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History of Western Shoshone
Land Rights
Western Shoshone never accepted the cash settlement
that in 1979 the Indian Claim’s Commission (ICC)
placed in an Interior trust account for lands
deemed taken by “gradual encroachment.” Current
legislation to force the distribution of this
money, an amount set at the 1872 fair market
value of 15 cents an acre, threatens Western
Shoshone land rights, homelands, and a land
base necessary for Newe cultural and economic
survival.
Newe Sogobia is not for sale. In the 1863 Treaty
of Ruby Valley, the Newe agreed to settle into
a lifestyle of ranching and allow white people
to pass through Newe lands; but did not cede
lands. In the eighties, Western Shoshone ranchers,
sisters Carrie and Mary Dann, were charged with
trespass for refusing to pay grazing fees to
the United States. The issue went through the
U.S. court system to the Supreme Court which
ruled that the Western Shoshone lands were taken
not, as the ICC had determined, by gradual encroachment,
but when the ICC placed money in the trust account.
The WSDP and the Indian Law Resource Center
work to restore justice within the United Nations
and the Organization of American States(OAS).
In 2003, the OAS found that the U.S. is using
illegitimate means to claim title to Newe Lands.
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