ABSTRACT
During the first quarter of the twentieth century Northwestern Shoshone from the
Washakie Indian Colony of northern Utah competed with their white neighbours in sporting contests. These events were recorded by white news reporters and, even more
conspicuously, by a Shoshone journalist named Willie Ottogary. For 23 years Ottogary reported the daily highlights, struggles, successes and sporting events of his people. His
social column was published in several newspapers of northern Utah and southern Idaho. Living descendants of the Washakie, Utah, group provide another key source of
information on sporting activities engaged in by the Northwestern Shoshone. These three key sources are combined for the first time, in this essay, to bring to light the fascinating stories of Shoshone athletics from 1903 to 1929.
