''United States v. Shoshone Tribe of Indians of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming'', 304 U.S. 111 (1938), was a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case in which the Court held that mineral rights on a reservation belonged to the tribe, not the federal government.''United States v. Shoshone Tribe of Indians'',

Background

By the Treaty of July 2, 1863 the

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 ...

set apart for the Shoshone Tribe of Indians of the

Wind River Reservation The Wind River Indian Reservation, in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, is shared by two Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone ( shh, Gweechoon Deka, ''meaning: "buffalo eaters"'') and the Northern Arapaho ( arp, h ...

, a reservation of located in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

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

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. By the Treaty of July 3, 1868, the tribe ceded this reservation to the United States. The US agreed that definitely described acres called the "district of country" would be set aside for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Shoshone Indians. The US also agreed that no persons would be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in that territory. The Shoshone Tribe subsequently made the reservation their permanent home. At the time the 1868 Treaty was made, the tribe consisted of full-blood Indians who were unable to read, write, or speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. The reservation contained valuable mineral deposits of gold, oil, coal, and

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

as well as over of timber. In 1904, the Shoshones and

Arapahoe The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

s ceded to the US to be held by it in trust for the sale of timber, timber lands, and for the making of leases. The net proceeds were to be credited to the Indians. There were allotted to members of the tribes from 1907 to 1919. The Court found the fair value of a one-half interest of the Shoshone reservation of a total of , which was taken by the US for the Arapahoes on March 19, 1878 to be

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1,581,889.50. The lower court concluded that the tribe's interest in the land by the Treaty of 1868 included ownership of the mineral and timber rights. The Government appealed to the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and asked for reversal with directions to determine the value of the Indians' right of use and occupancy excluding the value of any timber or minerals.

Opinion of the Court

Justice

Pierce Butler Pierce or Piers Butler may refer to: *Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond (c. 1467 – 26 August 1539), Anglo-Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland *Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye (1652–1740), Anglo-Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland *Pi ...

delivered the opinion of the court. The case was argued March 21 and April 18, 1938 and was decided on April 25, 1938. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court ruling and held that by the Treaty of 1868 the Shoshone Tribe had acquired the mineral and timber rights of the reservation. The Court reasoned that the minerals and standing timber were elements of the land itself and that for all practical purposes, the Tribe owned the land. The language of the Treaty did not suggest that the US intended to retain for itself any interest in the minerals or timber. The Court ultimately concluded that the lower court was correct in holding that the right of the Shoshone Tribe included the timber and minerals within the reservation.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:United States V. Shoshone Tribe Of Indians 1938 in American law Shoshone United States Native American case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Hughes Court 1938 in United States case law Aboriginal title case law in the United States Native American history of Colorado Native American history of Utah Native American history of Idaho Native American history of Wyoming