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, easte ...

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

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

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

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, 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 Monta ...

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 In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

, 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 Elko County is a county in the northeastern corner of Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,702. Its county seat is Elko. The county was established on March 5, 1869, from Lander County. Elko County is the fourth ...

. 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, 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 § ...

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''. Th ...

. 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 include ...

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 ...

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governo ...

established the Duck Valley Western Shoshone Reservation by

Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...

; 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. 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 be ...

of 1878. Survivors were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp at the

Yakama Indian Reservation The Yakama Indian Reservation (spelled Yakima until 1994) is a Native American reservation in Washington state of the federally recognized tribe known as the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The tribe is made up of Klikitat, ...

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 ...

. 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, 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 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 ...

, Idaho * Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation, 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, w ...

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 Act. ...

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 The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police br ...

chairman,

John Trudell John Trudell (February 15, 1946December 8, 2015) was a Native American author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He was the spokesperson for the Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as ''Radi ...

, 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