Rich Gold Deposits On Indian Land In NevadaThe Western Shoshone of Nevada have been fighting for control of their land for over 30 years. The Western Shoshone Indians signed the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863 with the United States government on October 1, 1863. Congress ratified the treaty in 1866. The treaty gave safe passage to the white men, stage coaches, pony express, rail road and telegraph across the Shoshone land When the Shoshone signed the treaty they were in no way giving up ownership of the land. The government was to pay the Shoshone $5,000.00 a year in merchandise for a period of 20 years to compensate them for any inconvience and any damage that was done to their land. The treaty also stated that mining could be carried out and that settlements could be built to support the mining. The treaty also stated that military forts and reservations could be established. The US government never established a reservation on this land. The Shoshone territory is made up of about 60 million acres. The land is located mostly in what is now the state of Nevada. The land is high desert and was not worth much until gold was discovered. The land contains the third richest gold deposits in the world. The U S government has proclaimed the Shoshone land as public land because they say the Shoshone lost their land to encroachment by the white man. The government never enforced the treaty that was signed. The government claims 80 to 90 percent of the land. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has control of the land. Mt. Tenabo is part of this land. The Shoshone consider Mt. Tenabo as sacred land. The Shoshone still go there to worship and there are gravesites there. Mt. Tenabo is a very important part of their culture. U S politicians and gold mining corporations have ignored the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863. They are treating the sacred land of the Shoshone as public land then the government can do anything they want with the land. The Bureau of Land Management has done several studies in the Mt.Tenabo area. They have deemed the area as being a very spiritual and cultural area for the Western Shoshone. One report says: “The Shoshone consider Mt. Tenabo a source of power and a source of life. Mt. Tenabo figures in creation stories and world renewal. Mount Tenabo is the tallest mountain in the area and the most likely to capture snow and generate water to grow pinon and nourish life. Water is to earth what blood is to the body. These subterranean waterways are the earth’s arteries and veins.” Barrick Gold Corporation is the world’s largest gold mining company. Bar-rick is already mining in Nevada on Western Shoshone land. They are starting what they call the Cortez Hills Expansion Project. This Barrick project is totally within Western Shoshone land which is protected by the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863. Barrick will blast and excavate a new huge open pit on Mt. Tenabo. It will be over 900 acres in size. The pit will be over 2000 feet deep. There will be several new waste disposal and processing facilities. This will include cyanide heap leaching facility. There will be approximately 1,577 million tons of waste rock, 53 million tons of tailing material and 112 million tons of spent heap leach material. The mine will have a ground-water pumping system to dewater Mt. Tenabo. This is necessary to keep the open pit dry during mining. There will be pipelines to take the water away from Mt. Tenabo. The mine will destroy approximately 6,800 acres of land on and around Mt. Tenabo. This land will be damaged forever. Barrick figures the gold will last 10 years. The Western Shoshone are not opposed to mining. They are opposed to the way Barrick is mining on their land. The Bureau of Land Management is supposed to protect the air, water, and other values of the area. The gold in Nevada is not visible to the naked eye so Barrick has to use cyanide to extract the gold from the crushed rock and dirt. Cyanide poisons the ground and water supply. The animals and people get sick from the contamination. Mt. Tenabo is a place of worship for the Shoshone. Barrick will destroy it forever. They do not care and neither do the US government and the politicians. It’s all about money. If there were no gold deposits on the Shoshone land then no one would want it. Mt. Tenabo contains Western Shoshone grave sites but no one cares but the Western Shoshone. The gold it takes to make one gold ring leaves behind 20 tons of mine waste. The landscape is destroyed. The vegetation is gone. The water is contaminated. The damage to the landscape, vegetation and water supply is a high price to pay for one gold ring. The Western Shoshone have been struggling to keep their ancestral land. The Western Shoshone have never signed over, given away, or lost their land to anyone. A treaty, is the supreme law of the land but. The Western Shoshone’s treaty has been ignored. The US Constitution clearly states “all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the US shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” The US government and the politicians seem to have forgotten this when it comes to their treaty with the Western Shoshone. The Western Shoshone are the last Native American Nation faced with the government taking their land. The government has taken every other Native American Nations land. This is what the government does best. Article Author - Lydia Moitoza
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