History:
The Wind River Indian Reservation was established in 1864 through the Bridger-Teton Treaty with the United States government. It is home to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe Indian tribes. Chief Washakie, the last chief of the Shoshone tribe is buried at Chief Washakie Cemetery in the older section of the graveyard. There is a large headstone that marks his grave.
Chief Washakie is known in Crowheart Butte for his role in the battle between the Crow and the Shoshone Indians in 1866. According to a legend about this battle, Chief Washakie of the Shoshone and Chief Big Robber of the Crow decided to have a duel to decide which tribe would claim rights to the Wind River Mountains as a hunting ground. Chief Washakie won the duel but was so very impressed with Chief Big Robber’s courage that he graciously opted NOT to scalp him. Rather, he cut out Big Robber’s heart and stuck it on the end of his lance.
Chief Washakie made important allegiances with the U.S. Government and was friendly with settlers and American immigrants.
Ethete is located several miles from Fort Washakie and is the site of St. Micheal’s Mission. The older buildings in Ethete were once a part of this Episcopal mission.
Sacajawea’s grave is located near present-day Ethete in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains. On our trip to this area, we found that Sacajawea’s gravesite was infinitely hard to find. We actually assumed that it was hard to find perhaps on purpose and gave up before actually finding it. We did however locate a highway marker which sent us off past some grassy little hills and into a dead end. We decided to convince ourselves that a random little post on top of one of the hills near the dead end was the gravesite because we had invested so much time looking for the gravesite that we would’ve had to go home that night pissed off about not finding it otherwise.
Paranormal Reports:
Apparitions and disembodied voices are reported in this non-specified location somewhere in the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Resources:
ePodunk (2007). Profile for Ethete, Wyoming, WY. Retrieved November 22, 2009 from http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=23271
Shadowlord (1998). Shadowlands Haunted Places Index. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from http://theshadowlands.net/places/wyoming.htm
No Author (n.d.) Welcome to Lander, Wyoming. Retrieved November 22, 2009 from http://www.landerchamber.org/WRIreservation.aspx
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Wind River Indian Reservation WY Wyoming United States