Personal Recollections of Wash-A-Kie: Chief of the Shoshones

UHQ Volume 1 October, 1928 Number 4

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF WASH-A-KIE: CHIEF OF THE SHOSHONES

By P. L. Williams*

WASHAKIE, SHOSHONE CHIEF

Prefatory to noting these "recollections" it will not be amiss to give some account of the Shoshone Tribe of Indians, their location, and relations to the Government.

They had, previous to a Treaty with them entered into in 1868, been occupying the region in northwestern Wyoming generally designated as the "Wind River Country," and adjacent territory. This region prior to the Act of Congress organizing the Territory of Wyoming, was, for some time included in Dakota Territory. On the 3rd day of July, 1868 a Treaty was concluded between the United States and the Shoshones (Eastern band) and Bannock Tribes of Indians at a conference held at Fort Bridger, Utah. At this conference the representatives of the Government were headed by General Sherman and included some other Military officers and prominent civilians; while the Indians were represented by Wash-A-Kie, the head Chief of the Shoshones, and several Sub-Chiefs and head men of the Tribes, parties, to said Treaty.

This Treaty was subsequently ratified by the Senate, and thereafter, on the 21st of February, 1869, was proclaimed by President Johnson. The proclamation sets out at length the Treaty, and is printed in Volume 15, U. S. Statutes at large, beginning at page 673. The signatures of the Government negotiators are first appended, followed by the names and cross marks of the Indian representatives, the first being "Wash-A- Kie his X Mark." Amongst the others signing is "Nar-Kok his X Mark."

The language of the Treaty seems to indicate there had been no earlier treaty entered into between the Government and these Tribes. Among other provisions it set aside and established a reservation for the Shoshones, which included in a general way the Wind River Country before mentioned. Its boundaries are not very definitely fixed, referring mainly to water sheds and streams. For a considerable distance its western boundary is the summit of the Wind River Mountains.

The southern end reaches to within about twenty-five miles northerly of the "South Pass" of the Rocky Mountains, and extended northerly up—approximately two hundred miles.

The Treaty provided that the Indians should make their permanent home within the reservation, and that whites should be excluded therefrom, excepting the Indian Agent to be appointed, his necessary assistants and such other officers and employees of the Government as were considered necessary or desirable in aiding the Indians to adjust themselves to the new conditions. Among such were named a physician, a school teacher, a farmer, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a surveyor and a miller. Provision was made for building, by the Government, a lumber and grist mill, residence and office for the agent, a schoolhouse and residences for the several employees above named. There was also provision made for building an additional school house and supplying an additional teacher, whenever thirty additional children between the ages of six and sixteen years could be persuaded to attend school.

The Treaty clearly contemplated an effort on the part of the Government to educate and civilize the Indians, and this purpose was welcomed and looked upon with favor by Wash-A- Kie.

One further provision contained in the Treaty was to the effect that if acceptable to the Indians, other groups or tribes might be moved on to the reservation and occupy it jointly with the Shoshones. This provision resulted unfortunately, as will later appear.

In 1868, and only a few days after the Treaty was concluded at Fort Bridger, Congress passed the Act organizing the Territory of Wyoming. It was made up in most part of portions of Dakota and Nebraska Territories, but included also some territory carved out of Montana, Idaho and Utah. The notch now existing in the northeast corner of our state was the territory taken from Utah, and which includes Fort Bridger.

No officers were appointed for the new Territory until early in the Spring of 1869, and after the inauguration of President Grant. All of these officers were from the eastern and middlewest states. They soon appeared and entered upon the duties of their respective offices, and thus started the Territorial Government to function.

At this time I was located at South Pass City, a new Mining Camp or town. It is situated about twelve miles north of the famous Mountain "South Pass." At the first session of the Territorial Legislature, held late in the year 1869, counties were established and county seats fixed. South Pass City was made the County Seat of Sweetwater County. My personal acquaintance with Wash-A-Kie began in 1869 and continued with considerable intimacy until I removed from the Territory at the end of 1871.

Wash-A-Kie exhibited not only great interest in this recent organization of the Territory as a whole, but also in its division into counties, and the various local officers thereof, and the functions to be performed by each. He made, inquiries of the Sheriff for information on these subjects, and he brought Wash- A-Kie and the Sub-Chief Nar-Kok to my office to obtain as full an explanation as I was able to give. I was at this time Prosecuting Attorney of Sweetwater County. Wash-A-Kie could neither speak nor understand English, and in his association with white men he was invariably accompanied by Nar-Kok as his interpreter. He was a very intelligent young man who spoke and understood English very well, and was a very efficient interpreter. Wash-A-Kie was at this time about sixty years of age. He was a broad shouldered, deep chested, muscular man, and had been in his young manhood, no doubt, possessed of great physical strength and endurance. Stories of remarkable feats of this nature were a tradition among his tribesmen as I learned from Nar-Kok. His hair was slightly sprinkled with gray. His face was free from wrinkles, his expression was kindly, though always serious and thoughtful. On this first interview with him I was amazed at the far reaching and comprehensive questions he asked. _ Some of them were difficult for me, from my limited storehouse of knowledge, to answer satisfactorily to myself, and I imagined were not fully satisfactory to him. These questions indicated he had done some very intelligent thinking on these subjects. He left no phase of our local Territorial or County Governments untouched. He desired to be informed as to each officer and the duties each was charged with. He expressed the opinion that some of these rules of public administration might be followed in the Government of his tribe. In subsequent meetings with him the conversation was frequently turned, by him, to these and kindred questions. He was, as I estimated him, a man of unusual natural ability, a man of vision, and forward looking. He indicated that it was his thought, that the time had arrived when his people must give up some of the past habits and customs and gradually substitute those of the whites. At one of our visits together he expressed the hope and desire that his young men would settle down and engage in raising cattle and other domestic animals. He seemed to have realized that in the development and progress of the human race from barbarism to the higher civilization, that the pastoral life naturally precedes agricultural pursuits. Nar-Kok informed me that Wash-A-Kie was both an advocate and an example of temperance and that he was greatly disturbed by the fact that the "bootleggers" of that time were smuggling whisky into the reservation and debauching his young men.

Prior to the adoption of the Treaty, as well as afterwards, it was the custom of the tribe to spend most of the year in the Wind River region, but about the 1st of June, the whole tribe, men, women and children, with all their belongings, ponies, tents, camp equipment, etc., would start on a trip to the Uintah Mountains in northeastern Utah, where they remained during the summer, returning about the latter part of September. There was at that time a great abundance of game and fish in these mountains, and so was an attractive place for the summer location of these Indians. The journey to and from this hunting and fishing ground was made by way of South Pass City, over the "South Pass" of the mountain divide, across the broad valley of the Green River and by Fort Bridger. Thus the) r passed South Pass City twice each year, and on these trips invariably camped in the edge of the town one or two days, during which time they mingled with, in a friendly way, the town people, who in turn visited the Indians at their camp. I, and a friend who occupied the same office, extended to Wash-A-Kie and Nar-Kok an invitation to visit and dine with us on every occasion they passed our town. This they invariably did, were always glad to see us, and especially enjoyed the white man's food.

We thus had a good deal of conversation, through Nar-Kok, and became quite well acquainted. These expeditions might, appear to be in violation of the stipulation that they should make their permanent home within the reservation, but Wash-A-Kie and his people were well within their treaty rights, as it contained a clause permitting them to hunt and fish upon any of the unoccupied lands of the Government.

Under the provision of the treaty permitting other groups or tribes of Indians to occupy jointly with the Shoshones the reservation established for them in 1870, as I recall it, a band of Sibux Indians were removed from their previous location in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska and placed within the Shoshone reservation. This band of Indians were called the Ogallalah Sioux. They had been used to roaming over vast areas and were warlike in their habits. It was understood among the whites that they did not like this^change of location, but that some pressure had been applied by the Government to bring it about. However this may have been, they were received kindly by Wash-A-Kie, who was not only friendly with the whites but maintained the reputation of cultivating peaceful and friendly relations with neighboring tribes. But the Ogallalahs were in a very different frame of mind. They were mad from the time of their arrival, and soon began to divide up into small roving bands, attacking and killing mining prospectors, cattlemen and others located near the reservation.

This condition became worse as time went on, resulting in the Spring of 1871 of the Sioux making war on the Shoshones, which was repelled with courage and vigor. Finally, about the middle of May, 1871, the warriors of the two tribes met in fierce combat, resulting in a decisive victory for the Shoshones who were led by Nar-Kok, who was generally called the War Chief. The victors killed and scalped a number of the Sioux and drove them off the reservation. Soon after this battle the Shoshones started for their summer camping and hunting grounds.

On this trip they stopped at South Pass City two days and nights, and each night celebrated by their war dance their recent victory. In these dances were displayed as war trophies the scalps of the Sioux they had killed. These scalps were carried by young squaws on long willow rods. Nar-Kok told us these scalps were presented by the lovers of the young girls and that such heroism would assure their success in the courtship they were carrying on.

We were invited by Nar-Kok to Wash-A-Kie's tee-pee while one of these war dances was going on. He invited us to be seated on blankets on the ground in the door of his tent where we could all see the dancers. He was not inclined to talk on this occasion, but smoked his pipe, looked at the dancers with composure, although it seemed to me that he felt regret that they had been forced into war. While this was Wash-A-Kie's manner, the tribe generally were in high spirits over their late achievement. Nar-Kok told us they would keep up the war dance every night for two moons.

From all my observation of Wash-A-Kie I came to the conclusion that he was, indeed, an example of "Nature's noblemen."

I may close with recounting an incident that occurred soon after I left Wyoming and was related to me by the Indian Agent Dr. Irwin. He was very enthusiastic in his encouragement of the Indians to become settled and establish family homes. Wash- A-Kie was in sympathy with this policy, and at the suggestion of the Agent consented to have a dwelling house built for him, and he would occupy it as an example to his tribe. He selected as the site for his house, a spot near some hot sulphur spring, several miles from the Agency. He chose this place so that he could bathe in the waters for the benefit of his health, and especially for relief from rheumatism, from which he suffered at times.

A three-room cottage was built, and when he moved into it, at his invitation, the Agent and a few other Government employees visited him and they had a genuine house-warming party. On their departure Wash-A-Kie invited them to return and visit him in two or three weeks and see how he was getting along in his new home. They accordingly made the visit at the end of three weeks, and found Wash-A-Kie living and sleeping in his tent standing nearby. He explained he could not sleep in the house, that after spending two or three sleepless nights in it he was forced to go back to his tee-pee to get needed rest and sleep. He, however, thought the house should be used for some purpose. He was a crude Utilitarian Philosopher, and having TIO other use for the house, he had stalled his favorite ponies in it.

*Mr. Williams, a retired lawyer residing in Salt Lake City, was a charter member of this Society, and is now a member of the Board of Control. Born in 1842, and coming West, to Wyoming, in 1868, he is a pioneer himself. He was admitted to the bar in Wyoming in 1868, and became District Attorney at South Pass City. He came to Salt Lake City in 1871, where he has since resided.

Mr. Williams organized the Salt Lake City street railway company in 1872; and became Salt Lake City superintendent of District schools in 1886; and was a member of the Utah legislature in 1893-4. In 1887 when the United States government escheated the property of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mr. Williams was appointed attorney for the receiver, continuing in that capacity until the property was returned to the Church. He also successfully defended Robert T. Burton, who as sheriff at the head of a posse, was charged with murder, growing out of the so-called Morrisite War in 1862. Mr. Williams was for a great many years, and until his retirement from the law practice, the general attorney for the Union Pacific System, (Oregon Short Line) with headquarters in this city.