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Great BasinTreaty

Treaty of Ruby Valley (Western Shoshone), 1863

The 1863 Ruby Valley treaty gave the United States travel, mining and settlement access in Western Shoshone country and states no cession.

Signed
October 1, 1863
Senate
Ratified
Land set aside for the nations
about 76 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On October 1, 1863, at Ruby Valley in Nevada Territory, the United States and chiefs of the western bands of the Shoshone signed a treaty of peace and friendship. The bands agreed to end depredations. The treaty made the routes of travel free, allowed military posts and station houses, and permitted the telegraph, stage lines and a railway.

It also allowed the Shoshone country to be prospected for gold, silver and other minerals, with mining and farming settlements and ranches "whenever they may be required." Article 5 records the boundaries as the bands described them. The President could later set aside reservations, and the United States promised annuities as compensation for game driven away.

The text does not say the bands ceded title. In United States v. Dann (1985), the Supreme Court described how the Indian Claims Commission held Western Shoshone aboriginal title extinguished and awarded $26 million. The Court held the claim was settled once the award was placed in a Treasury trust account. The Court noted the Western Shoshone refused to cooperate in distributing it.

Good to know. The treaty text contains no cession of land. In 1985 the Supreme Court held that the Claims Commission award was legally paid once deposited in a Treasury account, which ended the tribal claim; it expressed no opinion on whether individual Western Shoshone title survives.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. may be explored and prospected for gold and silver, or other mineralsTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Western Shoshoni, 1863
  2. awarded the Western Shoshone in excess of $26 million in compensationUnited States v. Dann, 470 U.S. 39 (1985) (Cornell LII)
  3. the Secretary has yet to submit a plan of distribution of the $26 million owing to the refusal of the Western Shoshone to cooperateUnited States v. Dann, 470 U.S. 39 (1985) (Cornell LII)

Research notes. The treaty text gives boundaries by landmarks but no area, so no square-mile figure is stated here. The treaty text contains no cession of land. The Western Shoshone view of the treaty is not quoted here because no Western Shoshone published source is cited.

What the treaty did to the land

About 76 million acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

  1. 1863

    This treaty

    About 76 million acres recognized as land of the Shoshoni (Western bands)

    The 1863 Ruby Valley treaty gave the United States travel, mining and settlement access in Western Shoshone country and states no cession.

  2. 1951

    Promise broken

    Western Shoshone: Treaty of Ruby Valley (1863) and the ICC payment the Nation refuses

    The 1863 Ruby Valley treaty has no land-cession article; a later Claims Commission award was held to count as payment for Western Shoshone title.

  3. 1985

    In court

    United States v. Dann

    In 1985 the Court held that depositing a $26 million claims award in a Treasury account for the Shoshone Tribe counted as "payment."

The law behind it

The legal ideas behind the decisions, and related records without a date. Court cases and laws with a date are in what happened next, above.

  • Legal doctrine

    aboriginal title

    Aboriginal title is Native nations' right to land held before European arrival; unrecognized title can be ended without payment.

  • Legal doctrine

    claims

    The 1946 Indian Claims Commission let tribes press land and treaty claims against the United States for money, as in the Sioux case.

  • Legal doctrine

    federal recognition

    Federal recognition acknowledges a tribe's political existence; Congress, Interior or a court can grant it, and only Congress can end it.

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/178907585reference work
Research notes

Stat. cite per Wikipedia (pointer); Kappler page. US v. Dann, 470 U.S. 39 (1985) held aboriginal title extinguished by payment into the ICC judgment account; Western Shoshone dispute this.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.