Biography
Mary Dann was a Western Shoshone rancher who, with her younger sister Carrie, led decades of resistance to federal authority over ancestral land guaranteed by the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. As a named defendant in United States v. Dann, she refused to pay BLM grazing fees and saw the sisters' cattle and horses seized in armed federal roundups. She shared the 1993 Right Livelihood Award and died in 2005 in a ranch accident.
Note: Mary Dann did not publicly disclose her exact age; the January 2, 1923 birth date comes from biographical records and should be treated as approximate.
