Return of the Lemhi-Shoshone, Sacajawea's People.
On February 12, 1875, President Grant established a 100 square mile executive order reservation for the Lemhi people (Sacajaweas people) in the Lemhi Valley. Known as the Lemhi Valley Indian Reservation, the executive order established the reserve for "the exclusive use of the mixed tribes of Shoshone, Bannock, and Sheapeater Indians.

Mormon missionaries who came to the Salmon River Valley in 1855 were the first non-Indians to establish a sustained relationship with the Salmon River Indian people. Approximately twenty-seven Mormon men left the Salt Lake Valley on May 18, 1855. The party reached Fort Lemhi on May 27, and they selected a permanent site for their mission on June 15, 1855. The mission, named Fort Lemhi, was located approximately two miles north of present-day Tendoy, Idaho. The word "Lemhi" was associated with King Limhi who was one of the kings cited in the Book of Mormon. In Mormon scripture, King Limhi organized an expedition that lasted twenty- two days--the same duration it required the Mormon missionaries to reach the Salmon River Country. Consequently, they named their mission after King Limhi, and, in time, Limhi became Lemhi.


Almost from the outset, however, the government and local residents began efforts to rescind the executive order reservation. They ultimately succeeded in 1905, and in 1907 the Lemhi began what many have called the "Lemhi Trail of Tears," which saw their forced removal from their ancestral homelands to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

Banished from their homeland in 1907 and seeking to return ever since, the Lemhi people create a dilemma for the nation. As it prepares to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery, the United States needs to reassess its commitment to the Lemhi people, to Sacajawea's people. The obligation the nation acknowledges toward wolf and salmon recovery efforts is dwarfed by the responsibility it faces in treating fairly the people who played such a crucial role in advancing the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Fort Lemhi Indian Community continue to push their case for restoring federal recognition to the Lemhis. Since its establishment in 1978, the Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research, an agency of the BIA, has received recognition petitions from approximately 325 Indian tribes nationwide seeking federal recognition.

To date, fewer than twenty of the 325 tribes have won recognition. These are not good odds for the Lemhis, and as the nation prepares to celebrate the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it is difficult to consider how the country can celebrate the Corps of Discovery while such a debt to Sacajawea and her people remains such a scandal.

Who are the Lemhi and where is their home? Lemhis are Agaidikas, Tukudikas, and Bannocks and their home is in the Lemhi Valley of Idaho in the Salmon River drainage.
http://www.lemhishoshone.com/