Uniquely Nevada
Duck Valley sunset.
By Antoinette Cavanaugh
Recently, I returned from a trip abroad, a journey beginning at the south of France through most of Spain. While meeting people along the way, they were curious about where I was from in the United States. The typical dialogue was as follows:
“What state are you from in America?”
“I’m from Nevada.”
With an air of recognition, the usual response was, “Oh! Las Vegas?!”
Being a life-time Nevadan, I gave the geography lesson I have committed to memory.
“Well, not exactly—just the opposite. I live at the very northern-most part of the state, in a rural Nevada town called Owyhee, located on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. It is completely opposite of the southern-most Nevada city of Las Vegas.”
These two Nevada communities are located approximately 570 miles apart, almost directly at opposite ends of the state. The beautiful, rural, high desert, mountainous terrain of Duck Valley compared to the captivating, busyness of a city carved into the desert floor is the most obvious distinction of their differences. Mountains and western plateaus surround the community of Duck Valley, and the clear, starry night sky showcases the traditional Shoshone and Paiute stories of how things are and came to be. The Las Vegas Valley features human-crafted, mountainous buildings, emanating a full spectrum of lights that command attention over the city landscape. They own the desert space, sending their light into the desert sky, telling their own creation story of the city’s life and history.
The town of Owyhee is central to the rural community of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation—now considered home to Shoshone and Paiute people. It is the definition of rural—a place where everybody knows everyone—a valley with a population of approximately 1,200 tribally affiliated residents. It is a place where kids ride their bikes about the small town, spontaneously stopping in for a visit with a neighbor to introduce their new puppy or tell their important discoveries of the day. It is a transformational, organic exchange. An elder, grateful for their visit, offers a snack and listens to the children’s stories. A word or phrase in Shoshone or Paiute is shared and the young ones repeat the sounds of their people’s language before speeding off to the next new adventure or discovery. Arranged play dates or “call-before-a-visit” courtesies are atypical to this community’s cultural mores. Las Vegas is large and more diverse where the city commands a different set of societal rules. These Nevada communities are different—but they are both uniquely, Nevada.
Shoshone style boy's cradleboard.
In an online event on October 26, 2022, at 6:30 PM (PST)/ 7:30 PM (MST), Owyhee: Reclaiming Land, Language, and Community, Nevada Humanities will provide an opportunity to present insight into the Duck Valley Indian Reservation and its people. This humanities-based, educational conversation will offer perspective into a remote, Nevada community’s experiences centered upon the history of Duck Valley, its people, land reclamation, language revitalization, and discussion about what the native youth believes is important. The discussion will focus on the different conceptions of sovereignty and self-determination—sovereignty of food systems on the land; sovereignty of language and reviving, perpetuating, and celebrating the Shoshone and Paiute languages; and strengthening the resilience of this community in one of the most remote, unique locations of Nevada. I hope that you will join me at this virtual event; you can register here.
Photos courtesy of Antoinette Cavanaugh.
Antoinette Cavanaugh currently serves as President of the Nevada Humanities Board of Trustees. She is a resident of Owyhee and is an enrolled member of the Shoshone Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. She is a graduate of Boise State University and the University of Nevada, Reno. Her interests include weaving cradleboard baskets, beading, reading and writing during her spare time.