, who had refused
to give them firearms. Once the gun was introduced in this region of the country the way
of life for the Shoshone changed. They could no longer find game to eat. They lived mostly
on roots and berries.
Today, there are 3,600 Shoshone-Bannock on the Fort Hall Reservation
near Pocatello, Idaho. There are few jobs in this area and about 80 percent of the Indians
on the reservation are without jobs.
^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^
  |
Make your own arrows and quiver. We made this quiver by
rolling a piece of poster board into a cylinder shape and stapling it together. Next cut a
circle from poster board to cover the bottom. Using masking tape we secured the circle to
one end of the cylinder. Next we cut a piece of tan felt to cover the cylinder shape
allowing enough extra to make fringe up the side. Before gluing the felt to the cylinder
we painted Native American designs using Acrylic paint on the felt. After the paintings
dried we cut slits approximately one inch apart and 4 inches long up one side of the felt
to resemble fringe. Then we attached the felt to the cylinder with white glue.To make the
arrow we used a genuine arrowhead. We striped the bark from a branch. We cut slits in both
ends on the stick. We added a feather at one end of the arrow in the slit and tied the
arrowhead onto the other end with a strip of rawhide. |