The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation is a federally recognized tribe and Indian reservation of Shoshone-Bannock people in Idaho. The reservation is Pohoko’ikkatee in the Shoshone language. This is one of five federally recognized tribes in the state. The reservation is located in southeastern Idaho on the Snake River Plain about north and west of Pocatello. It comprises of land area in four counties: Bingham, Power, Bannock, and Caribou. To the east is the Portneuf Range; both Mount Putnam and South Putnam Mountain are located on the Fort Hall Reservation.
Founded by the Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868, the reservation is named for Fort Hall, a trading post in the Portneuf Valley that was established by European Americans. It was an important stop along the Oregon and California Trails in the middle 19th century.
A monument on the reservation marks the former site of the fort. Interstate 15 serves the community of Fort Hall, the largest population center on the reservation. The total population of the reservation was 5,762 at the 2000 census. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have more than 5,300 enrolled members, and more than half reside on the Fort Hall Reservation. Others have moved to urban areas for work. The tribes are governed by a seven-member elected council and maintain their own governmental services, including law enforcement, courts, social and health services, and education.
The four other federally recognized tribes in the state are the Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai, Nez Perce, and Shoshone-Paiute at Duck Valley Indian Reservation.
In July 2016, the Department of Interior made offers to 536 landowners with fractional interests at Fort Hall Reservation for buy-back of lands valued at $11 million in offers. This was under its Land Buy-Back Program as part of the government's settlement of the Cobell v. Salazar class action suit. The land purchased under the program is transferred into trust for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, to restore its traditional land. About 1.5 million acres of land has been put into trust for tribes under this program.
History
thumb|Translator [[George LaVatta and Chief Tendoi at the Fort Hall Reservation circa 1923]]
The Shoshone and Bannock had long occupied the territory of Idaho and nearby areas. They were not disrupted by settlers until the late 1840s and 1850s, when emigrant wagon trains increasingly crossed their territory which put strain on food and water resources, disrupting the way of life for the Shoshone and Bannock.
In the 1850s the Shoshone, led by Chief Pocatello, attacked emigrant parties in an effort to drive them off, as the settlers encroached on their hunting grounds and game. After initial hostilities, the Mormons, led by Brigham Young, pursued a policy of reconciliation with the Shoshone.
But other settlers complained, and the federal government ordered the U.S. Army into the Utah Territory in 1858, resulting in full-scale conflict between the U.S. and the Shoshone. There had been escalating conflicts, with the Shoshone and Bannock tribes pitted against the increasing tide of European-American settlers. The latter encroached on the Native Americans' traditional territory, competing for resources and damaging the habitat of game they depended on.
In January 1863 Colonel Patrick Edward Connor led his troops from Fort Douglas to chastise the Shoshone. In what is known as the Bear River massacre (1863), his US Army forces killed more than 400 Shoshone, including women and children, in present-day southeastern Idaho.
Warned of Connor's advance, Pocatello had led his people out of harm's way. Another chief and his band were attacked and largely destroyed.
Seeing the power of US forces, Pocatello subsequently sued for peace and agreed to relocate his people in 1868 to a newly established reservation along the Snake River. Four bands of Shoshone and the Bannock band of the Northern Paiute relocated to the reservation, then consisting of of land. As part of the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868, the U.S. government agreed to supply the Shoshone-Bannock tribes annually with goods and supplies annuities worth 5,000 dollars.
right|thumb|Houses in the town of [[Fort Hall, Idaho|Fort Hall, with Mount Putnam in the background]]
The U.S. government often failed to provide the annuity goods on time, and food supplies sometimes arrived spoiled. In addition, the lands of the reservation, located on the Snake River Plain, were not appropriate for the subsistence-type agriculture that the government wanted the Shoshone-Bannock to adopt. They have managed to retain most of their lands since that time.
During World War II, however, the US government assumed control of a 3,300-acre tract within the reservation, which it developed for use as an air base. Federal officials had told the tribe they would return the land to them after the war.
Instead, the federal government sold the property for $1 to nearby Pocatello, a city about to the east, which developed it as a regional airport. In the 21st century, there continue to be conflicts over development at the airport without consultation with the tribe. (See material below).
FMC Corporation operated a phosphate mine and plant under a lease at the Fort Hall Reservation. Between 1949 and 2001, it produced an estimated 250 million pounds of elemental phosphorus annually. It has had serious adverse environmental effects. In 1989, as part of what is termed the Eastern Michaud Flats Contamination, its 1500-acre plant site was designated by EPA under CERCLA as a Superfund site because of extensive water and land pollution caused by these operations, including degradation of the Portneuf River.
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes chose to participate in the Department of Interior's Native Nations Land Buy-Back Program, established after 2009 as part of the government's settlement of the Cobell v. Salazar class action suit over mismanagement of fee/lease accounts.
