Land area
Land of the Paiute in Nevada, ceded 1875 (area 576)
- 1873
Set aside as a reservation
The 1899 record: “President sets apart a reserve at Moapa river, as follows:”
- 1874
Set aside as a reservation
The 1899 record: “President cancels order of Mar. 12, 1873, and sets apart a reserve in lieu of the one thereby established”
- 1875
Taken back by the United States
The 1899 record: “President restores a portion of Moapa River reservation to public domain”
In the record
Set apart as the Moapa River reserve for the Paiute in 1873 and replaced in 1874; most of it was returned to the public domain in 1875, keeping only 1,000 acres. The area covers about 2.5 million acres in what is now Nevada.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
- Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation
- Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation
- Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada (Four constituent bands: Battle Mountain Band; Elko Band; South Fork Band; and Wells Band)
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- Tule River Indian Tribe Nation government 17,030 acres (Yowlumne Hills) with tule elk reintroduction, Oct 2025
- Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California Nation government WélmeltiɁ Preserve (10,274 acres), held by the Waší·šiw Land Trust (tribal)
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 20, matched by the Forest Service, under review
- Bishop Paiute Tribesuggested
- Bridgeport Indian Colonysuggested
- Burns Paiute Tribesuggested
- Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiute Indians of the Fort Independence Reservation, Californiasuggested
- Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes of the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation, Nevada and Oregonsuggested
- Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians of the Kaibab Indian Reservation, Arizonasuggested
- Las Vegas Tribe of Paiute Indians of the Las Vegas Indian Colony, Nevadasuggested
- Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribesuggested
- Lovelock Paiute Tribe of the Lovelock Indian Colony, Nevadasuggested
- Moapa Band of Paiute Indians of the Moapa River Indian Reservation, Nevadasuggested
- Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah (Cedar Band of Paiutes, Kanosh Band of Paiutes, Koosharem Band of Paiutes, Indian Peaks Band of Paiutes, and Shivwits Band of Paiutes)suggested
- Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of the Fallon Reservation and Colony, Nevadasuggested
Show all 20
- Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of the Pyramid Lake Reservation, Nevadasuggested
- San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizonasuggested
- Shoshone (Shoshoni)suggested
- Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevadasuggested
- Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevadasuggested
- Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe of the Benton Paiute Reservation, Californiasuggested
- Walker River Paiute Tribe of the Walker River Reservation, Nevadasuggested
- Yerington Paiute Tribe of the Yerington Colony & Campbell Ranch, Nevadasuggested
Located in 1
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1873-03-12primary record
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1874-02-12primary record
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1875-03-03primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Nevada (Library of Congress)primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Arizona 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 576
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1873-03-12; 1874-02-12; 1875-03-03
- Kind of instrument
- Act of Congress
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Paiute
- States
- NV
- Counties
- Clark; Lincoln
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Nevada; Arizona 1
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium