The Duck Valley Indian Reservation () was established in the 19th century for the federally recognized

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

- Paiute Tribe. It is isolated in the high desert of the western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and lies on the state line, the 42nd parallel, between

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. The reservation, in the shape of a square, is almost evenly divided in land area between the two states, with the northern 50.2 percent in southern Owyhee County, Idaho and the southern 49.8 percent in northwestern Elko County, Nevada. The total land area is . A resident population of 1,265 persons was reported in the 2000 census, more than 80 percent of whom lived on the Nevada side. In October 2016 the Nevada Native Nations Land Act was passed to put Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service lands into trust for six federally recognized tribes in the state. The Shoshone-Paiute Tribe will have of Forest Service land added to their reservation. Some other tribes are receiving thousands of acres of trust lands. Gaming is prohibited on the new lands."Nevada Native Nations Land Act"
, Propublica website; accessed 30 November 2016 The only significant community on the reservation is

Owyhee, Nevada Owyhee (, ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Elko County, Nevada, United States, along the banks of the Owyhee River. The population was 953 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is the primary town of ...

, at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. Owyhee is nearly equidistant from the two nearest major cities: north of

Elko, Nevada Elko (Shoshoni: Natakkoa, "Rocks Piled on One Another") is the largest city in and county seat of Elko County, Nevada, United States. With a 2020 population of 20,564, Elko is currently growing at a rate of 0.31% annually and its population has i ...

, the county seat of the county by that name; and south of

Mountain Home, Idaho Mountain Home is the largest city and county seat of Elmore County, Idaho, United States. The population was 15,979 in the 2020 census. Mountain Home is the principal city of the Mountain Home, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...

History

On April 16, 1877,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Rutherford B. Hayes established the Duck Valley Western Shoshone Reservation by Executive Order; it was also used for Northern Paiute people. Despite the Native Americans having a designated reservation, local settlers and some politicians tried to force the tribal members off the valuable Duck Valley lands in 1884, suggesting they should join their Western Shoshone kinsmen at the reservation at

Fort Hall, Idaho Fort Hall is a census-designated place (CDP) in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho which is split between Bannock County in the south and Bingham County in the north. It is located on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation along the Sn ...

. The bands' chiefs successfully resisted these efforts to be displaced from their lands. Meanwhile, the Northern Paiute band joined with another branch of Shoshone in the

Bannock War The Bannock War of 1878 was an armed conflict between the U.S. military and Bannock and Paiute warriors in Idaho and northeastern Oregon from June to August 1878. The Bannock totaled about 600 to 800 in 1870 because of other Shoshone peoples b ...

of 1878. Survivors were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp at the Yakama Indian Reservation in

Yakima County, Washington Yakima County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 256,728. The county seat and largest city is Yakima. The county was formed out of Ferguson County in January 1865 and is named for the Yakama t ...

. Upon their release, the Northern Paiute returned to the Duck Valley. President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

expanded the reservation by Executive Order on May 4, 1886 to accommodate the Paiute. President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

expanded the reservation to its current size by Executive Order on July 1, 1910. It was unusual to have two federal government actions to enlarge the reservation after it was established; most federal actions have been taken to reduce the size of Indian reservations. The Shoshone-Paiute Tribe of Duck Valley is one of five federally recognized tribes in the state of Idaho, each of which have reservations. The others are the Coeur d'Alene,

Kootenai Tribe of Idaho The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho (Kutenai language: ʔaq̓anqmi) is a federally recognized tribe of Lower Kootenai people, sometimes called the Idaho Ksanka. The Ktunaxa ( ; Kutenai pron. ), also known as Kutenai (), Kootenay (predominant spelling in ...

, Nez Perce, and

Shoshone-Bannock The Fort Hall Reservation is a Native American reservation of the federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (Shoshoni language: Pohoko’ikkateeCrum, B., Crum, E., & Dayley, J. P. (2001). Newe Hupia: Shoshoni Poetry Songs. University Press o ...

. It is one of several federally recognized tribes in Nevada, some of which include other Shoshone and Paiute bands.

Sister reservations

* Fort Hall Indian Reservation, Idaho *

Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation The Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone peoples, whose reservation Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes of the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation spans the Nevada ...

, Oregon/Nevada * Duckwater Shoshone Tribe of the Duckwater Reservation *

Summit Lake Indian Reservation The Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada is a federally recognized tribe of Northern Paiute Indians in northwest Nevada.Pritzker, 226 Their autonym in their language is ''Agai Panina Ticutta,'' meaning "Fish Lake Eaters."d'Azevedo, 463 They are trad ...

Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation is a United States reservation in northwestern Nevada, approximately northeast of Reno, in Washoe, Storey, and Lyon counties. It is governed by the federally recognized Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, whi ...

Reno-Sparks Indian Colony The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in Nevada was established in the early 1900s by members of related tribes who lived near Reno for work; they became a federally recognized tribe in 1934 after forming a government under the Indian Reorganization Ac ...

Notable members

Tina Manning Tina Manning (January 18, 1950 – February 12, 1979) was a Paiute-Shoshone water rights activist and wife of John Trudell.Mankiller and Wallis, p.209 Manning was the daughter of Arthur and Leah Hicks Manning. Her father had served as the tribal c ...

, d. 1979, water rights activist and wife of American Indian Movement chairman, John Trudell, 1972-1979. (She and several family members were killed in a suspicious house fire.)

Highways

References

External links

Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Tribes
(official website)
Duck Valley Indian Reservation, Idaho/Nevada
United States Census Bureau {{authority control Paiute Shoshone American Indian reservations in Nevada American Indian reservations in Idaho Geography of Elko County, Nevada Native American tribes in Idaho Native American tribes in Nevada Geography of Owyhee County, Idaho