Pyramid Lake Indian Agency (Nevada)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Paiute

History
A resident farmer on the Pyramid Lake Reservation reported to the Special Agency of Nevada starting in 1870. Pyramid Lake became a subagency of the Reno Agency in 1921, and a subagency of the Carson Agency in 1925. It became an independent agency from 1930-33, and was then placed under Carson Agency again.

Records
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.

A small amount of correspondence from the farmer-in-charge at Pyramid Lake, 1922-1924, is in the Pacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in San Francisco.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1931-1932. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 410. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.