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Welcome to All who come this way.
LOCATION & ESTABLISHMENT:
One-Quarter mile West of the City of Wells, Elko County, Nevada.
Old Highway 40.
October 15, 1977
By Authority of Public Law #95-133 80 acres were set aside.
GOVERNMENT:
A Band Council, organized under The Constitution and By-Laws of
The Te-Moak Tribe of The Western Shoshone Indians Approved August 24, 1938.
Organized under the Indian Reorganization Act June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984) as amended.
Amended August, 1982.
STATISTICS:
Federal Reservation
Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians
Elko County, Nevada
Wells Band Council
P.O. Box 809
Wells, NV 89835
(775) 752-3045
Fax: (775) 752-2179
Total area: 80 acres
Federal trust: 80 acres
Total labor force: 79
High School graduate or higher: 67%
Per capita income: $7,000
Population (Wells Colony): 34
Tribal enrollment: 177
LOCATION AND LAND STATUS
The Wells Colony is located in the high desert of northeastern Nevada, just west of the city of Wells, in Elko County. Elko, the major population center in northeastern Nevada, lies approximately 45 miles southwest of the Wells Colony via Interstate 80. The reservation was established by an Act of Congress on October 15, 1977. The Wells Band of Western Shoshone retain 80 acres of federal trust land.
CULTURE AND HISTORY
The Wells Colony is one of four separate colinies that compose the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians. Members of the Wells Band of Western Shoshone or "Newe" (The People) are descendants of several Newe bands which once hunted and gathered throughout the valleys, near the present-day town of Wells. They named themselves Kuiyudika, after a desert plant used for food; within this group were at least two other smaller groups, the Doyogadzu Newenee (end-of-the-mountain people) and the Waiha-Muta Newenee (fire-burning-on ridge people). Clover Valley served as a rendezvous spot among these small Newe bands.
The arrival of Euro-Americans in the middle 19th century brought an end to the Newe's semi-nomadic life-style. Congress established the Nevada Territory in 1861. Although they were not members of the Te-Moak Band, the Kuiyudika were included in the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863 between the United States and the Te-Moak Band of Western Shoshone.
Newe people lived and worked in Wells from its beginning as a railroad station in 1870. For many years, the Wells area Newe languished due to an insufficient land base, low wages, and poor living conditions. During the 1970s, the Wells Band organized the Wells Community Council to address these issues. In 1976, the Te-Moak Bands of Western Shoshone recognized the community council as a committee. Congress established the Wells Colony on 80 acres in 1977. Since then, the Te-Moak and Wells Bands have worked to improve conditions at the Wells Colony by supplementing the land base with acreage from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and improving on-reservation facilities.
GOVERNMENT
A constitution and by-laws approved in 1982 established the Te-Moak Western Shoshone Council, of which the Wells Colony is a member. The Wells Colony participates in the Council, which has total jurisdiction over all tribal lands; the Wells Colony retains sovereignty over all other affairs. The governing body within the Wells Colony is the Wells Band Council comprised of a chairperson, vice-chairperson and five members, all of whom serve three-year terms.
GOVERNMENT AS EMPLOYER
The Te-Moak Council employs three persons. Tribal members also work seasonally for the USDA Forest Service as firefighters.
MANUFACTURING
The Wells Colony is planning to open a cutting and sewing operation.
SERVICES
A smokeshop, the reservation's main source of income, sells discount tobacco and cigarettes, candy, non-alcoholic beverages, ice cream, greeting cards, gifts, t-shirts, hats and crafts.
TOURISM AND RECREATION
The tribe operates a small gift shop within its smokeshop and holds an annual pow wow, which is open to the public. Recreational areas near the Wells Colony include Humboldt National Forest and scenic Hole-in-the-Mountain Peak. This is a great area for camping, fishing and hunting.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The Wells Colony is located near the intersection of north-south U.S. 93 and east-west U.S. Interstate 80. Private air service is available in the city of Wells. Wells is also served by UPS package delivery service and FedEx. Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railways provide freight-hauling services to the Wells area.
COMMUNITY FACILITIES
The Wells Colony maintains a small park and plans to build a community center for elders and tribal youth. The tribe pays half the electricity bill for the 25 homes located on reservation land. The Wells Colony receives sewer and water services from the city of Wells. The reservation has full telephone services, cable and satelite. Health care is provided to members of the Wells Band by the Indian Health Service's Southern Band Clinic in Elko and the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital and Regional Clinic (50 miles southwest of Wells). There is one private physician in Wells. Tribal youth attend public schools in Wells.
Statistical Information provided from the Te Moak Web Site and has been updated on this site and this day of February 14, 2008.
About Our Web Site
Welcome to the official web site for the Wells Band Colony of Western Shoshone located in the northeastern sector of Newe Sogobia - The Western Shoshone Nation; Elko, County - Nevada.
Within these pages our visitors will find tribal information from history, business, administrative, health, education, housing, native law, events, news, editorials and commentaries. Of course, this is only skimming the surface of what we offer here. You will also find documents, articles and opinions on issues concerning the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty, the Nuclear Testing and Nuclear Waste done on our lands, such as the Yucca Mountain Project, along with the hard data involving Depleted Uranium Dumps Mercury Poisoning, Coal Fire Plants and Mining on Shoshone Lands.
Our Web Site Directory is where you can find all of the pages contained on our site along with links to many others relating to Native Americans.
The News and Information section we offer is called Medicine Voices and covers a very large variety of issues throughout our Native Nations and the world, but, primarily focuses on those things which effect the Shoshone people. We are sure you will find many things that will be informative and of good use including the many links to sources that help keep us all together as one nation...as Native Americans.
We would like to request from all of our visitors to sign our Guest Book when they stop by our way. It would be nice to know a little about you and what you think and feel about Native issues, how they effect your life and also about our site. Go ahead, it doesn't hurt and only takes a moment. When you find the flying Eagle - Click on it.
There are many issues concerning Native Americans today that are rather overwhelming and there are many people in this nation that are totally unaware of what has been going on right in front of them for over 500 years. Our hope and desire is not only to offer information, links and resources to help expand their or our understanding of these things, but, to also offer our voices in the great scheme of things to unify all Native Americans under one banner and to awaken the rest of the people in this great nation to our undying cause and concerns. These things effect everyone whether they realize it or not. If you would like to post a comment or other information in regards to these things then, please, do so by going here: Native American Forum.
Some of the items contained within our pages may be very intense, even alarming, none-the-less, we need to help eachother understand these things. This is the only way we can arrive at the right and correct decisions we must make in our Councils, Gatherings and through our Medicine Ways that will be of great benefit to all of us. The decisions we make today does make a difference tomorrow.
If you have any questions, concerns or anything else that we can assist you with please contact the appropriate office listed above.
For issues concerning this web site please contact our webmaster by clicking "Here"
Thank you for stopping by and we hope that your visit with us is a rewarding and informative one. Please come back again and stay as long as you like.
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