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109-397: "Tukudeka" is spelled several ways, including Tukadüka , Tukudika , Tukku Tikka'a , Tukkuikka , Tukkutikka , and Tukuarika , and is translated as "Eaters of White Meat," "Eaters of Mountain Sheep," "Mountain Sheepeaters," or simply, "Sheepeaters." A Shoshone word for bighorn ram is duku , which also translates to "meat" according to anthropologist Demetri Shimkin. So

218-610: A methamphetamine crisis that has since been significantly reduced, even while addiction continues to be a problem. Other residents say the Wind River Indian Reservation is a more hopeful place than is often portrayed in press reports. There are two outpatient clinics located on the reservation. There is one located in Arapahoe , and the second one is located in Fort Washakie . The clinics offer

327-402: A ceremonial leader stationed in a pod along one of the corral walls. At the end of the trap, the sheep would run up a ramp into an elevated cattle-guard-like trap, with widely spaced timbers . They would fall off the timbers, with their feet hanging into air. Thus immobilized, the hunters would kill the sheep with clubs, spears, or projectiles. Some of these traps were used through the 1800s, with

436-580: A combined force of Lakotas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos surrounded and attacked Washakie's camp at Trout Creek on the reservation. The Shoshones survived the attack by digging rifle pits inside their tepees, and then mounting a counterattack. The last significant conflict occurred in June 1874, when 167 Shoshones and U.S. cavalry attacked the Arapaho at the Bates Battlefield on the head of Nowood Creek in

545-765: A complete lack of evidence, the Tukudeka were blamed for the murders, and the US Cavalry attacked the tribe in what would be called the Sheepeater War . Fifty-one Tukudeka were captured and relocated to the Fort Hall Reservation . In 1913, Billings, Montana dentist W.F. "Doc" Allen claimed to have found the last-living Sheepeater living among the Crow Tribe, a 115-year-old woman whom he communicated with in sign language. His book The Sheepeaters

654-658: A ewe from accessing tending areas before she even enters estrus. Bighorn ewes have a six-month gestation. In temperate climates, the peak of the rut occurs in November, with one, or rarely two, lambs being born in May. Most births occur in the first two weeks of the lambing period. Pregnant ewes of the Rocky Mountains migrate to alpine areas in spring, presumably to give birth in areas safer from predation, but are away from areas with good quality forage. Lambs born earlier in

763-425: A few Snake Indians comprising 6 men, 7 women, and 8 or 10 children who were the only inhabitants of this lonely spot. They were all neatly clothed in dressed deer and Sheep skins of the best quality and all seemed to be perfectly contented and happy. ... Their personal property consisted of one old butcher knife nearly worn to the back, two old, shattered fusees which had long since become useless for want of ammunition,

872-418: A high attendance. These initiatives were designed to provide a safe and alcohol-free environment for the children and young adults. This ultimately helped quell the epidemic, and prevented suicide attempts across such young age groups. An article published in 2001, The Social Construction of American Indian Drinking: Perceptions of American Indian and White Officials , discovered, by qualitatively interviewing

981-420: A legend related to the bighorn sheep. A man possessed by evil spirits attempts to kill his heir by pushing the young man over a cliff, but the victim is saved by getting caught in trees. Rescued by bighorn sheep, the man takes the name of their leader, Big Metal. The other sheep grant him power, wisdom, sharp eyes, sure-footedness , keen ears, great strength, and a strong heart. Big Metal returns to his people with

1090-587: A second the music will sweep you away. Drumming and singing accompanies all dancing and the drumbeat is considered sacred, representing the heartbeat of the tribe. Each thumping note carries songs to the Great Spirit , along with the prayers of the people." The website also advertises the powwows as being free admission. Current social and economic conditions on the Wind River Indian Reservation have complicated historical roots. The reservation has many examples of cultural survival, adaptation, and patriotism. Yet

1199-401: A single leader ram, unlike the mouflon , the ancestor of the domestic sheep, which has a strict dominance hierarchy . Before the mating season or " rut ", the rams attempt to establish a dominance hierarchy to determine access to ewes for mating. During the prerut period, most of the characteristic horn clashing occurs between rams, although this behavior may occur to a limited extent throughout

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1308-405: A small sample size of 12 Native Americans residing on the reservation and 12 Whites who also reside on the reservation, that alcoholism is present on the reservation. 10 of 12 Natives said that alcohol is a problem shared by both minors and adults, while all 12 Whites said this. 10 of 12 American Indians said that alcohol is strongly linked to crime, while 11 of 12 Whites agreed. The biggest outlier

1417-443: A small stone pot and about thirty dogs on which they carried their skins, clothing, provisions, etc., on their hunting excursions. They were well armed with bows and arrows pointed with obsidian. The bows were beautifully wrought from sheep, buffalo and elk horns, secured with deer and elk sinews, and ornamented with porcupine quills, and generally about three feet long. We obtained a large number of deer, elk and sheep skins from them of

1526-754: A southern border. Originally known as the Shoshone Indian Reservation, the Wind River Indian Reservation was established by agreement of the United States with the Eastern Shoshone Nation at the Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868 , restricting the tribe from the formerly vast Shoshone territory of more than 44 million acres (180,000 km ). A later settlement and land transaction after United States v. Shoshone Tribe of Indians gave

1635-428: A study done regarding suicide on the reservation in 1985, the months of August and September produced very high suicide numbers. There were 12 reported deaths, and 88 additional verified instances of suicide threats or suicidal attempts. This epidemic among Native American tribes can be attributed to high unemployment and abuse of alcohol. 40 of the attempts were between the ages of 13 and 19, and 24 attempts were between

1744-461: A variety of services such as Behavioral Health, Social Services, Business Office, Community Health Nursing, Purchased/Referred Care (PRC), Dental, Diabetes Program, Laboratory/Radiology, Medical Records, Medical Services, Nursing, Optometry, Office of Environmental Health, Utilization Review and Compliance. The average life expectancy for someone living on the reservation is 49 years. According to A Suicide Epidemic in an American Indian Community ,

1853-487: Is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns . A pair of horns may weigh up to 14 kg (30 lb); the sheep typically weigh up to 143 kg (315 lb). Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis , one of which is endangered: O. c. sierrae . Sheep originally crossed to North America over the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia;

1962-675: Is indigenous to central Wyoming including the Wind River Basin and Bighorn Basin . Scholars believe that the Dinwoody petroglyphs most likely represent the work of ancestral Tukudika or Mountain Shoshone Sheepeaters, because some of the figures at Torrey Lake Petroglyph District and Legend Rock correspond to characters in Shoshone folklore, such as Pa waip, a water spirit woman. The Wind River Indian Reservation

2071-494: Is largely illusory. Most scientists currently recognize three subspecies of bighorn. This taxonomy is supported by the most extensive genetics (microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA) study to date (2016) which found high divergence between Rocky Mountain and Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, and that these two subspecies both diverged from desert bighorn before or during the Illinoian glaciation (about 315–94 thousand years ago). Thus,

2180-589: Is located at the historical boundary region between the Great Basin culture of the Shoshone and the Great Plains tribal cultures. In recent centuries, the area was used by many tribes for hunting grounds and for raiding. After 1800, the historical record notes the presence of the Shoshone, as well as the Crow , Cheyenne , Arapaho, Blackfeet , and Lakota in the Wind River Basin. These latter tribes came to

2289-411: Is the tending strategy, in which a ram follows and defends an estrous ewe. Tending takes considerable strength and vigilance, and ewes are most receptive to tending males, presumably feeling they are the most fit. Another tactic is coursing, when rams fight for an already tended ewe. Ewes typically avoid coursing males, so the strategy is ineffective. The rams also employ a blocking strategy. They prevent

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2398-572: The Bridger Mountains east of the Shoshone Indian Reservation. Camp Augur, a military post with troops named for General Christopher C. Augur , was established at the present site of Lander on June 28, 1869. (Augur was the general present at the signing of the Fort Bridger Treaty in 1868.) In 1870 the name of the camp was changed to Camp Brown, and in 1871, the post was moved to the current site of Fort Washakie . The name

2507-589: The Little Bighorn River , were both indicated on Clark's map and did retain their names, the latter being the namesake of the Battle of the Little Bighorn . The Bighorn Ram was featured in a series of prints by artist Andy Warhol . In 1983, the artist was commissioned to create a portfolio of ten endangered species to raise environmental awareness. The portfolio, known as "Endangered Species"

2616-662: The National Audubon Society also joined the effort. On January 18, 1939, over 600,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) of land were set aside to create the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge . Many state and federal agencies have actively pursued the restoration of bighorn sheep since the 1940s. However, these efforts have met with limited success, and most of

2725-477: The National Park Service and other federal agencies. This had major success at other reservations, but on the Wind River Indian Reservation, violent crime increased by seven percent. In 2013, Business Insider produced a photo scrapbook and indicated locals refer to different streets by infamously violent American locations such as Compton near Los Angeles. The reservation was experiencing

2834-675: The Northern Arapaho ( Arapaho : hoteiniiciiheheʼ ). Roughly 60 mi (97 km) east to west by 50 mi (80 km) north to south, the Indian reservation is located in the Wind River Basin , and includes portions of the Wind River Range , Owl Creek Mountains , and Absaroka Range . The Wind River Indian Reservation is the seventh-largest American Indian reservation in the United States by area and

2943-678: The Rocky Mountain Rendezvous fur trade in the Green River Basin , just over the Wind River Range from today's Wind River Indian Reservation. With the onset of the fur trade, Shoshones could once again project their power east from the Snake River and Green River Valley to hunt buffalo on the plains. Increasingly, they needed to hunt farther east, because the fur trade started to wipe out bison in

3052-633: The Salmon River in the Sawtooth Mountains, as well as southern Montana , and Yellowstone in Wyoming . Europeans first entered their territory in 1824. American and British trappers hunted beavers in the 1840s. In 1860, gold was discovered, and non-native prospectors flooded the region. In the 1860s, Indian agents estimated the Tukudeka and Lemhi Shoshone , to be 1,200. In 1879 five Chinese miners were killed near Loon Creek . Despite

3161-658: The Shoshone in making composite bows. William Clark's Track Map produced after the expedition in 1814 indicated a tributary of the Yellowstone River named Argalia Creek and a tributary of the Missouri River named Argalia River, both in what is today Montana . Neither of these tributaries retained these names, however. The Bighorn River , another tributary of the Yellowstone, and its tributary stream,

3270-733: The Southwest . (The Arapaho played a similar role of introducing the horse to the Great Plains, through trade between the Spanish settlements along the Rio Grande and the agricultural tribes along the Missouri River .) The Shoshones' dominance in what is now western Wyoming declined as other tribes such as the Blackfeet acquired horses and staged counter-raids. In the 1820s, the Shoshone started to regain power by trading for firearms in

3379-642: The 1860s and 1870s, with the Cook-Folsom expedition and the Raynolds expedition describing horse-mounted Bannock-speaking Indians as Sheepeaters. In 1870, Wind River Indian Reservation agent G.W. Fleming stated that Chief Washakie allowed a band of "Toorooreka" Sheepeaters to share in the annual annuity. This likely represents the period when the Wyoming Tukudika merged with the Washakie band of

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3488-545: The 2010 census, only 26,490 people now live on the reservation, with about 15,000 of the residents being non-Indians on ceded lands and the town of Riverton . Tribal headquarters are located at Fort Washakie . The Shoshone Rose Casino (Eastern Shoshone) and the Wind River Hotel and Casino, Little Wind Casino, and 789 Smoke Shop and Casino (all Northern Arapaho) are the only casinos in Wyoming. The Shoshone has

3597-519: The Arapaho had no legal claim to the reservation. According to historian Loretta Fowler, Arapaho leaders at the time were aware they had no real legal status to reservation land in the Wind River Valley. They participated in land cessions and allotment of reservation land in part to solidify their title and claims to the land. It wasn't until the conclusion of the 1938 U.S. Supreme Court Case United States v. Shoshone Tribe of Indians that

3706-622: The Arapaho legal claim to the reservation, which was renamed the Wind River Indian Reservation. The Shoshone leader Washakie had a preference for the area, and had previously defeated the Crow in battle to hold the territory. As early as 1862, Indian Agent Luther Mann Jr. recommended creating a permanent reservation for the Shoshone. After prospectors discovered gold at South Pass in 1867, the United States Indian agent sought to limit numerous tribes from raiding mining camps by placing

3815-631: The Bering land bridge from Siberia into Alaska during the Pleistocene (about 750,000 years ago); subsequently, they spread through western North America as far south as Baja California and northwestern mainland Mexico. Divergence from their closest Asian ancestor ( snow sheep ) occurred about 600,000 years ago. In North America, wild sheep diverged into two extant species — Dall sheep, which occupy Alaska and northwestern Canada, and bighorn sheep, which range from southwestern Canada to Mexico. However,

3924-897: The Colorado Rockies around Estes Park , but also including the Snowy Range , the Bighorns, the Black Hills , and the Laramie Range . To seek favor of the Army, leaders Chief Black Coal (Northern Arapaho), Sharp Nose and their followers allied with Gen. George Crook as scouts against their former allies the Cheyenne, participating in the November 1876 Dull Knife Fight on the side of the United States, along with Shoshone, Cheyenne, Sioux, and Pawnee scouts. Officers of

4033-630: The Crow in places like Henrys Fork and Yellowstone . The Crow dominance in the Wind River Valley, though secured as official Crow territory under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 , effectively ended when Chief Washakie defeated a Crow chief in one-on-one fight at Crowheart Butte , sometime in the late 1850s or early 1860s. Washakie likely opted to challenge the Crow because the emigrant trails and increasing white settlement in Utah, Idaho, and Montana made hunting in those areas harder. This left

4142-633: The Crow-occupied Wind River Valley as the only place Washakie could use force to secure hunting grounds from a rival tribe without significantly opposing American interests. The Crow legacy in the Wind River persists in the name of the Middle Fork Popo Agie River , pronounced "poepoe-zhuh", which comes from the Crow word Poppootcháashe , an onomatopoeia meaning "plopping river". The Crow word for

4251-634: The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho. In a coordinated scheme, companies extracted oil and paid some production royalties to tribes, while also secretly collecting and selling a separate supply of oil for which they paid no royalties. The exposé led to reforms. Of the population in 2011, 3,737 were Shoshone and 8,177 were Arapaho. There were 1,888,000 acres (7,640 km ) of tribal land with 180,387 acres (730.00 km ) of wilderness area. In 2000, 6,728 (28.9%) were Native Americans (full or part) and of them 54% were Arapaho and 30% Shoshone. Of

4360-589: The Eastern Shoshone to reside on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Later anthropologists Are Hultkrantz and Demetri Shimkin reported that members of the Tukudika formed an enclave within the Trout Creek area near Fort Washakie . Early Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Norris claimed that the Sheepeater were the only year-round residents of Yellowstone National Park. Writer Susan Hughes doubts that

4469-671: The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 encompassing much of eastern Colorado and southeast Wyoming had been overrun by whites after the Colorado gold rush of 1859 . The Northern Arapaho then signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 , giving them claim to locate in the Great Sioux Reservation , encompassing the western half of present-day South Dakota west of the Missouri River, and rights to hunt north of

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4578-723: The Green River Basin. In the 1830s and 1840s, they are recorded as raiding in the Platte River and Powder River basins, and the Laramie Plains . The Shoshone regularly used the Wind River Basin as winter range or as a route to hunting grounds in the Sweetwater , Bighorn Basin , Bighorn Mountains , or Powder River Basin. Coming from the other direction, the post-1600s westward migration of Siouan and Algonquian -speaking peoples brought new populations onto

4687-603: The Green River, farther west, is Chiichkase Aashe or Seedskadee Aashe , meaning " sage hen river." The Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868 effectively designated the Wind River Valley as exclusive territory of the Shoshone, superseding the Crow's 1851 Fort Laramie treaty claims. In 1872, the Shoshone agreed to sell part of the reservation to the U.S., establishing the North Fork of the Popo Agie River as

4796-599: The Native American population, 22% spoke a language other than English at home. The Wind River Indian Reservation established a 180,000-acre (730 km ) roadless area in the Wind River Range in the 1930s, several decades before the passage of the national Wilderness Act of 1964. The tribes have re-established populations of big game , such as moose , wolf , elk , mule deer , whitetail deer , bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope , and have passed hunting regulations to conserve these species. In November 2016

4905-613: The Northern Arapaho Experience Room at the Wind River Hotel and Casino. The Museum of the American West in Lander hosts weekly powwow dancing demonstrations during the summer. The Wind River Indian Reservation allows access for fishing and hiking for non-tribal members who purchase a tribal fishing license available from local retailers. The license allows access to fishing lands on the southern half of

5014-590: The Platte River in Wyoming so long as game remained. In practice the Arapaho did not wish to locate permanently at an agency shared by the Sioux. They were belittled by leaders of the more powerful Sioux including Red Cloud , and wanted to avoid being culturally subsumed within the Lakota Nation. Instead, the Arapaho hoped for a reservation of their own. In 1868–69, the Arapaho briefly sought to locate with

5123-399: The Red-Nosed Reindeer . Bighorn sheep were once known by the scientific identification "argali" or "argalia" due to assumption that they were the same animal as the Asiatic argali ( Ovis ammon ). Lewis and Clark recorded numerous sightings of O. canadensis in the journals of their exploration—sometimes using the name argalia. In addition, they recorded the use of bighorn sheep horns by

5232-467: The Sheepeaters could have live year-round in the park due to snow levels. She also points out to the fact that Jones expedition guide Togote, a Tukudika who is namesake of Togwotee Pass , was only familiar with the southern portion of Yellowstone Park, as evidence that Sheepeaters didn't live year-round in Yellowstone. Since Tukudika were aware migratory patterns of deer and elk and bighorn sheep, they likely migrated out of high elevations to spend winter at

5341-412: The Shoshone introduced ten bison to the reservation, the beginning of what is planned as a 1,000-head herd. They were the first bison to be seen on the Wind River Reservation since 1885. The tribe is also receiving bison from Yellowstone National Park that are coming out of quarantine at the Fort Peck Indian Reservation . Area suited as buffalo habitat is estimated at 700,000 acres (2,800 km ) on

5450-404: The Shoshone reservation in the Wind River Valley as a buffer. The United States hoped that tribes like the Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho would attack their traditional Shoshone enemies instead of the miners. However, the area was too dangerous for the Shoshone to occupy year-round, so Chief Washakie kept his people closer to Fort Bridger for several years after 1868. Washakie's son

5559-427: The U.S. Army saw the onset of winter with roughly 1,000 hungry and impoverished Arapaho still averse to living near the Red Cloud Agency , at an agreed-upon agency of Fort Randall , or in Indian Territory with the Southern Arapaho. Chief Black Coal had previously visited the Southern Arapaho reservation on the Canadian River in Oklahoma, finding the location unacceptable. So, Army officers looked to Fort Washakie as

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5668-414: The United States Army supported the idea of an Arapaho reservation in eastern Wyoming Territory — General Crook may have promised an agency on the Tongue River . Yet federal policy prevented this from coming to fruition, partly because the United States had essentially stopped negotiating reservation treaties with tribes after 1868, preferring instead to use executive orders in such agreements. In 1878

5777-427: The United States experience regular outbreaks of infectious pneumonia , which likely result from the introduction of bacterial pathogens (in particular, Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae , and some strains of Mannheimia haemolytica ) carried asymptomatically in domestic sheep. Once introduced, pathogens can transmit rapidly through a bighorn population, resulting in all-age die-offs that sometimes kill up to 90% of

5886-460: The Wind River Basin as part of traditional Shoshone territory. Likewise, the Arapaho were familiar with the Wind River Basin, referring to the Wind River / Bighorn River as Hotee Niicie , meaning "mountain sheep river", in reference to the numerous herds of the species in the area. By the middle 1800s, the Crow were largely dominant in the Wind River Valley and Absaroka Range, using the area as winter range, and fighting with Shoshones who came into

5995-421: The Wind River Range. Bighorn sheep corral traps relied on a deep understanding of bighorn sheep behavior. The Tukudika built traps in the Wind River Range and the Abaroka Range which were shaped in spirals (shaped something like a bighorn sheep horn) with the opening to the trap facing downhill. The traps were located on slopes near bighorn sheep summer range. Hunters would approach the sheep from above, then spook

6104-536: The Wind River Reservation resides, provides opportunities for visitors to see and participate in important cultural experiences. Scheduled powwows are available to attend by the public. There are three larger celebrations throughout the year in Wind River Country, including the Eastern Shoshone Powwow in June, the Ethete Celebration in July, and the Northern Arapaho Powwow in September. These ceremonies are an important aspect of Native American culture, that involve feasting, singing and dancing. An important aspect of

6213-443: The Wind River area. The powerful and numerous Lakota were the last to push west in response to American expansion, bumping up against the earlier-migrating tribes, and then moving farther west into the Rocky Mountains. By the mid-1800s, all of these tribes would make incursions into the now-contested Wind River valley. Shoshone place names include dozens in the Bighorn Basin, demonstrating a detailed knowledge of lands further east than

6322-400: The Wind River to the United States and opened to white settlement. The Riverton Reclamation Project and the city of Riverton developed on some of this land. Instead of a lump-sum payment or upfront purchase, the cession required the United States to pay the tribes for each area of land settled upon. Seeing that large parts of the ceded area were never taken up by settlers, the ceded portion of

6431-503: The ages of 20 and 29. Of the 88 attempts, alcohol was involved in 47 cases, with 46 male and 42 females attempting suicide. Many events were created to attempt to stop this suicide epidemic that hit the reservation. Parents and elder community members closed bingo nights for children and hosted recreational activities instead. The schools extended hours for learning centers and gymnasiums. An alcohol treatment program began holding weekly alcohol-free teen dances, which were very popular and had

6540-852: The agility to prey on them in uneven, rocky habitats. Fire suppression techniques may limit visibility through shrublands, and therefore increase cover and predation rates by mountain lions. Bighorn sheep are considered good indicators of land health because the species is sensitive to many human-induced environmental problems. In addition to their aesthetic value, bighorn sheep are considered desirable game animals by hunters . Bighorn sheep graze on grasses and browse shrubs , particularly in fall and winter, and seek minerals at natural salt licks . Females tend to forage and walk, possibly to avoid predators and protect lambs, while males tend to eat and then rest and ruminate, which lends to more effective digestion and greater increase in body size. Bighorn sheep live in large herds and do not typically follow

6649-416: The animals downhill. Since sheep have an instinct to find security at high ground, the sheep would run downhill, then traverse the slope, before running uphill again. With luck, this movement of the animals would direct them straight into the mouth of a corral trap, usually constructed out of logs. The hunters would then spook the animals further into the narrowing part of the spiral trap, with the assistance of

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6758-841: The annual snowfall is less than about 150 cm (60 in) per year. A bighorn's winter range usually has lower elevations than its summer range. Bighorn sheep are highly susceptible to certain diseases carried by domestic sheep, such as psoroptic scabies and pneumonia ; additional mortality occurs as a result of accidents involving rock falls or falling off cliffs (a hazard of living in steep, rugged terrain). Bighorns are well adapted to climbing steep terrain, where they seek cover from predators . Predation primarily occurs with lambs, which are hunted by coyotes , bobcats , gray foxes , wolverines , jaguars , ocelots , lynxes , and golden eagles . Bighorn sheep of all ages are threatened by black bears , grizzly bears , wolves , and especially mountain lions , which are perhaps best equipped with

6867-416: The area due to geopolitical forces, as well as for food resources; trapper records after 1800 describe huge herds of tens of thousands of stampeding bison in the Wind River Basin, raising massive clouds of dust on the horizon. The Shoshone largely controlled much of what is now western Wyoming in the 1700s, because they were the first of the northern tribes to secure horses from the Spanish and traders in

6976-419: The area. Crow Chief Arapooish mentioned the Wind River Valley as a preferred wintering ground with salt bush and cottonwood bark for horse forage in a speech recorded in the 1830s and published in Washington Irving 's Adventures of Captain Bonneville . Meanwhile, Washakie and his people avoided the Crow treaty lands in the Wind River Valley in the 1850s, preferring to hunt away from the emigrant trails and

7085-484: The backs of all four legs. Males typically weigh 58–143 kg (128–315 lb), are 90–105 cm (35–41 in) tall at the shoulder, and 1.6–1.85 m (63–73 in) long from the nose to the tail. Females are typically 34–91 kg (75–201 lb), 75–90 cm (30–35 in) tall, and 1.28–1.58 m (50–62 in) long. Male bighorn sheep have large horn cores, enlarged cornual and frontal sinuses, and internal bony septa . These adaptations serve to protect

7194-502: The bones in the male's body. The Rocky Mountain and Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep occupy the cooler mountainous regions of Canada and the United States. In contrast, the desert bighorn sheep subspecies are indigenous to the hot desert ecosystems of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. Bighorn sheep inhabit alpine meadows, grassy mountain slopes, and foothill country near rugged, rocky cliffs and bluffs. Since bighorn sheep cannot move through deep snow, they prefer drier slopes, where

7303-610: The brain by absorbing the impact of clashes. Bighorn sheep have preorbital glands on the anterior corner of each eye, inguinal glands in the groin, and pedal glands on each foot. Secretions from these glands may support dominance behaviors. Bighorns from the Rocky Mountains are relatively large, with males that occasionally exceed 230 kg (500 lb) and females that exceed 90 kg (200 lb). In contrast, Sierra Nevada bighorn males weigh up to only 90 kg (198 lb) and females to 60 kg (132 lb). Males' horns can weigh up to 14 kg (30 lb), as much as all

7412-400: The closest alternate agency for distributing rations, despite the fact that the Shoshone held treaty rights to decide what other tribes they were willing to admit to the reservation under the Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868 . The supposedly temporary placement of the Arapaho at Fort Washakie Agency became permanent because the United States government never took further action to relocate

7521-426: The decline, the most drastic occurring from about 1870 through 1950. In 1936, the Arizona Boy Scouts mounted a statewide campaign to save the bighorn sheep. The scouts first became interested in the sheep through the efforts of Major Frederick Russell Burnham . Burnham observed that fewer than 150 of these sheep still lived in the Arizona mountains. The National Wildlife Federation , the Izaak Walton League , and

7630-422: The early 21st century, the media reported problems of reservation poverty and unemployment, resulting in associated crime and a high rate of drug abuse . In 2012, The New York Times released an article titled "Brutal Crimes Grip an Indian Reservation". According to this article, written by Timothy Williams, an Iraq war strategy, "the surge", was used to attempt to fight crime, taking hundreds of officers from

7739-408: The fifth-largest by population. The land area is approximately 2.2 million acres (3,438 sq mi; 8,903 km ), and the total area (land and water) is 3,532.01 square miles (9,147.9 km ). The reservation constitutes just over one-third of Fremont County and over one-fifth of Hot Springs County . The 2000 census reported the population of Fremont County as 40,237. According to

7848-493: The finest quality, and three large, neatly dressed panther skins, in return for awls and axes, kettles, tobacco, ammunition, etc. ... One of them drew a map of the country around us on a white elk skin with a piece of charcoal, after which he explained the direction of the different passes, streams, etc." The Tukudika economy was largely derived from the large numbers of mountain sheep that the Tukudika were expert at hunting, whether with their sheep horn bows, or with corral traps in

7957-426: The government recognized it had wrongly given Shoshone land and resources to the Arapaho. A subsequent land deal then officially solidified Arapaho claim as half-owners of tribal lands and resources on the Shoshone Indian Reservation, which was officially renamed the Wind River Indian Reservation. This complicated history of the Arapaho arrival on the reservation continues to affect intertribal relations and politics on

8066-764: The historical range of bighorns remains unoccupied. Hunting for male bighorn sheep is allowed, but heavily regulated, in Canada and the United States. Bighorn sheep were among the most admired animals of the Apsaalooka (Crow) people, and what is today called the Bighorn Mountain Range was central to the Apsaalooka tribal lands. In the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area book, storyteller Old Coyote describes

8175-480: The horses. In contrast, horse-mounted Shoshones were much more dependent on bison hunting on the plains, which offered a major source of wealth for trade, but was also a resource that other tribes coveted, leading to conflict through much of the 1800s. The Tukudika were smaller in numbers than the other Shoshone, but judging by Russel's account lived a prosperous life by relying on a variety of food resources. The Sheepeater were potentially subject to misidentification by

8284-413: The lead investigators on the homicide. The reservation has six officers who are responsible for patrolling an area about the size of Rhode Island . Two teenage boys were arrested in connection with the girls' deaths. One boy had given them his grandmother's methadone, saying that the girls were already high and he wanted to help them, because they didn't want to go home and have their parents see them. In

8393-514: The linguistically-related Gros Ventres at the agency on the Milk River in Montana , but left after a smallpox epidemic. Further, Arapaho priest and leader Weasel Bear had a vision that the Arapaho would find a permanent home closer to the Rocky Mountains, and not on the Great Plains. The Arapaho way of life had historically included significant use of mountain hunting grounds, especially in

8502-559: The longest prehistory in the area. Archaeologists have found evidence that unique aspects of the Tukudika Mountain Shoshone or Sheepeater material culture such as soapstone bowls were in use in this region from the early 1800s going back 1,000 to 3,000 years or more. People descended from the Mountain Shoshone band continue to live on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The Dinwoody petroglyph style

8611-498: The message that the Apsaalooka people will survive only so long as the river winding out of the mountains is known as the Bighorn River. Bighorn sheep are hunted for their meat and horns, used in ceremonies, as food, and as hunting trophies. They also serve as a source of ecotourism , as tourists come to see the bighorn sheep in their native habitat. The Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep is the provincial mammal of Alberta and

8720-426: The mouth of mountain canyons where they spill out to the plains, or in the basins themselves. Some big game wintering areas, such as Sunlight Basin and the upper Wind River Valley, are nearly snow-free in winter. Other recent excavations have suggested that certain snow-free areas within the Wind River Range may have been used by Indians in mid-winter for up to 12,000 years. The Tukudika are known for three innovations:

8829-487: The name may also mean "eaters of meat." They were named for the bighorn mountain sheep ( Ovis canadensis ), which they commonly hunted. They are also called Mountain Shoshone or Toyahini, the mountaineers. The Tukudeka speak the Shoshone language , as well as English . Shoshone is a Central Numic language in the Northern Uto-Aztecan language family. The Tukudeka's traditional homelands were along

8938-404: The plains and traditional Shoshone territory of the middle Rocky Mountains. The earliest of these midwestern, Missouri River, and Great Lakes tribes to migrate to the Great Plains include the Crow, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, though some sources say the Arapaho potentially occupied the Great Plains for 1,000 years. Most of these tribes were initially located on the Great Plains farther north and east of

9047-525: The population in North America peaked in the millions, and the bighorn sheep entered into the mythology of Native Americans . By 1900, the population had crashed to several thousand due to diseases introduced through European livestock and overhunting. Ovis canadensis is one of two species of mountain sheep in North America; the other species being O. dalli , the Dall sheep . Wild sheep crossed

9156-573: The population. In the years following pathogen introduction, bighorn populations frequently experience multiple years of lamb pneumonia outbreaks. These outbreaks can severely limit recruitment and likely play a powerful role in slowing population growth. Bighorn sheep were widespread throughout the western United States, Canada, and northern Mexico two hundred years ago. The population was estimated to be 150,000 to 200,000. Unregulated hunting, habitat destruction, overgrazing of rangelands, and diseases contracted from domestic livestock all contributed to

9265-496: The powwow is showcasing the regalia of the dancers. Each piece is personally significant to the dancer, uniquely handmade, utilizing feathers, shells, bones, beadwork and sometimes family heirlooms. The dances performed are traditional dances, unique to the tribe they belong to, as is the music. The spectacle is described on the Wind River Country's tourism website, telling prospective visitors, "If you close your eyes for

9374-457: The remains still visible in the late 20th century. Tukudika also hunted sheep by driving them into deep drifts of spring snow. Shoshones in bighorn sheep habitat manufactured the sheephorn bow over a period of two to three months by boiling and straightening the spiral horn of the bighorn sheep. In geothermal areas, hot springs may have served to heat the horn. The horn would be shaped over time and backed with sinew . When completed, this bow

9483-432: The reservation community also suffers from the legacy of settler colonialism , dispossession from land, forced assimilation and cultural destruction, family disruption, environmental extraction and degradation, disenfranchisement , and inter-generational poverty. Though media portrayals produced by outsiders frequently note these disparities, tribal members have publicly objected to such narratives, noting that they are not

9592-439: The reservation today. Over time, intermarriage between members of the two tribes has occurred, building connections between members of the historically-enemy tribes and encouraging political cooperation. Yet efforts to maintain and exert independent sovereignty of each tribe remain a major dynamic on the reservation. In the 1970s and 1980s, oil and gas operators on the Wind River Indian Reservation were found to be stealing oil from

9701-722: The reservation was later restored to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes. In the winter of 1878–79, the United States Army escorted the Northern Arapaho to the Sweetwater Valley near Independence Rock and then temporarily placed them at the Shoshone's Fort Washakie Agency to receive rations. This decision to place the Arapaho in close proximity with their historic enemies the Shoshone has had significant historical and political consequences. The former Arapaho and Cheyenne reservation under

9810-492: The reservation, including in the tribal roadless area that encompasses part of the dramatic Wind River Range. Hikers and mountaineers seeking the closest approach to Gannett Peak can hire a guide to drive into a trailhead. The reservation licenses contractors in Thermopolis to offer whitewater rafting and fishing outfitting in the spectacular Wind River Canyon . The Wind River Country, the wide expansion of land on which

9919-519: The reservation. They were found in the bedroom of a small home in Beaver Creek, which is a low-income tribal housing community. They had overdosed on methadone , a painkiller which is used to wean heroin addicts off of heroin. No one knows how they received the painkillers, which is why the coroner ruled their deaths homicides . The reservation has a very thin police force, which led to the FBI being

10028-450: The season are more likely to survive than lambs born later. Lambs born late may not have access to sufficient milk, as their mothers are lactating at a time when food quality is lower. Newborn lambs weigh from 3.6 to 4.5 kg (8 to 10 lb) and can walk within hours. The lambs are then weaned when they reach four to six months old. The lifespan of ewes is typically 10–14 years and 9–12 years for rams. Many bighorn sheep populations in

10137-540: The shape of a spiral. They also consumed fish caught in the mountain streams using weirs. In contrast to the horse-mounted buffalo-hunting Shoshone, the Tukudika did not rely on horses. Their pedestrian way of life was well-suited for spending summer at high-elevations where migratory animals like bighorn sheep, elk, and deer abounded, and they could also harvest calorie-rich edible plants like white bark pine nuts. The lifestyle meant they weren't limited to plains areas where they needed large numbers of horses or forage to graze

10246-535: The state animal of Colorado and, as such, is incorporated into the symbol for the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife. The Desert bighorn sheep is the state mammal of Nevada . The Bighorn sheep was featured in the children's book Buford the Little Bighorn (1967) by Bill Peet . The Bighorn sheep named Buford has a huge pair of horns in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, similar to Rudolph

10355-404: The status of these species is questionable given that hybridization has occurred between them in their recent evolutionary history. In 1940, Ian McTaggart-Cowan split the species into seven subspecies, with the first three being mountain bighorns and the last four being desert bighorns: Starting in 1993, Ramey and colleagues, using DNA testing, have shown this division into seven subspecies

10464-481: The steatite or soapstone cooking pot, the corral trap for hunting bighorn sheep, and the sheep horn bow. In the Wind River Range and Absaroka Ranges of Wyoming, Tukudika used a cooking pot carved out of soft soapstone . The pot could hold up to a gallon, and be placed directly in the fire. Because of the high-specific heat of soapstone, the pot could be pulled out of the fire and maintain boiling temperatures for some time. Tukudika quarries of soap stone were found in

10573-404: The three subspecies of O. canadensis are: In addition, two populations are currently considered endangered by the United States government: Bighorn sheep are named for the large, curved horns borne by the rams (males). Ewes (females) also have horns, but they are shorter and straighter. They range in color from light brown to grayish or dark, chocolate brown, with a white rump and lining on

10682-491: The tribe. The Arapaho held out hope for a reservation of their own until 1890, when Gen. Crook died. In late-1800s dealings including land cessions, the government repeatedly acted as if the Arapaho were a party of their reservation and its resources by including them in cession discussions like the sale of the Thermopolis Hot Springs . This was despite Shoshone protests (which were later held up in court) that

10791-631: The west side and another 500,000 acres (2,000 km ) on the north of the reservation. The Northern Arapaho established a bison herd in 2019. Facilities for tourism include hotels located at the Wind River Casino and the Shoshone Rose Casino. There are numerous cultural centers and interpretive displays at the Eastern Shoshone Cultural Center and library at Fort Washakie School, as well as

10900-527: The whole story of life in reservation communities. High Country News tribal desk editor Tristan Ahtone ( Kiowa ) used Wind River media coverage by the New York Times , CNN, and Business Insider as examples of simplistic negative narratives that future journalists can work to disrupt through accurate portrayals of Native American realities, both good and bad. In 2009, three young Native American girls (13, 14, and 15 years of age) were murdered on

11009-539: The year. Bighorn sheep exhibit agonistic behavior: two competitors walk away from each other and then turn to face each other before jumping and lunging into headbutts. Rams' horns can frequently exhibit damage from repeated clashes. Females exhibit a stable, nonlinear hierarchy that correlates with age. Females may fight for high social status when they are integrated into the hierarchy at one to two years of age. Rocky Mountain bighorn rams employ at least three different courting strategies. The most common and successful

11118-592: Was changed to honor United States ally and Shoshone Chief Washakie in 1878. The fort continued to serve as a military post until the US abandoned it in 1909. By that time, a community had developed around the fort. Sacagawea , a guide with the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–06, was later interred here. Her son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau , who was a child on the expedition, has a memorial stone in Fort Washakie but

11227-463: Was constructed to support farming and ranching in the arid region. The Arapaho constructed a flour mill near Fort Washakie. Separately, under the Dawes Act , communal tribal land was allotted to individual households, which could later be sold to non-tribal members, further diminishing the tribal land base. In 1904 the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho ceded a portion of the reservation north of

11336-743: Was created in support of the Endangered Species Act , which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1973. Other animals within the portfolio include the Siberian Tiger , Bald Eagle and the Giant Panda . Wind River Indian Reservation The Wind River Indian Reservation , in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming , is shared by two Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone ( Shoshoni : Gweechoon Deka , meaning: "buffalo eaters" ) and

11445-517: Was interred in Danner, Oregon . A government school and hospital operated for many years east of Fort Washakie; Arapaho children were sent here to board during the school year. St. Michael's at Ethete was constructed in 1917–1920. The village of Arapahoe was originally established as a US sub-agency to distribute rations to the Arapaho . At one time it also operated a large trading post. Irrigation

11554-529: Was killed in a raid by enemy tribes, and the Oglala Lakota leader Hump, a mentor of Crazy Horse , was killed fighting the Shoshone in the Wind River Basin. Intertribal conflicts occurred several times in the 1860s and 1870s in the Wind River region. The Arapaho briefly stayed in the Wind River valley in 1870, but left after miners and Shoshones attacked and killed tribal members and Black Bear , one of their leaders, as they moved lodges. At another event,

11663-440: Was later considered by later anthropologist Ake Hultkrantz to be almost entirely fabricated, and a source of myths and folklore describing the Tukudika as impoverished pygmies without guns or horses. In contrast, when fur trapper Osborne Russell encountered a band of Tukudika in what is now Yellowstone in 1834, he found them to be well-clothed, accompanied by pack-dogs, and possessing a quantity of skins for trading: "Here we found

11772-407: Was shorter but also much more powerful than bows made out of wood, boasting a pull strength of up to 70 pounds. Horn bows fetched a high price in trade value of five to ten horses. The bow is one of the most powerful bows created by indigenous people in North America. Bighorn mountain sheep O. cervina Desmarest O. montana Cuvier The bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis )

11881-500: Was that only 8 of 12 American Indians said that alcohol is a very serious problem on the reservation, while 11 of 12 Whites said the same. In an article in the Casper Star-Tribune , of the 79 deaths from 2004, a quarter of the deaths were attributed to alcoholic cirrhosis and half were alcoholic deaths due to car crashes and homicide connected to drugs. According to Cathy Keene, local director for Indian Health Services,

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