Paiute Tribes

To get started with American Indian Research



Two major groups: Northern Paiute and the Southern Paiute.

Ancestral homelands: Northern Paiute in what is now northwestern Nevada, southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho and northeastern California.Southern Paiute in area now western Utah, southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona and southeastern California. Another group live along the Sierra Nevada in southeastern California - the Owen Valley Paiute

Tribal Headquarters
Fallon Band of Paiute-Shoshone

Fallon Band of Paiute-Shoshone 8955 Mission Road Fallon, Nevada 89406 Telephone: 1-702-423-6075 Local call from the Reno area: 1-323-3780 Fax:1-702-423-5202

Fort McDermitt Paiute

Fort McDermitt Paiute P.O. Box 457 McDermitt, Nevada 89421 Telephone: 1-702-532-8259 Fax:1-702-532-8263

U-tu Utu Gwaitu Paiute

U-tu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe 567 Yellow Jacket Road Benton, CA 93512 Ph. 1-760-933-2321 Fax 1-760-933-2412 

Brief Timeline

 * 1776: Spanish explorers, Francisco Atanasio Dominquez and Silvestre Veles de Escalante
 * 1878: Bannock War
 * 1825: Contact with Jedediah Smith - fur trapper and trader
 * 1827: Peter Skene Ogden- fur trapper and trader
 * 1833: Joseph Walker
 * 1849: Gold discovered in California
 * 1858-1859: Coeur d'Alene War The Northern Paiute were allies of the Coeur d'Alene
 * 1860: Paiute War or Pyramid Lake War
 * 1866-67: Snake War
 * Some members of the tribe Settled on the Malheur Reservation in Oregon
 * 1881- 1888: Paiute Indians in California, Nevada, Oregon and the Territory of Washington, migration to reservations at: Malheur River in Oregona and Fort McDermitt and Pyramid Lake in Nevada.
 * 1888-89: Jack Wilson (Wovoka), a Northern Paiute proclaimed a religion called the Ghost Dance; influeced by Wodziwob of the Walker River Reservation, who began practicing his version of the Ghost Dance in 1870. The Ghost Dance Religion spread to tribes all over the West.
 * 1957: Paiute Indians of Utah terminated, Tribal Membership 232, Tribal land 42,839
 * 1992: population 11,045, (7,323 Northern Paiute; 2,266 Owens Valley Paiute; and 1,456 Southern Paiute)

Additional References to the History of the Tribe
Ruth Hermann. The Paiutes of Pyramid Lake. San Jose, CA. Harlan-Young Press, 1972.

Agencies
Fort Bidwell Agency

Nevada Agency

Western Navaho

Bishop Agency

Reservations
Malheur Reservation

Walker River Reservation

Superintendencies
Nevada Superintendency

Utah Superintendency

Oregon Superintendency

Bands and Groups of the Paiute Tribe and Their Reservations/Localities
The term or designation of Paiute Indians is a very broad categorization of several bands and/or federally recognized tribes within the group so named. They are sometimes divided into Northern Paiute and Southern Paiute, and are sometimes grouped together with other tribes such as the Shoshone or Bannock Indians. For the most part, they have historically lived in the Great Basin area, and have ranged from Oregon and Idaho on the north to Arizona and southern California on the south, and from Utah on the east to northern California on the west. Some of the tribes, bands, or groups of Paiutes, with their colonies or reservations, include:


 * Big Pine Band of Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Indians -- Big Pine Reservation(California)
 * Bridgeport Paiute Indian Colony of California
 * Burns Paiute Tribe -- Burns Paiute Colony (Oregon)
 * Cedar City Band of Paiutes (see Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah)
 * Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiute Indians -- Fort Independence Reservation (California)
 * Fort McDermitt Paiute -- Fort McDermitt Reservation (Nevada and Oregon)
 * Indian Peaks Band of Paiutes (see Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah)
 * Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians -- Kaibab Reservation (Arizona)
 * Kanosh Band of Paiutes (see Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah)
 * Koosharem Band of Paiutes (see Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah)
 * Las Vegas Tribe of Paiute Indians -- Las Vegas Indian Colony (Nevada)
 * Lovelock Paiute Tribe -- Lovelock Indian Colony (Nevada)
 * Northern Paiute -- Malheur Reservation(Oregon)
 * Moapa Band of Paiute Indians -- Moapa River Reservation (Nevada)
 * Pahrump Band of Paiute Indians -- Pahrump Colony (Nevada)
 * Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah
 * Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Community -- Bishop Colony (California)
 * Paiute-Shoshone Indians of Duck Valley -- Duck Valley Reservation (Idaho and Nevada)
 * Paiute-Shoshone Tribe -- Fallon Reservation and Colony (Nevada)
 * Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Lone Pine Community -- Lone Pine Reservation (California)
 * Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe -- Pyramid Lake Reservation (Nevada)
 * San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizona
 * Shivwits Band of Paiutes (see Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah)
 * Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation -- Duck Valley Reservation (Idaho and Nevada)
 * Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada -- Summit Lake Reservation (Nevada)
 * Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe -- Benton Paiute Reservation (California)
 * Walker River Paiute Tribe -- Walker River Reservation (Nevada)
 * Winnemuca Band of Paiute -- Winnemucca Colony (Nevada)
 * Yerington Paiute Tribe -- Yerington Colony and Campbell Ranch (Nevada)

Records
Allotment

Alphabetical List of Paiute and Washoe Indian Allottes: Carson City Series, and Public Domain Shoshones and Others of Elko Series in Nevada.

Vital Records

 * Western Navajo Agency, M595, births and deaths 1925-1933, and births and deaths 1928-1934,

Important Web Sites

 * Articles of Association of the Fort Independence Indian Community, California
 * Constitution and By-laws of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, Nevada
 * Constitution of the Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe Benton Paiute Reservation Benton, California
 * Constitution and By-Laws of the Walker River Paiute Tribe of Nevada
 * Constitution and By-Laws of the Yerington Paiute Tribe Nevada
 * Paiute Indians Wikipedia

General

 * Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
 * Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332;.
 * Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188;.


 * Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean
 * Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America
 * Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau
 * Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands


 * Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978–.


 * Volume 1 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751
 * Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371
 * Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914;.
 * Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808;.
 * Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742;.
 * Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311
 * Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086;.
 * Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053;.
 * Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096;.
 * Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416;.
 * Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371;.
 * Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643
 * Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176
 * Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503;.
 * Volume 16 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746
 * Volume 18 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 19 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 20 -- Not yet published


 * Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
 * Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193;.