Timbisha
Encyclopedia
The Timbisha are a Native American
tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in south central California
, near the Nevada border.
for over a thousand years. In 1933 President Herbert Hoover
created Death Valley National Monument, an action that subsumed the tribe's homeland within park boundaries. Despite their long-time presence in the region, the proclamation failed to provide a homeland for the Timbisha people. After unsuccessful efforts to remove the band to nearby reservations, National Park Service
officials entered into an agreement with tribal leaders to allow the Civilian Conservation Corps
to construct an Indian village
for tribal members near park headquarters at Furnace Creek in 1938. Thereafter tribal members survived within monument boundaries, although their status was repeatedly challenged by monument officials. They also lived in the Great Basin
Saline Valley and northern Mojave Desert
Panamint Valley
areas of present day southeastern California.
.) Alfred L. Kroeber
put the combined 1770 population of the Timbisha (Koso) and Chemehuevi
at 1,500. He estimated the population of the Timbisha and Chemehuevi in 1910 as 500. Julian Steward's figures for Eastern California are about 65 persons in Saline Valley, 150-160 persons in Little Lake (springs) and the Coso Range
, about 100 in northern Panamint Valley
, 42 in northern Death Valley
, 29 at Beatty
, and 42 in the Belted Range
.
' Federal Acknowledgment Process.
, was established in 1982. Located within Death Valley National Park
at Furnace Creek
in Death Valley, Inyo County, California
. In 1990 it was 40 acre (0.1618744 km²) in size and had a population of 199 tribal member residents.
Despite their federal tribal recognition and diminutive 1982 reservation, the Timbisha still faced difficulty and conflict with the Death Valley National Park's National Park Service
in regaining more of their ancestral lands within the Park. After much tribal effort, federal politics, and mutual compromise, the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act of 2000 finally returned 7500 acres (30.4 km²) of ancestral homelands to the Timbisha Shoshone tribe.
Currently the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe consists of around 300 members, usually 50 of whom live at the Death Valley Indian Community at Furnace Creek
within Death Valley National Park
. Many members spend the summers at Lone Pine
in the Owens Valley
to the west.
distinguished Northern Death Valley Shoshone from the Southern Death Valley Shoshone or Kawaiisu
. Harold Driver recorded two Panamint subgroups in Death Valley, the o'hya and the tu'mbica in 1937.
In the Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs periodically listed in the Federal Register
, their name is presented as "Timbi-Sha", but this is a typographical error and ungrammatical in Timbisha. The tribe never hyphenates its name. Both the California Desert Protection Act and the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act spell their name correctly.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in south central California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, near the Nevada border.
History
The Timbisha have lived in the Death Valley region of North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
for over a thousand years. In 1933 President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
created Death Valley National Monument, an action that subsumed the tribe's homeland within park boundaries. Despite their long-time presence in the region, the proclamation failed to provide a homeland for the Timbisha people. After unsuccessful efforts to remove the band to nearby reservations, National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
officials entered into an agreement with tribal leaders to allow the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
to construct an Indian village
Indian Village, California
Indian Village is an unincorporated community in Furnace Creek, Death Valley of Inyo County, California.Indian Village lies at an elevation of 197 feet below sea level. Indian Village is located in the Death Valley Indian Community reservation of the federally recognized tribe of Death Valley...
for tribal members near park headquarters at Furnace Creek in 1938. Thereafter tribal members survived within monument boundaries, although their status was repeatedly challenged by monument officials. They also lived in the Great Basin
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
Saline Valley and northern Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
Panamint Valley
Panamint Valley
The Panamint Valley is a long basin located east of the Argus Range and Slate Range, and west of the Panamint Range in the northeastern reach of the Mojave Desert, in eastern California, United States.-Geography:...
areas of present day southeastern California.
Population
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native CaliforniaPopulation of Native California
Estimates of the Native Californian population have varied substantially, both with respect to California's pre-contact count and for changes during subsequent periods. Pre-contact estimates range from 133,000 to 705,000 with some recent scholars concluding that these estimates are low...
.) Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred Louis Kroeber was an American anthropologist. He was the first professor appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and played an integral role in the early days of its Museum of Anthropology, where he served as director from 1909 through...
put the combined 1770 population of the Timbisha (Koso) and Chemehuevi
Chemehuevi
The Chemehuevi are a federally recognized Native American tribe enrolled in the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of the Chemehuevi Reservation. They are the southernmost branch of Paiutes.-Reservation:...
at 1,500. He estimated the population of the Timbisha and Chemehuevi in 1910 as 500. Julian Steward's figures for Eastern California are about 65 persons in Saline Valley, 150-160 persons in Little Lake (springs) and the Coso Range
Coso Range
The Coso Range of eastern California is located immediately south of Owens Lake , east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and west of the Argus Range. The southern part of the range lies in the restricted Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake...
, about 100 in northern Panamint Valley
Panamint Valley
The Panamint Valley is a long basin located east of the Argus Range and Slate Range, and west of the Panamint Range in the northeastern reach of the Mojave Desert, in eastern California, United States.-Geography:...
, 42 in northern Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...
, 29 at Beatty
Beatty, Nevada
Beatty is a census-designated place along the Amargosa River in Nye County in the U.S. state of Nevada. U.S. Route 95 runs through the CDP, which lies between Tonopah, about to the north, and Las Vegas, about to the southeast. State Route 374 connects Beatty to Death Valley National Park, about ...
, and 42 in the Belted Range
Belted Range
The Belted Range is a mountain range in Nye County, Nevada....
.
Tribal Recognition
With the help of the California Indian Legal Services, Timbisha Shoshone members led by Pauline Esteves began agitating for a formal reservation in the 1960s. The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe was recognized by the US government in 1982. In this effort, they were one of the first tribes to secure tribal status through the Bureau of Indian AffairsBureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
' Federal Acknowledgment Process.
Reservation Land and Residence
The tribe's reservation, the Death Valley Indian CommunityIndian Village, California
Indian Village is an unincorporated community in Furnace Creek, Death Valley of Inyo County, California.Indian Village lies at an elevation of 197 feet below sea level. Indian Village is located in the Death Valley Indian Community reservation of the federally recognized tribe of Death Valley...
, was established in 1982. Located within Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park is a national park in the U.S. states of California and Nevada located east of the Sierra Nevada in the arid Great Basin of the United States. The park protects the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and contains a diverse desert environment of salt-flats, sand dunes,...
at Furnace Creek
Furnace Creek, California
Furnace Creek is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. The population was 24 at the 2010 census, down from 31 at the 2000 census. The elevation of the village is below sea level....
in Death Valley, Inyo County, California
Inyo County, California
-National protected areas:* Death Valley National Park * Inyo National Forest * Manzanar National Historic Site-Major highways:* U.S. Route 6* U.S. Route 395* State Route 127* State Route 136* State Route 168* State Route 178...
. In 1990 it was 40 acre (0.1618744 km²) in size and had a population of 199 tribal member residents.
Despite their federal tribal recognition and diminutive 1982 reservation, the Timbisha still faced difficulty and conflict with the Death Valley National Park's National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
in regaining more of their ancestral lands within the Park. After much tribal effort, federal politics, and mutual compromise, the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act of 2000 finally returned 7500 acres (30.4 km²) of ancestral homelands to the Timbisha Shoshone tribe.
Currently the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe consists of around 300 members, usually 50 of whom live at the Death Valley Indian Community at Furnace Creek
Furnace Creek, California
Furnace Creek is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. The population was 24 at the 2010 census, down from 31 at the 2000 census. The elevation of the village is below sea level....
within Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park is a national park in the U.S. states of California and Nevada located east of the Sierra Nevada in the arid Great Basin of the United States. The park protects the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and contains a diverse desert environment of salt-flats, sand dunes,...
. Many members spend the summers at Lone Pine
Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of 3727 feet . The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens Valley, near the...
in the Owens Valley
Owens Valley
Owens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...
to the west.
Names
The Timbisha have been known as the California Shoshoni, Northern Death Valley Shoshone, Panamint Shoshone or simply Panamint. Julian StewardJulian Steward
Julian Haynes Steward was an American anthropologist best known for his role in developing "the concept and method" of cultural ecology, as well as a scientific theory of culture change.-Early life and education:...
distinguished Northern Death Valley Shoshone from the Southern Death Valley Shoshone or Kawaiisu
Kawaiisu
thumb|Kawaiisu FamilyThe Kawaiisu are a Native American group who lived in the southern California Tehachapi Valley and across the Tehachapi Pass in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains to the north, toward Lake Isabella and Walker Pass...
. Harold Driver recorded two Panamint subgroups in Death Valley, the o'hya and the tu'mbica in 1937.
In the Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs periodically listed in the Federal Register
Federal Register
The Federal Register , abbreviated FR, or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains most routine publications and public notices of government agencies...
, their name is presented as "Timbi-Sha", but this is a typographical error and ungrammatical in Timbisha. The tribe never hyphenates its name. Both the California Desert Protection Act and the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act spell their name correctly.
Additional reading
- Crum, Steven J. (1998), "A Tripartite State of Affairs: The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, the National Park ServiceNational Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, and the Bureau of Indian AffairsBureau of Indian AffairsThe Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
, 1934–1994," American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 22(1): 117-136). - Haberfeld, Steven (2000), "Government-to-Government Negotiations: How the Timbisha Shoshone Got Its Land Back,” American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 24(4): 127–65. (Author, as of 2009, is exec. dir., Indian Dispute Resolution Service, Sacramento,CA.)
- Miller, Mark E. (2004), Forgotten Tribes: Unrecognized Indians and the Federal Acknowledgment Process (Lincoln: University of Nebraska PressUniversity of Nebraska PressThe University of Nebraska Press, founded in 1941, is a publisher of scholarly and popular-press books. It is the second-largest state university press in the United States and, including private institutions, ranks among the 10 largest university presses in the United States...
, 2004). The Timbisha are one of four cases reviewed.