The details of his life vary among the available online sources, but whether you call him Tonaioza — what some say is his actual name— or by the more common Chief Pocatello, the recurring theme within all these stories is that his leadership was vital to the survival of his tribe during a tumultuous time in U.S. history.

    “Chief Pocatello, from some perspectives, was seen as the bad guy, and from other perspectives as the good guy,” said Laverne Beech, tribal public affairs manager for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Fort Hall. “For a proper perspective, you have to consider all that was going on at that time in history.”

    The history of the United States during the life of Chief Pocatello, estimated to be from 1815-1884, is one of Manifest Destiny versus what lay in its way, namely rugged terrain and hundreds of thousands of native peoples.

    Chief Pocatello’s life consisted of a time where once seemingly limitless resources for his people were being absorbed by non-native settlers and pioneers passing through along the Oregon and California trails.

    “There was a significant influx of people and settlers into the area,” Beech said. “The main role of the chief is to provide for his people.”

    According to a speech by Cleve Davis given at the 46th Annual Shoshone-Bannock Festival in Fort Hall a year ago, and compiled from family oral history, much of the actions Chief Pocatello took were to provide for his band of Shoshone tribal members in the face of ever-decreasing resources and unfulfilled treaty promises.

    “Pocatello and his people felt the pressure as travelers and settlers encroach(ed) on their homeland, destroyed game and native plant communities and killed their tribesmen,” Davis said in the speech, a transcription of which is available at www.chiefpocatello.com. “And, the chief and his warriors were known for their swift retaliation.”

    Among the retaliations that Chief Pocatello’s band was known for was the attack south of American Falls along the Snake River, where several members of a wagon train were killed in an attempt to take some of their wagons, according to the speech.

    What is today considered the location of that skirmish is now know as Massacre Rocks State Park.

    Chief Pocatello grew up in what is now Northern Utah, but, with his band of the Shoshone Tribe, continued to move throughout the region with the season, finding food and shelter suitable for each time of the year.

    While Idaho and Utah grew in population as U.S. Territories during the early 1860s, it became clear to the federal representatives in the region that separating natives and non-natives was crucial to everyone’s benefit.

    Even after the creation of the Fort Hall Reservation in 1867, a nearly 50-year-old Chief Pocatello continued to roam the entire region, attempting to provide for his band as he always had.

    Jan Naki, a decedent of Chief Pocatello’s who lives in Fort Hall, said it was during this time that his dual reputations, as both a good guy and bad guy, developed.

    “I think he’s both,” Naki said. “He’s a hero to the natives, and the settlers and the travelers moving through feared him.”

    The Fort Hall Reservation didn’t just consist of combining two tribes, the Shoshone and Bannock, but of combining 14 independently operating bands within those tribes.

    But its creation was something even the natives at the time sought, Beech said.

    “There was conflict between native and non-native peoples,” she said. “The idea of a reservation where they would be safe was ideal.”

    The fact that Chief Pocatello signed some of the early treaties, but took years to finally become part of the Fort Hall Reservation, helped to secure his place in tribal history, Beech believes.

    “I would say Chief Pocatello stands out as one of our most famous leaders because of his ability to watch over his people,” she said. “When I look at the history of Chief Pocatello, what impresses me is that he was able to lead his band out of harm’s way.”

    That includes the Bear River Massacre, where anywhere from 250 to 350 Shoshone Tribal members were killed in an attack on Jan. 29, 1863. Chief Pocatello moved his band from that location to the Malad Valley shortly before the attack by a U.S. Army detachment.

    “To make that decision to leave in the dead of winter says a lot about his insight,” Beech said.

    Nancy Naki, a descendant of Chief Pocatello and Jan’s sister, said there are  other  well-known and revered chiefs throughout Shoshone and Bannock history. She says Chief Pocatello may not have been the greatest among them, but he stood out at the time for one particular reason.

    “He led his band of people and did what he had to do to protect them,” she said.

    Today, he stands out for another reason — the City of Pocatello.

    While the city, throughout its history, frequently referenced its namesake, the idea of a more serious, permanent dedication came about in early 2005.

    It was Sam Nettinga, former executive director of the Greater Pocatello Chamber of Commerce who was serving as interim in 2005, who came up with the idea. Although his initial idea was a bit different, what eventually came of it was the statue that now rests in front of the Pocatello Visitor’s Center on South Fifth Avenue.

    After Nettinga’s original idea was expressed, it continued to be banged around for a couple of years until the group Valley Pride picked it up and started to run with it. Nettinga said the project really began to pick up steam in January 2008.

    Early on, it was decided that descendants of Chief Pocatello and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes needed to be part of the project.

    “We met weekly with the tribe to make sure all the ideas were out there,” Nettinga said. “We went back to the tribe three or four times to make sure that to the best of anyone’s knowledge, although there are no pictures, that we had a pretty good depiction of what Chief Pocatello looked like.”

    Throughout the process, Nancy and Jan Naki and other family members were involved.

    “It meant a lot to the tribal peoples here on the reservation and to those that are related (to Chief Pocatello),” Nancy said.

    She called the effects of the statue far-reaching, saying that Chief Pocatello descendants from throughout the country were touched by the gesture.

    Nettinga believes the statue and the process involved with the project went a long way toward building relationships “that had not been built with the tribe before or since.”

    Roger Chase, mayor of Pocatello at the time, agrees that the gestures related to the statue, as well as a portrait of Chief Pocatello commissioned by the city and hanging in the City Council Chambers, developed bonds between the two communities.

    “I think it was more people-to-people because it was tribal and non-tribal members coming together to honor the person who the town was named for,” Chase said. “Arts and culture are great ways to bring people together and get relationships going.”

    He also believes it helped relations between the two governing bodies, but Chase said the larger effect was the bonding between the peoples of the two communities.

    The Nakis also see that effect.

    “I think it brought meaning to the people that live in the city as to who the man was and what he did,” Nancy said. “It turned out to be a very beautiful statue. It was a great tribute.”

    There is much about Chief Pocatello that is not known outside his family. The Nakis admit there is much known by the family, passed down through oral history, that is not shared.

    “There are things about him, about his abilities, about what he was about and what he could do, but it’s not something that’s to be shared outside the family,” Nancy said.

    A couple of tidbits they were willing to share gives some insight to the man.

    “The way we understand it, he was not boastful,” Jan said. “He didn’t walk around saying, ‘Look at me, I am the chief.’ He didn’t even think of himself as the chief.”

    That’s right. Although he was the man who led his band, Tonaioza didn’t consider himself a chief.

    “It’s the non-Indian community that raised him to that level. To them he was a chief,” Jan said.

    Nancy, with just a handful of words, said Chief Pocatello was also considered to have been a “very spiritual” man.

    While his given name, Tonaioza, is unknown to most outside the tribal community, the Nakis said Pocatello is far from the only name he was known by. Most of the nicknames given him were done so by non-tribal peoples.

    While they know much about Chief Pocatello because of oral family history passed down from generation to generation, and a portion of that is not shared outside the family, the Nakis said the origin of the Pocatello name is not among that lore.

    In other words, they also do not know how Tonaioza was tagged with the name Pocatello or why it stuck instead of the many other names placed on him.