It was a September night in 2020 when the fire torched the Red Mountain Travel Plaza. Residents of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone nation watched as the only gas station and grocery store for miles around vanished amid towering orange flames and acrid smoke.
The convenience store was where the approximately 250 residents went to buy snacks, tobacco and essentials. Without it, they would have to drive more than an hour for major provisions. What’s more, a safe stashed in the back room of the store that tribal officials said held nearly $19,000 in cash allegedly burned up. These were a portion of the profits from a cannabis farm down the road – 20 acres of land that were the subject of much anger and anxiety on the reservation – and the tribe was counting on them.
One tribal official alleged that law enforcement from outside the tribe suspected arson, but no one was charged. Many people in the community suspected that someone had set fire to the gas station so they could make off with the cash. That was never proved. For most at Fort McDermitt, the damage was emblematic of something more troubling: a mismanaged venture that never realized its promise.
