Sagwitch Timbimboo, Shoshone Chief

Sagwitch — 'Orator' — led a band of the Northwestern Shoshone, the Newe, whose homeland was Cache Valley and the Bear River country. On a frozen January morning in 1863, U.S. soldiers fell on his people's winter camp and killed some 250 to 400 — among the West's deadliest massacres of Native people. Sagwitch survived, wounded; his wife and sons did not. Later he led his people to build Washakie, a Shoshone farming town that held for eighty years. It has faded, but the Band endures — his descendants insist Bear River was no battle, but a massacre.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• American West Heritage Center — 24 mi
  A living history farm spanning 160 acres of Cache Valley
• Logan — 25 mi
  A vibrant college town tucked into a stunning mountain valley
• Wellsville Mountains — 26 mi
  The steepest mountains in North America for their height
• Golden Spike National Historical Park — 28 mi
  Where East met West — the spot that connected America by rail

More markers nearby

• Cache County Veterans Killed in Action Monument — 25 mi
• Hydro-Electric Plant — 25 mi
• Cache County Courthouse — 25 mi
• Cache Co. Relic Hall — 25 mi