craggy mountain peaks, Shoshone National Forest has a rich biodiversity rarely matched in any protected area. Human history Shoshone National Forest is named after the Shoshone Indians, who, along with other Native American groups such as the Lakota, Crow and Northern Cheyenne, were the major tribes encountered by the first european explorers into the region. Archeological evidence suggests that the presence of Indian tribes in the area extends back at least 10,000 years. The forest provided an abundance of game meat, wood products, and shelter during the winter months from the more exposed high plains to the east. Portions of the more mountainous regions were frequented by the Shoshone and Sioux for spiritual healing and vision quests. By the early 1840s, Washakie had become the leader of the easternmost branch of the Shoshone Indians. At the Fort Bridger Treaty Council of 1868 Washakie negotiated with the U.S. Government for ) to be preserved as tribal lands. Subsequent amendments to the treaty reduced the actual acreage to approximately and is known today as the Wind River Indian Reservation. In 1957, Mummy Cave was rediscovered by a local resident on the north side of the North Fork Shoshone River, adjacent to U.S. Routes 14/16/20, east of Yellowstone National Park. Subsequent archeological excavations in the 1960s produced evidence that the cave had been occupied for over 9,000 years. The oldest deposits in the cave yielded prismatic stone blades and other artifacts created by paleoindians and the surrounding soils were radiocarbon dated to 7,300 BC. The evidence indicates the cave was occupied from at least 7280 BC to 1580 AD. Besides projectile points, the cave also produced well preserved feathers, animal hides and other usually perishable materials. Additionally, the mummified remains of an individual buried inside a rock cairn were unearthed, which were dated to 800 AD. Considered one of the finest paleoindian archeological assemblages in the Rocky Mountain region, the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places list in 1981. In the early 19th century, the forest was visited by mountain men and explorers such as John Colter and Jim Bridger. Colter is the first white man known to have visited both the Yellowstone region and the forest, which he did between 1807 and 1808. Having been an original member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Colter requested permission from Meriwether Lewis to leave the expedition after it had finished