Flaming Gorge Dam, Utah (The Lake Extends into Wyoming)

The Flaming Gorge dam was completed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1964.  It holds back two years worth of water and makes a very formidable lake.  It has changed the habitat from fish that prefer warmer, muddy type waters to those that like cold fresh water, namely trout.   The dam provides storage for downstream commitments.  It also provides hydroelectric power.  It is also used for flood control.  I remember as a youth touring the dam and going inside to see the generators.  Now they do not even let you walk on the dam.  It was cool to be on the dam and look over the edge.  It is 502 feet above its foundation (bedrock) and 448 feet above the Green River.  It is 1285 feet long.  There is a walkway to get above the dam on the west side close to the visitor's center.  There is also a pull out on the east side of the dam.

  

Visit to Fort Bridger

Fort Bridger was first a fur trading post as established by Jim Bridger in 1842.  It became an important resupply post along the Mormon, California, Oregon Trail.  It was later purchased by the Church of Jesus Christ and renamed Fort Supply as a place to assist in the migration.  It was taken over by the U.S. Military for some years in 1858.  It was established to protect the construction of the railroad and the trails in general.  It was a crossroads of many trails, and a witness to much history.  The Fort Bridger Treaty was signed by Chief Washakie in 1968 where Shoshone land was ceded and the Wind River Reservation was established.

Chief Washakie

Jim Bridger

Book Review: The Shoshones by Liz Sonneborn

 The Shoshones by Liz Sonneborn, Native American Histories, Lerner Publications Company, Minneapolis, Minn., 2007.

This book actually gives a very accurate description of the Shoshone.  I like reading about the Shoshone because I lived amongst the Western Shoshone for a couple of years.  The book starts talking of the Western Shoshone but then loses them in the last couple of chapters.  I noticed the consultants for the book were both of the Eastern Shoshone.  

There is a good map that describes the homeland of the Shoshone, the Western Shoshone went from easter Utah, through Nevada and into California.  Northern Shoshone occupied northern Utah and much of southern Idaho.  Their major reservation is now Fort Hall which is shared with the Bannock.  The Eastern Shoshone include most of western Wyoming.  They were granted reservation land along the Wind River under Chief Washakie.  

The western Shoshone traditionally had the harder life.  Food supplies were lest plentiful in the great Basin desert.  There was the possibility of catching large game, but mostly small game such as squirrels and rabbits were most plentiful.  They would also gather pine nuts, and often their winter food supply depended on how much pinyon pine nuts they could find in the autumn.  Beading and basket making were also products which could be traded or enjoyed.  

This book also mentions Sacagawea and the Lewis and Clark expedition.  Sacagawea was from the northern Shoshone groups.  There is the story of the Dann sisters of the Te Moak band of the Western Shoshone.  They were suing the federal government when I lived amongst the Shoshone.  They were trying to pursue grazing rights which was restricted by the BLM.