It was the summer of 93 in Newe Segobia or Western Shoshone lands near Crescent Valley, Nevada on the ranch of Mary and Carrie Dann. The days toiled in dust devil 100 degree weather as we sat waiting for the trespasser area ranchers to force their 3 tractor trailer cattle trucks onto the Dann Ranch. We had several high lookout points around the Buckhorn mountains that lined this defiant Shoshone ranch deemed overgrazed by the Bureau of Land Management which had given the areas Non-native ranchers a grudging right of way through to their own visibly dry acreage. You see the Dann Ranch was the only acreage that was not overgrazed and was in fact flourishing. I think to this day the land flourished by the prayers Carrie and Mary Dann had laid down on the Shoshone land for decades as their people did for a thousand generations. In the distance you could see the dust rocket trails the 3 trucks left behind each other. You could feel a Texas B-grade movie in the making as the trucks stopped at the gate to find it locked and barricaded. No Tresspassing as declared by the Ruby Valley Treaty saying - no White Man could enter without permission of the Western Shoshone National Council. Several members of the encampment rushed out to meet the cowboys now swinging rifles in the air, pointing them at other unarmed camp members now arriving to support the barricade. The firing began and many ducked and scattered behind vehicles and along side the road. It was then these John Waynes jumped into their monster trucks and drove through the fence and several junk cars set up as the barricade. We counted about 50 rounds as they continued to claim rights to Indian land with their dust deviled cattle trucks distancing themselves. It was then i looked from my high point near the hot springs east of the Danns ranch house and started to laugh out loud. LOUD! I coud see through the binoculars that all the cowboys were kicking and waving their arms and you could almost hear them as their animated anger held them in check. We had planted potatoes with nails along the road that even the thickest truck tires could not withstand. I can say now that those cowboys refused to go through the Dann ranch and found a harder, rougher road to blaze to get to the claims. The land they claimed is still Shoshone land.... still Indian land. You are on Indian Land!
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 05:19:07 +0000
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