The Government has extended for another five years the trust restrictions on allotted Indian lands, scheduled to expire in calendar year 1962, the Department of the Interior reported today.
Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver, Jr., said the action underscores the Department's policy of taking all precautions against prematurely ending Federal trust protection of the property of individual Indians.
The General Allotment Act of February 8, 1887, authorized trust restricted allotments of land for individuals both on reservations and on the public domain. Homesteads for Indians off reservations, similarly restricted, also were authorized by an Act of February 28, 1891.
The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act extended trust restrictions over lands of Indians who accepted the Act's provisions. Tribes and groups not so covered--so called "unorganized" Indians--have had their trust protection extended for varying periods. Without the extension order announced today, a trust protection over several such groups would expire automatically during 1962.
