Wyoming Indian Schools is located on the Wind River Reservation, the only reservation in the state of Wyoming. Two sovereign nations, the Northern Arapaho and the Eastern Shoshone, share the Wind River Reservation. Housed in three separate facilities (elementary, middle school and high school) we serve a student body of approximately 750 students. Eighty (80%) of our students are Arapaho, 15% are Shoshone and 5% are other Northern Plains Tribal groups.

Wind River Indian Reservation.

The Wind River Reservation is the only Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Located in west central Wyoming, the reservation is named after the scenic Wind River Canyon. The Wind River Reservation is geographically the third largest reservation in the nation, encompassing 3,500 square miles and 2.3 million acres. The reservation was established by the Fort Bridger Treaty of July 2,1863. Originally 44,672,000 acres in size, the reservation included areas of Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. A number of agreements over the ensuing years resulted in the loss of land to the current level. Portions of the reservation terrain is rugged and mountainous while other areas are forested or suitable for grazing. The Big Wind River and Little Wind River run through the reservation, which is jointly owned by the Arapaho and Shoshone tribes. The reservation is located near the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide, as well as the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

The Wind River Reservation was originally set aside for the Shoshone Tribe. In 1878 the Arapaho tribe was settled on the reservation. The two tribes had been traditional enemies so the forced occupation of the reservation was difficult for some years. In 1938, the Shoshone tribe was awarded $4,453,000 for the eastern half of the reservation occupied by the Arapahoes. The Shoshone tribal members principally occupy the western areas of the reservation including Fort Washakie, Crowheart, Burris and the Dry Creek Ranch area. The Arapaho Tribe principally occupies the eastern section of the reservation including Ethete and Arapaho. Members of both tribes live in the Mill Creek-Boulder Flats area. Current census data reports that there are 5,953 Arapaho tribal members and 2, 650 Shoshone tribal members.

The Wind River Reservation is also the resting place of two historical figures associated with the Shoshone Tribe: Sacajewea, the young woman who helped guide Lewis and Clark's expedition and Chief Washakie, the last chief of the Shoshone. Sacajewea's image was recently minted on the new U.S. dollar coin. Chief Washakie has been honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol.

Today, the tribes jointly govern the Wind River Reservation with each retaining separate identities, cultures and tribal governments.

Arapaho Tribe.

The Arapaho are members of the Algonquin language family which is an immense linguistic group consisting of 40 separate languages and whose representatives lie scattered from Labrador to the Rocky Mountains. Many anthropologists suggest that the various bands of the Arapaho originated in the Great Lakes area. Some report that the Arapaho were agricultural people in Minnesota and moved west in the 1700's. By the last of the 18th century, the Arapaho had migrated onto the Great Plains and were living a nomadic life and hunting the buffalo. Sometime during the 1830s it is believed that the Arapahoes split into two equal-sized groups, the Northern and Southern Arapahoes.

In 1851 The U.S. government, seeking protection for the settlers moving west, signed the Treaty of 1851 which guaranteed the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribes hunting grounds from the Platte to the Arkansas River and from the Rocky Mountains to a line between the Santa Fe Trail and the junction of the North and South Platte Rivers. In return, the government gained permission to build forts along the Oregon Trail. The Arapahoes generally complied with the Treaty of 1851 during the next ten years. The discovery of gold along the eastern base of the Rockies in 1858 led to a gold rush the following year.

It was not until the 1864 that Arapaho bands begin to experience the direct effects of permanent, non-Indian settlement of their territory. In what became known as the Sand Creek Massacre, 150 Arapaho and Cheyenne people were killed, their horses taken, and all their belongings destroyed. During the ensuing conflict on the Plains, the military tended to define unsettled Arapaho bands as "hostile" allies of the Cheyenne and Lakota warrior groups. After Sand Creek, the Northern Arapaho bands moved northward into Wyoming.

In 1870, two Arapaho chiefs, Medicine Man and Friday met with Chief Washakie of the Shoshone and received permission for the Arapaho tribe to stay on the Wind River Reservation temporarily. In 1874, the Bates Battle occurred between the U.S. Army and the Arapahoes killing 26 Arapaho and fatally wounding 21. Afterwards the Arapaho went to the Red Cloud Agency and lived with the Lakota Sioux. The only other recorded conflict between the Northern Arapahoes and the U.S. government troops came in 1876 when a number of Arapaho warriors participated in the Battle of Little Big Horn.

In 1877 a Northern Arapaho delegation visited Washington D.C. to request that the President of the United State not send them to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. In 1878 the Arapahoes were settled on the Wind River Reservation permanently. Their Southern Arapaho relatives were moved with the Southern Cheyenne to western Oklahoma, where their descendants remain today.

Shoshone Tribe.

The Shoshone tribe, which belongs to the large Uto-Aztecan family, once ranged from the rugged Cascades and Sierre Nevadas to the Northern Plains and southward to Mexico. Anthropologists report that the Eastern Shoshone migrated out of the Nevada-Utah area onto the Great Plains in 1600. At the time of the white movement west into the Great Basin and Snake River areas in the 1840s there were seven distinct Shoshone groups. Many maintain that before the white settlers moved into the Great Basin and Snake River areas, the Shoshone Indians had been among the most ecologically efficient and well-adapted Indians in the west.

The Eastern Shoshone, numbering approximately 2,000 in the mid-1800s, was lead by their famous Chief Washakie. Born of a Flathead father and Shoshone mother, Washakie earned a reputation as a warrior with the Bannocks, a tribe hostile to the white man. By 1850, Washakie was head chief of the Shoshones apparently earning the position by his deeds in battle. In 1863 the first Fort Bridger treaty set boundaries encompassing an area of over 44 million acres for the Eastern Shoshone Reservation. Subsequent treaties and agreements have scaled back the size of the reservation to its current level of approximately 2.3 million acres.

The Villages of Ethete and Fort Washakie.

The Village of Ethete.

The three schools that comprise the Wyoming Indian Schools are located in or near the village of Ethete. Ethete, which means ""good"" in the Arapaho language, is an historical village on the Wind River Reservation and is the site of St. Michael''s Mission. Faith Hall, a part of the original Episcopal Mission, served as the school. In front of Faith Hall, the Northern Arapaho Cultural Museum, houses traditional tribal artifacts.

The Wind River Tribal College, which was founded in 1999, is also located in Ethete. Blue Sky Hall which serves as a center for a number of community events also houses the offices of a number of social service and educational agencies for the Arapaho tribe.

The Village of Fort Washakie.

Fort Washakie is the only military fort named for an American Indian chief. Although once a U.S. military establishment frequented by members of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, today Fort Washakie is the headquarters of both the Arapaho and Shoshone tribal government headquarters and the Bureau of Indian Affairs agency. The Indian Health Services and the BIA Law Enforcement Services, Wind River Agency, Wyoming Indian Schools SS/HS partners, are also located in Fort Washakie.

The Shoshone Tribal Cultural Center provides an in-depth view the history and culture of the Shoshone Tribe. The Center, established in 1988, is housed in a National Registered Historic Building. Featured are exhibits of crafts and art, along with historical data and photographic collections. Treaty maps and agreements are also displayed.

Near Fort Washakie is the grave of Sacajawea, her nephew Bazil, and a memorial to her son Baptiste. Reportedly, Sacajewea returned to her Shoshone people in Fort Washakie where she died and was buried on April 9, 1884, by the Episcopal missionary, Reverend John Roberts. While living on the Wind River Indian Reservation Sacajawea served as a translator for Chief Washakie in negotiations to establish the reservation and was often seen wearing one the peace medals given out by Lewis and Clark. Sacajawea Cemetery is located in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains.

Approximately a half of mile from the Shoshone Tribal Cultural Center, Chief Washakie Cemetery is the final resting place of the last chief of the Shoshone Tribe, Chief Washakie. Chief Washakie is buried in the older section of the cemetery. A large headstone marks his grave.

Wyoming Indian Schools' Facilities.

Wyoming Indian Schools is a K-12 district. The district operates three separate facilities including an elementary for students in grades K-5, a middle school for students in grades 6-8 and a high school for grades 9-12. All of the facilities are located in or near the village of Ethete. In addition to the three main structures, a Cultural Resource Center is located on the elementary campus; The Elk Redman Complex and Star House are on the Middle School Campus and the Tech Center which includes administrative offices, an auditorium and Vocational Education classrooms is located on the Wyoming Indian High School Campus.

The district enrolls 80% Arapaho students, 15% Shoshone and 5% other Northern Plains Tribal groups.

Wyoming Indian Elementary School

Wyoming Indian Middle School

Wyoming Indian High School

The Tech Center at Wyoming Indian Schools with business and superintendent's offices, auditorium and Voc-Ed classrooms

Our Elders.

Historically, the Shoshone and Arapahoe people learned by hands-on experience passed on by mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, and grandparents. Traditions and values were transmitted orally through story telling by the elders.

As American Indians were moved onto the reservations, mission and government schools were organized. Tribal youth were forced to enroll in boarding schools, isolating them from their families and their tribes. Many of the elders in our community experienced the government boarding schools. The elders pictured below attended boarding schools and have devoted themselves to spearheading a community-wide effort to provide quality education to youth on the reservation.

Our elders play a significant role in the Wyoming Indian Schools' GRAAP Project. Some of them play the role of surrogate grandfathers and grandmothers to our students. Others are advisors to the teachers and other school staff. Most importantly however is the role they play for all of our students. They are present at school events and that presence sends a direct message to the students that they care about them and their futures and the future generations of Arapaho and Shoshone children.