But the tribes of the Western Shoshone refused the settlement and have left the money with the government. In another effort to close a 1951 Indian Claims Commission 326-k case, which was transferred to federal court, Congress passed the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act of 2004, appropriating and authorizing payment of $160 million to the Great Basin tribe for the perceived acquisition of 39,000 square miles (100,000 km2). The Western Shoshone had filed the original 326-k claim for payment of $1.05 per acre for 26 million acres (which they had never received from the government), but they said that it did not constitute a transfer of rights, title and interest, since the Treaty of Ruby Valley is controlling.
