Day 20 Monday 9-28-15 Lander and Ft. Washakie

Today we traveled back about 20 miles north to the town of Ft. Washakie, named for a very important figure in Shoshone history.  A visit to the Shoshone Cultural Center gave us insight to the life and time of the Shoshone tribe during the  1800s.  There is no photography allowed in the Center so some of the pictures are downloads from the internet.

 

  
While our main interest was the life of Sacajawea we also learned about Chief Washakie (Wash'akey).

 

Chief Washakie was a remarkable man with vision, strategy, a fearless warrior and a peacemaker.   Take the time to study him on the net.  He defeated a Cheyenne and Arapaho combined raid, which greatly outnumbered the Shoshone, by instructing his warriors to dig trenches inside of the teepees.   They were able to shoot between the ground and the bottoms of the teepees.  The Cheyenne and Arapahos suffered heavy casualties.  When the numbers were more even the Shoshones waged an all out attack again giving heavy causalities to their foe.  After the war the Shoshone teepees showed arrow and bullet holes well above the trenches which would have normally killed many of the warriors inside. He negotiated to obtain the Wind River area as their reservation allowing his people to remain in their home territory.

 

He served in the US Army and the only Indian Chief on record to have a full military funeral.

 

  

While leaving the Center we met a younger Shoshone woman, Alanita.  She has a smiling face  with kind eyes.  She is soft spoken and a descendant of a pioneer woman who was killed in a Sioux raid.  Since I did not have a camera I have no picture to share.  She has a rich linage among the Shoshone that includes both Native American and English.  She makes bead work art and hand made moccasins.  She gave us directions to Sacajawea's grave site. 

 
Sacajawea (the spelling given by Clark on the Lewis and Clark Expedition) was a brilliant Shoshone woman who assisted Lewis and Clark by acting as an interpreter, guide, and negotiator with the many Indian tribes they encountered on their search for a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean.
 
The statue depicts Sacajawea holding a sand dollar from the shores of the Pacific.
 
We visited the grave site in the Sacajawea Cemetery.  While it was a most memorable experience it was disheartening to see the condition of the cemetery.  It lies totally unkempt.  Weeds cover the ground nearly knee to waist deep.  Some of the graves are marked only by a stone (just a hand picked rock) that is painted white. 
 
 The old log building was the brig for Ft. Washakie.
 
 


Entrance to Sacajawea Cemetary

 
 
 

 

The old jail at Ft. Washskie

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was pretty much a travel day as we are on our way to visit friends in Montrose, CO.  The drive on US-287 is a bit desolate.  There were 20 to 30 miles between houses and passing an oncoming car or truck was an event!  We saw Pronghorns  like we saw buffalo in Yellowstone.  There is one thing about Wyoming… If you don’t like the landscape just go over the next hill or around the next curve in the road... It will change.  

 
 

 


Can you find the Prairie Dog?



Rush hour on US-287.

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived in Rawlins in the late afternoon and got a room at the Comfort Inn.  Then a short walk to  Subway  for a bite to eat.  My back has been getting tight and starting to become painful.  We picked out a heating pad, and some Icy-Hot.  Linda doctored me up before we turned in for the night.