Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is prepared to make a per capita judgment distribution of funds totaling approximately $548,000 to all persons who are members or can prove ancestry with those Paiute bands whose chiefs and headmen signed the Treaty of December la, 1868.
Those considering themselves eligible for enrollment should contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office in Portland, Oregon, regarding applications.
The funds cover a 1960 judgment of the Indian Claims Commission in favor of the Snake or Paiute Indians of the former Malheur Reservation in Oregon. Distribution of the funds is authorized by Public Law 88-464, signed August 20, 1964. The preparation of a roll to serve as basis for the distribution will be under the direction of the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Box 3785, Portland, Oregon. May 21, 1965 has been set as the deadline for accepting applications, in accordance with the Act.
Public Law 88-464 directs that all persons of Paiute Indian ancestry are eligible for enrollment providing: 1. They were born on or prior to and living on August 20, 1964
2. They are members of or descendants of members of the bands whose chiefs and headmen signed the unratified Treaty of December 10, 1868
3. They relinquish any rights they might have to participate as beneficiaries in the awards granted in Docket 87 of the Northern Paiute Nation claim.
The Paiute Indians who may be eligible are now principally found in the Burns and Warm Springs Reservations in Oregon and others may be scattered throughout the California-Nevada-Oregon area. Until applications have been received and evaluated, there is no way of determining the number of persons who will be eligible to share in the award.
Specific regulations to be followed in effecting the distribution are being published in the Federal Register. They include provisions for appealing rejections, handling the share of minors and insuring that persons in the armed forces overseas will not be overlooked.
