JICARILLAS TAKE THE LEAD IN CATTLE MARKETING
The Jicarilla Apache Cattle Growers' Association, instrumental in establishing the cattle market in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, reports that the market not only is commanding prices equal to or better than other nearby markets, but also is stimulating other businesses on the reservation.
Jicarilla cattlemen, who organized with the aid of the County Agricultural Extension Agent and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, held their first public cattle sale in October 1963. Impressed with sales prices that were higher than those usually received locally; non-Indian neighbors of the Jicarillas organized the Rio. Arriba Cattle Marketing Association and asked the Indian cattlemen to pool their know-how in a joint sales operation.
Two joint sales held in 1964 brought prices comparable to those received at Clovis, New Mexico and other established markets. This year four sales have been approved by the joint associations.
MILLION DOLLAR HOUSING PLANS FOR WARM SPRINGS (OREGON) RESERVATION
When the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon decide to do something, it generally turns out to be a big-money and big-idea project. They are the group that developed the Kahneeta Springs mineral resort - pools, lodge, campsites and trails - which attracted tourists from the entire Pacific Northwest last year.
Now they are planning a residential community of 200 homes to supplant substandard housing in the area of Greenville, Hollywood and Park. The floods of last December, which damaged many of the Indian homes on the reservation--as well as inundating the Kahneeta Resort in mud - Ied the tribal council to conclude that a new community should be built. The council also is looking ahead to expansion of facilities at Kahneeta. The housing project was approved overwhelmingly in a recent tribal referendum.
Financial and technical assistance in the development projects are the core of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' work at Warm Springs Reservation.
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION – 1965
Contracts for school construction or expansion, totaling more than $8 million, have been awarded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs since January 1965.
While most of the construction was of minor auxiliary facilities or repairs at several Bureau-operated schools throughout the western States, three major projects were also commenced.
A new elementary day and boarding school at Beshbito, Arizona, will soon serve 1,000 Navajo reservation children who are now out of school because of the lack of facilities in the areas of Greasewood, Pine Springs, Seba Dalkai and Steamboat, Arizona. The construction contract is for more than $5 million.
In Tahlequah, Oklahoma, high school facilities will be added to the Sequoyah School to serve rural students from the eastern part of that State and from Choctaw communities of Mississippi. Many of the latter have no access to public schooling. The expansion will cost nearly $1.8 million.
Supplanting a trailer school for Pueblo primary day students at Ojo Encino, New Mexico will be a three-classroom school, complete with dining facilities and living quarters for staff. Ninety children, in grades 1-4, will attend the new school, the total outlay for which is $486,000.
These projects are part of intensive Bureau efforts to keep pace with growing school enrollments and to serve young Indians who live in isolated areas without access to public schools. Such children often require special programs to overcome language and cultural barriers that limit their chances for success in public school systems.
There are at least 100,000 Indians in public schools today--more than twice the number enrolled in Federal schools. The number of Indians in school or seeking to enter school is increasing at a more rapid rate than that of school enrollments in the general population.
ELECTRONICS ASSEMBLY PLANT ON CROW RESERVATION
A new electronics assembly plant providing jobs for an estimated 30 or more Crow Indians is scheduled to commence operations this month on the Crow reservation in Montana. The venture signals a further step toward diversification of job opportunities for the Crow Indians, who are already established in ranching-- including buffalo breeding--and who are developing tourist recreational areas on some of their scenic lands.
The new electronics firm, U. S. Automatics Corp., is privately owned but financed in large part with Crow tribal funds. In addition to the assembly plant on the reservation, the company has opened a research center in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.
A tribal loan of $235,000--some of which the Tribe, in turn, borrowed from the Bureau of Indian Affairs--has financed the purchase of equipment and provided working capital. The electronics assembly operation is housed in a new $65,000 factory building constructed and owned by the Crow Tribe and leased to the company.
The plant will manufacture- a variety of products in the general category of electronics and voltage regulation. The Bureau expects to participate in the project through an on-the-job training program for Crow Indians.
RECENT AWARDS BY INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION
Two judgment awards were recently granted to Indian groups by the Indian Claims Commission.
A final award of $1,789,201 was granted to the successors in interest to the Sac and Fox Nation. The recipients are the Sac and Fox Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; the Sac and Fox Tribe of Missouri; and the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. The amount represents additional compensation for lands in Iowa ceded under treaty in 1830.
The Snohomish Tribe of Indians received an award of $136,165, less offsets, for lands in Washington ceded under treaty in 1855. The amount of the offsets, which represent gratuitous Federal expenditures made on behalf of the tribe and not required by the treaty, will be determined at a later date.
