Distribution of Indian Claims Commission judgments totaling over
$5.5 million awarded to the Miami Indians of Oklahoma and Indiana, will be made beginning about July 19, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.
The payment, totaling awards in several dockets made to the Miamis, represents the difference in what the tribe received for lands ceded in Indiana in the 1800's and their actual fair value. Funds to cover the awards have been appropriated and on deposit since 1969, and are being paid out under an Act of Congress of June 2, 1972, authorizing distribution.
"A total of 5,078 Miamis will be eligible for payment,” Franklin stated. ''Each individual share is expected to be about $1,100. 11
Checks to individual Miamis will be processed through the Treasury Department's regional disbursing office in Denver and mailed directly to each person whose name and address appears on the final roll of those eligible to share in the award. Shares for Miami members under 18 years of age will be placed in minors' trust accounts.
Preparation of the final roll has been underway in the Muskogee Area of' the Bureau of Indian Affairs since passage of the distribution Act about a year ago.
