Contact: Chris Floyd, 307-782-3842

Fort Bridger State Historic Site is partnering with members of the Eastern Shoshone and Shoshone-Bannock tribal nations to host a commemoration of the Treaty of 1868 on its 151st anniversary.  The public is invited to attend this free event.

Activities will begin at sunrise on July 3, with a traditional Native prayer ceremony and singing, followed by a reading of the treaty in three languages: Shoshone, Bannock, and English.

"It is important that we recognize the anniversary of the Treaty of 1868 each year, because it continues to influence events in Wyoming and Idaho today," said Chris Floyd, District Manager for Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites & Trails.  “For example, the treaty made the news recently as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision involving tribal hunting rights on federal lands.”

As the construction of the transcontinental railroad moved farther west in 1868, the federal government sought to remove any Native claims to lands in its path.

On July 3 of that year, leaders of the Shoshones and the Bannocks met at Fort Bridger and agreed to the terms of the treaty, which among other things would soon establish the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho.  

The new reservations were significantly smaller than the 44 million acres that had been agreed upon in a treaty only five years earlier. 

The 1868 treaty was one of the last to be ratified by the U.S. Senate and it still provides a legal foundation under the federal constitution for the two tribal nations today. 

Among the signers of the treaty at the fort were Chief Washakie of the Eastern Shoshones, Chief Tagee of the Bannocks, and peace commissioner Major General C.C. Augur.

"We welcome the Shoshones and Bannocks as they return to Fort Bridger again this year to mark the treaty anniversary," Floyd said.

The event is sponsored by the Fort Bridger Historical Association and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ Language and Culture Department.

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