The Eastern Shoshone Tribe, now living on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, has been living, some say, in the Wind River mountain range and its environs for some 12,000 years. Recently discovered ancient cliff dwellings, attributed to Eastern Shoshone builders, in the Wind River Mountains are evidence of just how long the Shoshone Tribe has dwelled and hunted in these lands. By the early 1800s, the Eastern Shoshone band ranged along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains from southwestern Wyoming to southwestern Montana. In the 1860s, the band camped for most of the year in the Wind River Valley, which the Shoshones call "Warm Valley", moving to the Fort Bridger area in Wyoming for the summer months.
The Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming is one of four groups of Arapaho who originally occupied the headwaters of the Arkansas and Platte Rivers. They speak a variation of the Algonquin language, and are that people’s most southwest extension. Culturally, they are Plains Indians, but socially and historically distinct. After signing the Treaty of 1851, the Arapaho and Cheyenne then shared land encompassing one-sixth of Wyoming, one-quarter of Colorado and parts of western Kansas and Nebraska. Later, when the Treaty of 1868 left the Northern Arapaho without a land base, they were placed with the Shoshone in west central Wyoming, on the Wind River Reservation. The Northern Arapaho are a federally recognized tribe.
WRITC PROGRAMS
Eastern Shoshone Council Members
Wayland Large, Chairman
Stanford Ware, Co-Chairman
Latonna Snyder
Gus Thayer
Gloria St. Clair
Clinton Glick
Northern Arapahoe Council Members
CHAIRMAN, Keenan Groesbeck
CO-CHAIR, Kim Harjo-Whiteman
Lloyd Goggles
Michael Yellowplume
Sami Dresser
Preston Moss
The Wind River Indian Reservation is located in the central-western portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, where Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Native American tribes currently live. Stretching roughly 60 miles east to west and 50 miles north to south, the Indian reservation is located in the Wind River Basin and includes portions of the Wind River Mountain Range, Owl Creek Mountains, and the Absaroka Mountains.
The total land area is ~2.2 million acres (3,473.272 square miles or 8,995.733 km²), and the land and water area is 3,532.010 sq mi (9,147.864 km²). The Wind River Indian Reservation is the seventh-largest Indian reservation in the United States by area, and the fifth-largest[4] American Indian reservation by population. The reservation constitutes just over one-third of Fremont County and over one-fifth of Hot Springs County.[5]
The 2000 census reported the population of Fremont County as 40,237 inhabitants. According to the 2010 census,[6] 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 & Casino (all Northern Arapaho) are the only casinos in Wyoming.
Wind River Indian Reservation History
https://jacksonholehistory.org/an-introduction-to-the-wind-river-indian-reservation-of-wyoming/
The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes have separate governments organized under the auspices of the General Councils of each tribe. The administrative arm of each tribe is the tribal business council (the ESBC and NABC). General Council members are all enrolled tribal members who are 18 years old or older. The General Council retains sovereignty for each tribe, but delegates many decisions for day-to-day activities to their respective business councils. Business Council members are elected to fixed terms of office. Each tribe has separate departments, such as housing, employment, social services, and the like. Until late 2014, the Joint Business Council (JBC) operated to attend to reservation matters that affected both tribes. Both Tribes now operate under the Wind River Inter tribal Council
Cultural traditions and ceremonies once banned by the government are now celebrated and encouraged These include rituals such as the sweat lodge, Sun Dance, Ghost Dance, and the Native American Church. Beadworking, powwow dancing, and other traditional practices continue to thrive to the delight of tribal members and non-tribal visitors alike. Both tribes are attempting to preserve their native language.
While older traditions and customs are preserved, practiced, and celebrated, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahos also participate in the larger American consumer world. Cell phones are carried in ornately beaded bags—or simply stuffed into jeans pockets. Ranching and farmwork provide employment both on and off the reservation. Others own construction businesses. Many are college educated with professional careers. Like Americans everywhere, Shoshones and Arapahos own homes, rent houses or apartments, and drive trucks and cars. Many still own and ride horses. Thus, “walking in two worlds”—living with respect for elders and traditions of the past go hand-in-hand with living lives of modernity.
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