American Indian Culture and Research Journal

On February 11, 1933 the federal government established by presidential order the Death Valley National Monument (DVNM) in southeastern California. One reason the government set aside 1,601,800 acres of land as a monument was because it pretended that Death Valley was virgin (vacant) land and a pristine wilderness. However, government officials quickly accepted the reality that Native Americans, members of the Timbisha Shoshone tribe, were already living inside the new monument's boundaries. The National Park Service (NPS), given the responsibility to administer the new monument, now had to deal with the Timbisha Shoshones. Additionally, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), created in the early nineteenth century to deal specifically with Native American tribes, also dealt with the Shoshones after the formation of the DVNM. This article traces the history of the unique tripartite state of affairs that developed between the Timbisha Shoshones and the two federal agencies, the NPS and the BIA. Although some positive developments emerged from this tripartite interaction, for the most part the interaction has been negative, especially in the case of the NPS.