What is the Ruby Valley Treaty and Why Should You Know About It?

In the years before Nevada became a state in 1864, hundreds of hopefuls made their way out West, hoping to strike it rich as part of the California Gold Rush. Along the way, these white settlers often came into contact with indigenous people, leading to violence and conflict.

That included the areas of the Great Basin that is now eastern Nevada, where Western Shoshone people had been living for centuries.

“Much of our ancestors’ food supply was being denigrated by the colonial settlers. Livestock, they were eating much of our peoples’ food supply,” said Mary Gibson, a member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone/Elko Band and executive director of the Noowuh Knowledge Center.

Gibson said these conflicts led to raids against U.S. settlers and massacres against indigenous people. Eventually, as the Comstock Lode was discovered and the country was embroiled in the violent Civil War, the U.S. government entered into a treaty with the Western Shoshone, known as the 1863 Treaty of the Ruby Valley.

“The Ruby Valley Treaty is a treaty of peace and a treaty of friendship,” Gibson said. “The treaty allowed the United States to take their journey across Western Shoshone territory in 1863.”

What it didn’t do was cede land to the United States government.

“There are very specific boundaries in the treaty. It goes up north into Idaho and parts of Utah, and down through a good two-thirds portion of Nevada and down into Death Valley, California. So, we’re talking about vast territory that that we were in,” said Fermina Stevens, a member of the Te-Moak tribe of Western Shoshone and Executive Director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project.

The treaty is still valid today, yet the territory of the Western Shoshone continues to be ignored. That’s a big concern for Stevens and other Western Shoshone people.

“Right now, we’re just trying to trying to protect the land and water for future use, for the future of Nevada. With everything going on in Nevada, who knows what’s going to happen with our water and food sources as we move along in the next 50-60 years and beyond?” Stevens said.

Part of the concern stems from large-scale projects happening on the traditional land of the Western Shoshone, including the long-proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and the Nevada Test Site.

“As stated in the Constitution, Article VI, that treaties are the supreme law of the land. And unfortunately, in our case, the Western Shoshone case, the United States doesn’t seem to see it that way,” Gibson said.

Gibson said it’s critical to educate the community at large about this treaty and the impacts it’s had over time. It’s why the Noowuh Knowledge Center is putting on a conference this weekend commemorating the 160-year anniversary of that agreement.

Gail Rappa has seen this lack of awareness firsthand. She’s the Humanities Center Coordinator for Great Basin College, which is a partner for the event.

“I’ve lived here since 1997, in the Elko and northeastern Nevada area, and I did not know very much about the treaty. I’d never heard it talked about. But I’ve talked to folks who went to school here and they never learned about the treaty,” Rappa said.

It’s not just non-natives, either. There also seems to be a lack of awareness within native communities.

“We’re finding even within native circles, the youth don’t know very much about it. This is important information. It’s all tied to the land that we live on that we are inhabiting right now,” Rappa said.

Several speakers, workshops and activities are planned over three days, designed to celebrate Western Shoshone sovereignty and culture. Cliff Banuelos, a direct descendant of a treaty signer, will be giving a keynote address.

“We’re not specifically honoring this treaty, because a lot of our people don’t think it’s an honor that [the] United States has not lived up to their treaty obligations. We’re looking at it from the viewpoint of our ancestors, we are honoring them for what they had to do,” Gibson said.

The conference takes place Friday and Saturday at Great Basin College in Elko, Nev., with Sunday’s events happening at the Elko Indian Colony Gymnasium.