Treaty of Ruby Valley

The Treaty of Ruby Valley was a treaty signed with the Western Shoshone in 1863, giving certain rights to the United States in the Nevada Territory. The Western Shoshone did not cede land under this treaty but agreed to allow the US the "right to traverse the area, maintain existing telegraph and stage lines, construct one railroad and engage in specified economic activities. The agreement allows the U.S. president to designate reservations, but does not tie this to land cessions."

As late as December 1992, the Western Shoshone were still disputing the terms of this treaty with the federal government and President-Elect Clinton. As of 2006, most of the Western Shoshone tribal councils had refused to settle for a payment of $145 million to transfer 25 million acres (101,000 km²) of their traditional territory to the United States; this settlement was authorized by Congress in 2004. They feared that accepting payment would be considered to extinguish their land claims.

In the early 1860s some of the Western Shoshone people were conducting raids against European-American settlers who were traveling along the Humboldt River and the Overland Trail. The Federal government established Fort Ruby to provide security for the settlers against the Indians.

To protect gold sources in the West in order to prosecute the American Civil War, the US started to negotiate treaties with the Shoshone and other peoples of the Great Basin. On 1 October 1863 Governor James W. Nye of Nevada Territory and Governor James Duane Doty of the Utah Territory signed the Treaty of Ruby Valley. Twelve chiefs signed for the "Western Bands of the Shoshonee Nation of Indians". All but one made a mark in place of a signature. The document was witnessed by J. B. Moore, lieutenant-colonel Third Infantry California Volunteers; Jacob T. Lockhart, Indian agent, Nevada Territory; and Henry Butterfield, interpreter. White men present at the treaty of 1863 were the first to refer to these several native bands by the name of "Western Shoshone." The peoples speak the Shoshone language, also known as Shoshoni, and are similar culturally, while operating independently.

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