Native American Histories | Yellowstone Research Library

Native American Histories and Associated Tribes

Bannock Indians; Photographer unknown; No date

Shoshoni camp; Photographer unknown; 1871

Yellowstone Revealed 2023: Opening song with actor/singer Michael Spears; Jacob W. Frank; August 2023

About

Yellowstone was an epicenter of Indigenous oral tradition and cross-country commerce. The region had been utilized by indigenous groups since the end of the last glaciation—the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake is riddled with arrowheads, spearpoints and preserved teepee rings—challenging the notion of a pristine wilderness untouched by human influence. Unfortunately, while the U.S. government agreed that the Yellowstone region belonged to the various local Indigenous tribes in the treaties of Fort Laramie (1851 and 1868), the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant spelled the end of indigenous occupation within the park’s boundaries. Although the Sheepeaters remained for seven years following the park’s establishment, Park Superintendent Colonel P. W. Norris was determined to remove Indigenous people from the newly-established park, believing them to be a deterrent to tourism efforts. Rumors were spread that Indigenous tribes feared the geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone, many died of smallpox, and the remaining few eventually made their way to the Wind River Reservation established southeast of the park. Recognition of Indigenous people's presence in Yellowstone is important for understanding this region’s full and storied history (USGS).

Today, there are 27 associated Tribes who have ancestral and modern connections to the park:

Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota
Coeur D'Alene Tribe
Comanche Nation, Oklahoma
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota
Crow Tribe of Montana
Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota
Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana
Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation, South Dakota
Nez Perce Tribe
Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana
Oglala Sioux Tribe
Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota
Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North & South Dakota
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota
Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota

Helpful Resources

Native Land Digital
- "Native Land Digital strives to create and foster conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations, through educational resources such as our map and Territory Acknowledgement Guide. We strive to go beyond old ways of talking about Indigenous people and to develop a platform where Indigenous communities can represent themselves and their histories on their own terms. In doing so, Native Land Digital creates spaces where non-Indigenous people can be invited and challenged to learn more about the lands they inhabit, the history of those lands, and how to actively be part of a better future going forward together."
Associated Tribes, National Park Service
"Land of the burning ground": The history and traditions of Indigenous people in Yellowstone, USGS
Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center, National Park Service
Tribal Affairs & Partnerships, National Park Service

Library Resources

Associated Tribes

Yellowstone National Park has 27 associated tribes. Note: Map shows Tribal reservations; it does not show historic territory.
NPS / Yellowstone Spatial Analysis Center