Lessons From the Shoshone
Indigenous People's Day.
A day that speaks to the soul of our land and now our very business.
You see, long before yurts, pools, and paddle boarding, the Bear River, or Boa Ogoi, was a sacred valley home to the Native Shoshone.
Before Idaho and Utah, and big cities and small towns. Before democrats and republicans, churches of this and beliefs of that. Long before America was "found," and certainly before it claimed to be great, there was a people:
The Shoshone.
This valley holds rich Indigenous history and tradition that predates everything we know as a way of life today.
It also holds deep scars stemming from the early westward expansion that ultimately led to one of the most devastating Native American massacres in the West. One that would alter the course of an entire people. One that would leave an impression on the shores of our contemporary endeavor.
While we cannot change the past, it is our responsibility to understand it. To learn from it. To act with it in mind. And it is our responsibility to let the right voices guide that process. Seasonally, we gather around the fire and listen to one Darren Parry, former Shoshone Tribal Chairman of Northwestern Band of Shoshone and dear friend of the land.
During his storytelling, he educates on our collective past and leads the efforts to preserve and accelerate the rich Shoshone heritage through a new memorial center just downriver.
This day, and season of thanks, take time to listen to Indigenous leaders like Darren Parry. To elevate your understanding of our collective story. To ignite an imagination for our shared future. To remember that we are all immigrants in one way or another. Integrating our futures into someone else's past.
You can help accelerate the Boa Ogoi Cultural and Interpretive Center here.