Gallery of the Wind
Artwork, artifacts, photographs, beadwork, and older pieces connected to Shoshone and Arapaho culture inside the trading post.
Inside Wind River Trading Company
Gallery of the Wind is inside Wind River Trading Company in Fort Washakie. The room includes Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho artwork, artifacts, photographs, beadwork, moccasins, tools, pipes, painted pieces, and display cases.
It is not arranged like a formal gallery. It feels like a trading-post room: photographs, case pieces, handmade work, and older objects gathered together.
Display highlights
The room mixes local history with the kind of handmade work and older objects that collect around a long-running trading post.
Chief Washakie
One wall display centers on Chief Washakie, the Eastern Shoshone leader whose name is carried by Fort Washakie. The panel presents the 1866 Crowheart Butte story, where Washakie and Crow leader Big Robber are remembered in a single-combat account tied to hunting grounds in the Wind River Range.
The display roots the room in Fort Washakie. It points to the people and stories around the store, not just decoration.
Beadwork
Moccasins, beadwork, and small handmade pieces are easy to miss at first pass.
Look at the bead colors, stitching, worn materials, and how the pieces sit with older photographs and cases.
What to look for
Look for beadwork, moccasins, handmade art, historic photographs, tools, pipes, pottery, painted pieces, and the older case displays.
In the room
At its simplest, the gallery is a room of Shoshone and Arapaho artwork and artifacts. It also has the feel of a working trading-post display, with tools, photographs, handmade work, and cases close together.
Plan the stop
Walk through before or after shopping. Some of the best pieces are small, tucked into cases or grouped with older photographs.
Check hours before you make a special trip.