Fort Hall Indian Reservation
The Fort Hall Reservation is an Indian reservation in the U.S. state of Idaho, which was built in 1867 for the Boise and Bruneau Shoshone Indians. 1868 the Fort Hall Shoshone and Bannock and 1907, the Lemhi Shoshone and Sheep Eater were relocated there. The reserve is located in the Snake River Plain near Pocatello. The name comes from Fort Hall, a historic trading post of the fur traders, the trail became an important stopping place on the Oregon.
History
Originally comprised the Fort Hall Reservation 1,800,000 acres ( 7300 km ²). It was scaled up in the 1950s gradually to 524,000 acres.
1877, the Union Pacific Railroad built a railroad from Ogden (Utah ) through the reserve to Oregon. To this end, and to make room for the expanding city of Pocatello, the reserve area was renegotiated in 1881. Next was the Dawes Act of 1887 to shrink the reserve, so that in 1900 comprised only half of the original area. Because of the Dawes Act 1956 277.900 acres ( 1125 km ²) were parceled the former tribal land of the reserve, 204,600 acres (828 km ² ), nor in tribal ownership and 41,400 acres (168 km ²) administered by the U.S. government.
After 1890, the Fort Hall Shoshone adopted the Sun Dance of the Eastern Shoshone and 1915, the peyote cult.
The reserve is characterized by water scarcity. Projects to improve water supply preferred at the beginning of the 20th century, especially the white farmers. Also from the timber industry and the phosphate mining in the reserve hardly benefited the Indians living there. The culture of the case - Hall Shoshone was suppressed and banned their language.
With the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act to come into force shifted the rights in favor of the Indians. They were allowed to choose a tribal council and take the economic development of the reserve into their own hands.
In the Fort Hall Reservation, there is great poverty. The income is substantially lower than in the area and unemployment is high. In the second half of the 20th century made the Fort Hall Shoshone and Bannock rising lease and mineral rights revenue.
Current situation
Today, the Fort Hall Reservation houses a library, a truck stop, a casino, a museum and a weekly newspaper. The traditional festivals are carried out according to a regular calendar. Thanks to careful adaptation to the culture of the whites could many traditional cultural elements remain.