Customer Reviews

Indians In Yellowstone National Park

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This book was a joy to read. Janetski paints such a thoroughly engaging picture of the entire Yellowstone area and it's human history that putting this book down was difficult. This is not just another story of the "popular" history of the region (ie the Plains Indian wars), nor is it wrapped-up in any particular "political" agenda. This is just a academic presentation of factual history of the nations and peoples that lived in and traveled through the Yellowstone National Park and it's region.

The entire archeological record is discussed: Paleoindians (10,000-6,000 B.C); the Archaic period (6,000 B.C. - A.D 1); Late Prehistoric (A.D. 1 - 1,500); and of course the Historic period (A.D. 1,500 to the present). The Crow, Blackfeet, Nez Perce, Paiute, and especially the Shoshone and Bannock peoples are discussed in great detail. The information about the SheepEaters (a branch of Shoshone who lived and hunted on foot amidst the grand alpine landscapes of the region) was especially informative and a subject matter that very few Americans know anything about. Another facet that is relatively unknown is the "wild" state of the park at it's inception in 1872. Many Native Americans continued to use the Yellowstone area as both a hunting ground and sanctuary even as late as the 1890's and early 1900's.

Although it's written with an academic tone, it is anything but dry. Janetski's writing style is very readable and presented in a non-scholarly manner that makes it perfect for the average reader- but it's so packed with insight and information that even well-read history buffs will find something new and exciting. This book is one of those rare gems that despite little press and media attention deserves to be in the library of everyone interested in the history of the American west.

This book provides a straightforward introduction to the interaction of Indians with what is now Yellowstone National Park. It begins with the land and the peoples who lived there before European contact. After this, Janetski moves to tribes from the historic period, especially the Sheepeaters (Bannock) who lived year-round in the park. Three chapters discuss Indian wars that took place, in part, on Yellowstone land, and then topics such as the Bannock Trail and the relationship between Indians and the thermal features. The book concludes with five pages on Indians and Yellowstone in the twentieth century.

Overall, Janetski gives us a basic introduction in a short, readable volume. There are no exciting story lines here, and as Sgt. Joe Friday might suggest, he gives us "just the facts." He could have written a lot more about modern relations between Indians and the park. Many tribes - - too many, in honesty - - are recognized as having traditional ties with the park. Some have played an active role in the bison brucellosis controversy as hunters or as recipients of surplus, brucellosis-free bison. The Treaty of Fort Laramie gave Indians hunting, fishing and foraging rights in the region that they lost with the creation of the national park - - some have tried to reassert those rights. There are some sacred sites in the park to which tribes have renewed access after having lost those rights for decades. Janetski does not discuss any of these contemporary issues, emphasizing instead the pageantry associated with the opening of the West Yellowstone entrance in 1925.

Those remain real issues, but Janetski prefers to see the park as Indian-free once the wars were over and there were no more permanent residents in the park. I think that's a mistake. On the historical issues, though, this book will give you a good introduction to the tribes. If you're planning a visit to Yellowstone and want a brief background book on the historic Indians, this will serve you well.

I enjoyed this book very much. It gave a lot of info on the Native Americans in Yellowstone.