Winnemucca Indian Colony of Nevada facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Winnemucca Indian Colony
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Location of the Winnemucca Indian Colony in Nevada
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| Country | United States |
| State | Nevada |
| County | Humboldt |
The Winnemucca Indian Colony of Nevada is a special community of Native Americans in northwestern Nevada. They are a federally recognized tribe, meaning the United States government officially recognizes them. The people of this colony are from two main groups: the Western Shoshone and the Northern Paiute tribes.
About the Reservation
The Winnemucca Indian Colony has its own land, called a reservation. This reservation is located in Humboldt County, Nevada. It was officially created on June 18, 1917.
The reservation is made up of two separate pieces of land. One part is about 20 acres (0.08 square kilometers) and is inside the city of Winnemucca, Nevada. The other part is much larger, about 320 acres (1.3 square kilometers), and is on the edge of the city in a more rural area. In 1990, 17 tribal members lived on the reservation. By 2022, court records showed that the colony had 28 tribal members.
Important Recent Events
In 2007, the Winnemucca Indian Colony joined with other groups to take legal action against the United States. They wanted to stop a plan to explode 700 tons of explosives at the Nevada Test Site. This test site is on land that traditionally belonged to the Western Shoshone people.
In the 1940s, members of the tribe were forced to leave their homes. Their lands were then used for the Nevada Test Site. From 1951 to 1993, nuclear bombs were tested there. The tribe believes that being removed from their land and the nuclear testing went against the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. This treaty was an agreement between the Western Shoshone and the U.S. government. The planned test, called Divine Strake, was eventually canceled.
An important international group, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of the United Nations, made a decision on March 10, 2006. They stated that the lands belonged to the Winnemucca Indian Colony and other Western Shoshone tribes.
Life Today
The main office for the Winnemucca Indian Colony of Nevada is in Winnemucca, Nevada. The tribe is led by a Tribal Chairman. Currently, Judy Rojo is the Tribal Chairman, and she is recognized by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. The tribe makes decisions about its community through a five-person tribal council.
Notable People from Winnemucca
- Chief Winnemucca: A respected leader of the Paiute people.
- Sarah Winnemucca: She was a very important Native American woman. She wrote the first autobiography by a Native American woman, called Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883). This book is considered a very important historical account written by an American Indian.
