In line with a commitment made three years ago by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons, Clinton O. Talley, superintendent of the Fort Peck Indian Agency at Poplar, Montana, will transfer March 10 to the comparable position at Mescalero, New Mexico, the Department of the Interior announced today.
In 1954 Mr. Talley undertook the Fort Peck assignment with some reluctance, because of difficulties which earlier superintendents had experienced there, and was assured by Commissioner Emmons that he would be called upon to serve in the post for only two years. His transfer to Mescalero at this time is in fulfillment of this earlier understanding.
In shifting to the superintendency at Mescalero, Mr. Talley will succeed Walter O. Olson, who moved into the Bureau's area office at Gallup, N. Mex., as assistant director for administration January 27 e At Fort Peck, Talley will be replaced on March 10 by David Paul Weston, who is now in charge of land operations in the area office at Muskogee, Okla.
Before going to Fort Peck in 1954, Mr. Talley served for six years in the Muskogee area office, first as land officer and later as assistant area director. He is a veteran of more than 30 years l service with the Bureau and saw duty at several field installations as chief clerk, subagent, principal-teacher, and education field agent before becoming district agent of the old Five Tribes Agency at Durant, Okla., in 1938. After nine years in this assignment, he left the Bureau for one year and returned as land officer at Muskogee in 1948. He was born in Murray, Okla., in 1904, graduated from high school at Nucla, Colo., and attended Adams State College, Colo., and the State College at Flagstaff, Ariz.
As preparation for the Fort Peck assignment, Mr. Weston has about 11 years of experience with the Bureau, mainly in soil conservation work. Before entering his present job in 1953, he was soil conservationist for two years at Pine Ridge Agency, S. Dak., four years at Winnebago Agency, Nebr., and several months at Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency Okla. During World War II he served with the Army for five years and emerged with the rank of captain. He was born in Macomb, Okla., in 1919 and is a graduate of Oklahoma A. and M. College.
Mr. Olson joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in June 1940, as a trainee in the Southwest field training program under a Rockefeller Foundation grant, National Institute of Public Affairs. In 1941, he was named assistant superintendent, United Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque, N. Mex. In 1946 he was named superintendent of the Zuni Agency in New Mexico and in 1948 became associate area director, Navajo-Hopi jurisdiction, Window Rock, Ariz. In 1952 he transferred to the Technical Cooperation Administration as deputy assistant administrator for Near East and Africa. Two years later he returned to the Bureau as superintendent at Mescalero.
He was born in St. Anthony, Idaho, in 1914 and attended the University of Idaho, and was graduated in 1940. He took leave of absence from the Bureau in 1947 to get a master's degree at the University of Idaho.
