Duckwater, Nevada

Duckwater is an unincorporated community located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Nevada, in the Duckwater Valley at about the same latitude as Sacramento, California. It is in Nye County, at the eastern edge of the Duckwater Indian Reservation, near the Red Mountain Wilderness at the end of Nevada State Route 379. The city of Las Vegas is about 200 miles to the south-southeast.

Duckwater
Unincorporated community
Duckwater is located in Nevada
Duckwater
Duckwater
Location of Duckwater in Nevada
Coordinates: 38°55′55″N 115°42′54″W
CountryUnited States
StateNevada
CountyNye
Area
 • Total4,346.4 sq mi (11,257 km2)
Elevation
5,480 ft (1,670 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total228
 • Density0.052/sq mi (0.020/km2)
Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code
89314

A post office was established at Duckwater in 1873.[1] The community was named for the ducks which frequented wetlands near the original town site.[2]

Education

All children may attend the Nye County School District's Duckwater School,[3] but Native American children may elect to attend the Duckwater Shoshone Elementary School (D.S.E.S.), located on the reservation. D.S.E.S. is tribally-controlled and operated, with funding derived from the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).[4] The BIE provides most of the tribal school's funding. Both schools are K-8 one-room schools.

By 1975 Duckwater School, with one teacher, had an enrollment of six, since some students had withdrawn upon the opening of the reservation school.[5] Prior to loss of Native American students, the school district provided hot lunches, and there were two teachers. By 1986 enrollment was thirteen, and the relationship between the Duckwater School and Duckwater Shoshone School community had mended. The teacher then had an aide, and used the aide and older students to ensure all students be on task. Of the thirteen students, nine had at least one sibling in their classes. Students came from ranching and mining families.[6]

Duckwater Shoshone is in a building that previously functioned as a church. The school was established circa 1973 by tribal members who were dissatisfied with their children's course in the Nye County School District. The school board was established on July 26 of that year, and it opened on November 26 of that year after the United States Office of Education granted $35,000.[7] In 1975 its student count was 21.[5] In 1982 the school was renovated. It maintains its own zoological garden.[7]

Most students in grades 9-12 attend Eureka County High School, 47 miles north of Duckwater. As of 1999 the students on the reservation go to a high school in Eureka,[7] Eureka County High School of the Eureka County School District.[8] Other high schools taking Duckwater area students, as of 1986, are Lund High School in Lund and White Pine High School in Ely, both of the White Pine County School District. As of 1986 residents of Ely and Eureka often take in high school students from Duckwater, who live with them while they attend high school.[6]

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Duckwater Post Office
  2. Federal Writers' Project (1941). Origin of Place Names: Nevada (PDF). W.P.A. p. 55.
  3. "Home". Duckwater School. Retrieved July 17, 2022. 2 Duckwater Road Duckwater, NV 89314
  4. "Duckwater Shoshone Elementary School". Bureau of Indian Education. Retrieved July 17, 2022. 509 Duckwater Falls, Duckwater, NV, 89314
  5. Powers, Lenita (July 13, 1975). "Duckwater Indians Make Children's Education a Home Affair". Nevada State Journal. p. 21. - Clipping from Newspapers.com. Text detail A, Text detail B
  6. Papinchak, Steve (September 28, 1986). "It's back to basics at Duckwater's 1-room school". Reno Gazette-Journal. pp. 1D–2D. - Clipping of first (Text detail) and of second page (Text detail A, text detail B) at Newspapers.com.
  7. "School provides a focal point for community". Reno Gazette-Journal. June 13, 1999. p. 1C. - Clipping from Newspapers.com. Text detail A and Text detail B
  8. "Home". Eureka County High School. Retrieved July 17, 2022. - As it is the only high school in Eureka, by default this would be the school that "School provides a focal point for community" refers to. Additionally "It's back to basics at Duckwater's 1-room school" refers to a "Eureka High School".
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