Indian reservation
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
of the federally recognized
Seneca Nation of Indians
The Seneca Nation of Indians is a federally recognized Seneca tribe based in western New York. They are one of three federally recognized Seneca entities in the United States, the others being the Tonawanda Band of Seneca (also in western New Yo ...
, formerly part of the
Iroquois Confederacy
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
located in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. As of the 2000 census, the Indian reservation had a total population of 2,412. Its total area is about 34.4 mi² (89.1 km²). The reservation stretches from
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...
inward along
Cattaraugus Creek
Cattaraugus Creek is a stream, approximately long, in western New York in the United States.Kirby, C.D. (1976). ''The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus''. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company, Inc./Gowanda Area Bi-Centennial Committee, Inc.''Historical sketch of the Village of Gowanda, N.Y. in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of its incorporation, August 8, 1898''. Buffalo, NY: The Matthews-Northrup Company, Leonard, I.R., Reprinted 1998, Salem, MA: Higginson Book Company.Gravel mining; Summary of permits for mining activities in the Cattaraugus Creek watershed ''Cattaraugus Creek watershed resource guide and proposed watershed planning strategy'', 2006, Boyer, B., Carpenter, B., Renschler, C., & Kellam, R.V., Funded by: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes National Program Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District, Retrieved 21 June 2014. along either side of NY 438. It is divided among three counties for census purposes:
* Cattaraugus Reservation, Cattaraugus County
* Cattaraugus Reservation, Chautauqua County
* Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County.
Background and location
A small cluster of Seneca-owned businesses are located along
US 20
U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...
and
NY 5
New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Sy ...
where they cross through the reservation. Facilities include a Bingo Hall, with a Poker Room and various video
slot machine
A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...
s.
Interstate 90
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
passes through the reservation; the closest exit is located in
Irving, New York
Irving is a hamlet in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It is located near the eastern town line and the eastern county line in the town of Hanover. U.S. Route 20 and New York State Route 5 pass through the hamlet, which is next to Catta ...
.
In Erie County, the reservation is bordered by the Towns of Brant, North Collins, and
Collins
Collins may refer to:
People Surname
Given name
* Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat
* Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration
* Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...
; in Cattaraugus County by the Town of Perrysburg; and in Chautauqua County by the Town of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. (At the reservation's southeast corner, near the village of Gowanda, it comes within a few feet of bordering the Town of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
in Cattaraugus County.)
The reservation is mostly of a rural character, with one-family homes along Route 438 interspersed with businesses such as
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
shops. The reservation is divided into several communities such as Newtown, Bucktown, Pinewoods, Eleven Acres, Ozarks, and Indian Hill. At the center of the reservation along Route 438 are the
Seneca Nation
The Seneca Nation of Indians is a federally recognized Seneca tribe based in western New York. They are one of three federally recognized Seneca entities in the United States, the others being the Tonawanda Band of Seneca (also in western New Y ...
government offices, a Head Start/Daycare Center, community buildings, and the volunteer fire department.