Images of Fort Washakie     J.K. Moore Trading Post     Wind River School
  Indian Life   Wind River Sundance

A Gallery of Fort Washakie Photos

Fort Washakie, Wyoming, came into existence in 1869 as a U. S. Army frontier post named Camp Augur.  It was established as part of the provisions of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Bridger that created the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Agency (today known as the Wind River Indian Reservation).  In 1871, the name was changed to Camp Brown and relocated 15 miles north of it's original location to a permanent site on the reservation.  In 1878, the name was changed once again, to honor Chief Washakie of the Eastern Shoshones.  It is one of the few forts in U. S. Army history to bear the name of an Indian leader.  In the decades that followed, Fort Washakie expanded in size.  Eventually the complex included a large number of buildings.  Nearby, the Indian Agency also built offices, housing, and a school.  Primarily a cavalry outpost in what was once a remote area within Wyoming Territory, it also housed troops of the famous black "buffalo soldiers."  Many of the Shoshone and Arapaho Indians who lived on the reservation also served as scouts.  Fort Washakie was abandoned by the military in 1909 as a cost-cutting measure and its usefulness deemed outdated.  Today, a few of the original buildings still stand, but the site itself now houses the offices of the Wind River Reservation.

The photographs contained in this exhibit are part of the collection of Evelyn Bell of Cody, Wyoming.  Her grandfather, James K. Moore, Sr., was the first Army sutler and Indian Trader at Fort Washakie.  Several of the images are the documented work of Baker & Johnston of Evanston, Wyoming, or of Frank Jay Haynes, better known as the first official photographer of Yellowstone Park. 

Most of the photographs, however, were taken by either her grandfather or father, James K. Moore, Jr.  All of the "round" images are attributed to her father, who probably used a Kodak No. 2 camera (an early box camera sold from 1889 to 1897) or perhaps a Kodak Brownie No. 1 or No. 2 (also box cameras with round negatives, sold from 1899-1901).  The round negatives  have been painstakingly developed by  Loren Jost of the Riverton Museum. 

Images of Fort Washakie     J.K. Moore Trading Post     Wind River School
  Indian Life  Wind River Sundance