News by Year

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton and Acting Secretary of Agriculture D. Morse today announced the signing of an agreement with the Department of Agriculture for the free distribution of feed grains to Navajo Indians in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, for the maintenance of subsistence livestock.

The program is being initiated, Secretary Seaton said, because of the acute economic distress produced among Navajo tribal members as a result of drought conditions in previous years.

Award of a $43,000 bridge construction project on the Wind River Reservation, Fremont County, Wyoming, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project, on the Fort Washakie-Arapahoe Road, involves the construction of a three-span steel H-beam bridge with concrete deck, making use of the existing abutments and piers, widening the roadway and increasing the loading design.

The road is a school bus route and services a large number of Indian families in an irrigated district and completes a through route between Fort Washakie and Riverton, Wyoming.

The Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced the award of a $3,178,412 contract for construction of new boarding school facilities for more than 600 additional Indian children in the elementary grades at Leupp, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.

The new plant will have a capacity of 672 pupils. It will replace a 67-pupil school now operated by the Bureau at Leupp. Upon completion of the new facilities, the present school will be abandoned.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will step up its program of helping natives of Alaska modernize their fishing vessels so that they can compete more effectively by using the most efficient mechanical devices on their seine boats.

The Department of the Interior announced today that it has taken joint action with the Department of Agriculture in designating the Klamath Indian Forest and Klamath Marsh on the Klamath Indian Reservation in Oregon.

Amendments to Federal regulations which are designed to bring the oil and gas leasing of Indian lands more into conformity with present industrial practices and still provide Indian owners with adequate protection have been approved, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The Department of the Interior announced today the appointment of Charles J. Rives as superintendent of the San Carlos Indian Agency, San Carlos, Ariz., effective December 13. He succeeds Thomas H. Dodge who transferred last November to the superintendency of the Osage Agency at Pawhuska, Okla. His appointment was recommended by the San Carlos Tribal Council.

Indian forest land owners would for the first time have a right of appeal from Indian Bureau decisions on their timber sale contracts under a proposed revision of Federal Regulations announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The proposal include many changes. They would permit any legally interested party to appeal on sale contracts to the Secretary of the Interior. The existing regulations do not specify such an appeal procedure.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs said the revisions also include these five other major changes:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior today confirmed its agreement with leaders of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota on a major program of tribal land consolidation.

The program was announced by the tribal leaders in Washington on December 5.

To help finance the operation, the Bureau will extend the tribe a loan of $500,000 from its revolving loan fund.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today asked Secretary of Defense Neil F. McElroy to help speed Army payments of money to Indians for land which the Federal Government took for reservoir projects.

The money is owed to three Indian groups in North Dakota and South Dakota. It totals $7,623,888 for 73,500 acres of land taken for two different projects.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced the Code of Federal Regulations has been amended to guarantee that Indian tribes will receive adequate offers for mineral leases on their lands.

The amendment provides greater uniformity in regulating the leasing of Indian lands for the mining of minerals other than oil and gas. It also furnishes a safeguard patterned after that which applies to oil and gas leases. The latter are required by law to be advertised, not negotiated.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer Bennett announced today the approval of regulations governing the filing of claims by persons incurring expenses as the result of moving from lands acquired for Department projects.

The Department of the Interior announced today that Thomas H. Dodge, superintendent for the past seven years at San Carlos Indian Agency, San Carlos, Ariz., will transfer on November 26 to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where he will serve as superintendent of the Osage Agency, replacing Russell G. Fister.

Mr. Fister has retired, effective December 31, after 32 years of service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Award of a $46,458 contract for construction of a temporary movable school on the Navajo Indian Reservation at Inscription House, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of a $465,056 contract for construction of a 90-foot bridge and for grading, draining, and asphalt paving about 19 miles of a north-south road through the Colorado River Indian Reservation in Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The road to be improved connects State Route 72 at Parker, Arizona and U. S. lute 60-70 near Ehrenberg, Arizona. When completed, it will serve as an outlet for population along the route to either termini and will save considerable mileage for motorists between Blythe, California and Parker, Arizona.

Award of a $344,435.33 contract for irrigation construction work on the Hogback Unit of the Navajo Indian Reservation near Shiprock, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of a $68,257.15 contract for the construction or a road and bridge on the Bad River Indian Reservation, Ashland County, Wisconsin, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced changes in two superintendencies in the Pacific Northwest involving the Yakima, Colville and Klamath agencies.

Award of a $375,000 construction contract that will more than double the capacity of an Indian Bureau school at Cove, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior

The project covers construction of a four-classroom building, a kitchen and multipurpose room, a storage and generator room, and expansion of all utilities.

Proposed regulations governing the removal of Federal trust restrictions from lands belonging to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of eastern Oklahoma, in response to requests from the owners, were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Regulations covering such removal in cases where there is no 'application from the owner were recently adopted by the Department and published in the Federal Register August 22, 1958.

Award of a $35,438 contract for the construction of two bridges on the Menominee Indian Reservation, Shawano County, Wisconsin, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of a $94,357 contract for construction of a new water supply system and a new sewage disposal system to serve dormitories housing Blackfeet Indian school children at Cut Bank, Montana, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract will provide two new drilled wells, discharge lines and chlorination system, and a new sewage lagoon-type oxidation system. This will improve the sanitation conditions affecting the dormitories at Cut Bank which house 106 Indian boys and girls who attend the public schools at Browning, six miles away.

Cash income from Indian-owned forests in the United States has trebled in the last decade and the interest of Indian tribes and individual Indians in the scientific management of their woodland assets has greatly increased during the same period, the Department of the Interior reported today.

Award of a $36,309 contract for construction of a new water system to serve the Indian school on the Papago Reservation at Chuichu, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Chuichu School has an enrollment of 60 pupils, and the present water system includes a small pond and pump with a 3,500-gallon elevated tank. The new system to be installed under the contract will include a drilled well, pump house, new pump, water distribution system, and a 15,000-gallon elevated storage tank.

Award of two contracts in the amounts of $34,876 and $23,741.25 for water development at ten school locations on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of a $30,934.75 construction contract for irrigation improvement work on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southwestern Colorado was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract covers the erecting of a 40-inch diameter steel pipe siphon approximately 670 feet long across Dry Creek Wash, located in the vicinity of Ignacio, Colorado, as part of the Indian Bureau's Pine River Irrigation Project.

Award of a $78,415.84 contract for construction of 2.899 miles of road on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The route will connect the Indian community of Hays with the new State Federal-Aid highway extending from the Fort Belknap Agency south to a new crossing of the Missouri River. The new State road by-passes the town of Hays and the construction of the Indian Bureau section will permit access for the community to the State highway.

Award of a $91,195 contract for rehabilitation of Hubbart Dam on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of a $76,714 contract for the construction of approximately 36 earth filled detention dams on the Papago Indian Reservation in southern Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project is part of the over-all Papago Development Program for the social and economic development of the Papago people.

Proposed regulations to govern the preparation of an up-to-date membership roll of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina were announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior.

Under the rules, which have been recommended by the Eastern Cherokee Tribal Council, and will be published in the Federal Register, the membership roll of the band would be brought up to date as authorized by congressional legislation enacted last August.

Award of a $275,000 contract for the construction of school facilities at Jones Ranch, approximately 12 miles southwest of Gallup on the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The Confederated Indian Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon were warmly commended today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior for the "progressive step" they have taken in entering into a $100,000 contract with Oregon State College for a study of the human and natural resources on the reservation.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior announced today the first set of four awards which will hereafter be made annually "in recognition of long and outstanding services in the preservation, encouragement and development of the arts and crafts of the American Indians."

The 1958 awards, consisting of certificates of appreciation, are being presented today in Gallup, New Mexico. Recipients, and the categories for which they won, include:

Selection of Glenn R. Landbloom, a veteran Indian Bureau employee, as general superintendent of the Navajo Agency at Window Rock, Ariz., was announced today by Glenn L. Emmons, Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.

Mr. Landbloom, assistant area director for the Bureau at Aberdeen, S. Dak., since 1954, is expected to report for duty at Window Rock around September 1. He succeeds G. Warren Spaulding, who retires August 31 after more than 30 years of service with the Bureau and four years as head of the Navajo Agency.

Mounting interest in the leasing of lands on the 475-acre Dania Indian Reservation about 25 miles north of Miami, Florida, for commercial and industrial development was reported today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior.

Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Craig, both members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, have been awarded a $59,000 contract by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide hot lunches for 900 Cherokee school children in North Carolina next winter, the Department of the Interior announced today. The couple, who operate Craig’s Restaurant and Motor Court at Cherokee, North Carolina, were the low bidders for the contract. They agreed to provide the noonday meals at 36.5 cents each, the lowest price offered since the private contract system was initiated at Cherokee in 1955.

Ten Indian high school graduates will soon be attending the North Dakota School of Science at Wahpeton, North Dakota l through scholarship program made possible by a grant of Federal land to the school, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Assistant Secretary Roger C. Ernst recently signed a quitclaim deed conveying 70 acres of land previously used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school at Wahpeton to the State-controlled school in the same city with the understanding that the scholarship program would be established.

Award of a $309,000 contract for the construction of a gymnasium at the Cherokee Indian School operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Cherokee, North Carolina was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The Indian Bureau’s program for stimulating the growth of industry and industrial jobs in the vicinity of Indian reservations in line with over-all Interior Department objectives will be considerably broadened in scope during the fiscal year 1959, Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

Award of three school construction contracts on the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in Arizona totaling $1,224,334 and increasing pupil capacity by more than 50 percent was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The contracts involve the replacing of a trailer school with permanent facilities; construction of a new school replacing one destroyed by fire; and construction of new facilities replacing two old schools on the reservation which are beyond rehabilitation.

Appointment of James E. Hawkins, former executive director of the Alaska Rural Development Board, as Area Director at Juneau for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in charge of its Alaskan operations, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

Award of three contracts totaling $152,508 on the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in Arizona, and the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, for water drilling and water-storage development facilities was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Water development at the contract locations is necessary to sustain present schools and facilities and to determine feasibility of additional school facilities planned at these locations.

When the last triennial conference of the National Fellowship of Indian Workers was held here at Estes Park back in 1955, it was a matter of real regret to me that I was unable to be with you in person. Those of you who attended that conference may recall that I had to be in Alaska at that particular time and that my speech was delivered for me by Assistant Commissioner Reid. This year I have been somewhat more fortunate in the scheduling of my time and I have thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to be here and to sit in--although somewhat briefly--on your sessions and deliberations.

Award of three contracts totaling $1,024,915.10 for road improvement work on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona and in Utah near the "Four Corners" area, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of five school-access road construction contracts totaling nearly half a million dollars on Indian reservations in North Dakota and South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of a $44,965.83 contract for construction of reinforced concrete box culverts on Oaks-Teresita road in Cherokee and Delaware Counties, Oklahoma, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The Department of the Interior today announced ,approval of a contract for $67,303.30 between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Aslett Construction Company, Twin Falls, Idaho, for construction of five miles of road on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation near Pocatello.

The contract calls for grading and bituminous surfacing of 4.985 miles of road on the reservation. The road will be used for farm to market access school bus and mail routes. When completed the road will be turned over to Power County, Idaho, for maintenance under an agreement between that county and BIA.

Award of a $40,905.34 road construction project to improve transportation facilities in Beltrami County, Minnesota, on the Red Lake Indian Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The 2.84-mile project is part of an over-all plan by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to improve the 22-mile link between Minnesota Trunk Highway No. 1 and the Village of Ponemah. The road is constantly used by the school bus and by local Red Lake commercial fishermen, and is the only outlet for the residents of the Village.

Award of a $33,014.25 bridge and flood-control construction project on the Hoopa Indian Reservation, Humboldt County, California, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project, on the main route to Hoopa Agency, involves the construction of a continuous slab bridge on existing substructures, and protecting levees which will include roadway approaches to the bridge and the developed areas inundated by the floods of the winter of 1955-56. The road is on a school bus route and serves a substantial number of the reservation population.

Award of two contracts totaling $59,370.47 to complete the storage tank rehabilitation and the range-water supply phases of the Indian Bureau's development program on the Papago Indian Reservation, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of a $375,798 contract for construction work that will nearly double the capacity of Indian school facilities at Canoncito, New Mexico, 18 miles west - of Albuquerque, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Canoncito School, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has a present enrollment of 62 day pupils. When completed, the enlarged facilities will provide for 120 day pupils.

Nearly 78 percent of the 2,133 enrolled members of Oregon’s Klamath Indian Tribe have elected to withdraw from the tribal organization and receive a cash payment for their proportionate share of the tribal assets, Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson announced today in approving the final results of a tribal election held in April.

Mr. Chilson approved the results in a letter to T. B. Watters, chairman of the management specialists administering the program under the Klamath Termination Act of 1954.

Award of four contracts aggregating $474,881.48 for road improvement work on Indian reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Two of the jobs are on the Pine Ridge Reservation, one at Rosebud and one at Crow Creek.

Award of a $443,181.87 contract for the construction of 14.375 miles of highway on the Navajo Indian Reservation in the Apache County, Arizona area was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project will provide an all-weather highway on a section of Route 8, which runs north and south and leads into a vast central portion of the reservation in Arizona. The new road will serve an area of more than 2,500 square miles where no improved roads exist at the present time.

Award of a $51,625.00 contract for improving 5.7 miles of the Mineral Center Grand Portage Road, on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, Cook County, Minnesota, was announced by the Department of the Interior today.

The project will provide all-weather transportation facilities for the residents of the Village of Grand Portage and will encourage tourist travel to this Indian village. The road also serves as a farm-to-market outlet, and mail and school bus route. It is the only road outlet for the residents of the Village.

Award of a $304,785.00 contract for construction work that will nearly triple the capacity of Indian school facilities at Brad Springs, New Mexico, on the Navajo Reservation, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project, which will enlarge the capacity of the Brad Springs day school from 32 to 90 pupils, will involve the construction of a new three-classroom building, a storage and maintenance building, and other related facilities.

The Department of the Interior favors legislation that would reinvest in the Indian tribes of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming title to the minerals in 161,500 acres previously ceded to the Federal Government, it was announced today.

In a report to Congress Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst recommended enactment of H. R. 11141, a restoration pill, with some technical and clarifying amendments.

The award of a $439,600 contract for adding seven classrooms and a 500-seat gymnasium to an Indian school plant at Fort Yates, North Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bidder was Kyburz Construction Company of Aberdeen, South Dakota. Nine higher bids ranging from $452,990 to $497,800 were received.

Standing Rock School, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has a present enrollment of 133 boarding and 157 day pupils in grades 1 through 12.

Award of a $157,300 contract for the construction of Indian school facilities at Conehatta, Mississippi, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Conehatta School, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has a present enrollment of 180 pupils. The new facilities will provide more adequate facilities for the present enrollment and allow the enrollment of 30 pupils not now in school due to lack of school facilities.

The contract calls for the construction of four classrooms and a kitchen multipurpose room and for the remodeling of the present school building.

Award of a $624,782 road construction contract that will provide an all-weather bus route to enlarged school facilities at Kayenta, Arizona, on the Navajo Indian Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract, which was awarded to Lyle Price of Flagstaff, covers construction and bituminous surfacing of a 19.2-mile section of road in northern Arizona between Kayenta and Utah State Highway 47 at the Utah Line.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will delay until the end of the present congressional session any additional sales of Indian trust land requested by the Indian owners.

The action was taken in. compliance with a request by Senator James E. Murray in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

Award of a $64,850.08 contract for construction of a 50-foot bridge and reinforced concrete box culverts on the road between U. S. Route 59 and State Highway 100, in Adair County, Oklahoma, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The road when completed will be an important asset to the Indians and other residents of the district and will serve as an important school bus route, mail route and farm-to-market road passing through heavily populated Indian lands.

Award of a $64,850.08 contract for construction of a 50-foot bridge and reinforced concrete box culverts on the road between U. S. Route 59 and State Highway 100, in Adair County, Oklahoma, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The road when completed will be an important asset to the Indians and other residents of the district and will serve as an important school bus route, mail route and farm-to-market road passing through heavily populated Indian lands.

Enactment of legislation that would add about 845 acres of public land to two Indian reservations in southern California and 80 acres to a reservation in Nevada has been recommended to Congress by the Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has tightened up its procedure to protect Indian landowners against unwise or unwitting disposition of actual or potentially valuable mineral assets when they sell their lands, Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

Improved safeguards for the property interests of both individual Indians and tribes were announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons. The Department of the Interior made public his statement on the Indian Bureau's policy governing sales of individually owned Indian lands.

The award of a $378,590.14 road construction contract for 16.8 miles of road on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, Gila and Navajo Counties, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The Krumtum-Dewar Construction Company, Ltd., of Phoenix, Ariz., was the successful bidder, with the lowest of fifteen bids received. The others ranged from $409,939.50 to $518,262.68.

Proposed amendments to the Federal regulations governing the oil and gas leasing of land owned by Indian tribes or individual Indians were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The purpose of the amendments is to permit overriding royalties or payments out of production on oil and gas leases on Indian lands. Such royalties or payments are those paid to a lessee when a lease is assigned and are in addition to the royalties or payments paid to the lessor.

Award of a $62,321.94-contract for grading, draining, and crushed gravel surfacing of 2.6 miles of the Nishu North Road and 2.7 miles of the Northeastern Segment Road on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, McLean County, North Dakota, was announced by the Department of the Interior today.

Delzer Construction Company, Selby, South Dakota, won the contract and was the low bidder. Four higher bids were received ranging from $64,838.48 to $69,830.61.

Under Secretary Hatfield Chilson today announced cancellation of the development lease on 67,000 acres of Indian lands on the Colorado River Reservation near Parker, Arizona. The lease was executed by the Department on August 13, 1957 with the Colorado River Enterprises, an Arizona Corporation.

On April 8 Under Secretary Chilson gave notice to the Corporation requiring it to show cause, on or before May 7, why the lease should not be cancelled for failure of the Corporation to post the performance bond in the amount of $5 million required under the terms of the lease.

The Department of the Interior announced today award of a contract by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for $324,650 to build a 200-pupil dormitory at Oglala Community School, Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

The successful bidder was D. L. Moffitt Company of McCook, Nebraska. Thirteen higher bids, ranging in price from $328, 401 to $397,450, were received.

Oglala Community School, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is a reservation boarding and day school, with a present enrollment of 457 boarding and 349 day school pupils in grades 1 through 12.

Award of a $414,700-contract for construction of a new school building at Fort Totten, near Devils Lake, North Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Roel Construction Company, Inc., of Fargo, North Dakota was awarded the job on the basis of its low bid. Ten higher bids were received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs ranging from $415,000 to $488,000.

Award of a $53,046.69 contract for irrigation work on the Western Shoshone Indian Reservation in Nevada to L. C. Cheney, Weiser, Idaho, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract covers construction of approximately three miles of laterals and 13 miles of farm ditches, construction or installation of 66 water control structures, leveling 211 acres to a predetermined grade, and plowing and land planning of 507 acres.

Award of a $291,950 contract for construction of additional school facilities at South Segment School near Holliday, North Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Chase Construction Company of Minot, North Dakota was the successful bidder for the contract. Five higher bids, ranging from $295,900 to $331,325, ware received.

South Segment School, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has a present enrollment of 62 day pupils. When completed the new structure will provide modern school facilities for a total of 120 pupils.

With the retirement of Kenneth A. Marmon as superintendent of the Seminole Indian Agency, Dania, Fla.; on May 31, Virgil N. Harrington will take over full responsibilities of the position, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Since last January Mr. Harrington has been sharing the responsibilities jointly with Mr. Marmon, who retires after 35 years of service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A $500,971.45 contract has been awarded for grading, draining and bituminous paving of approximately 14.7 miles of the Mountain City Owyhee Mountain Home Road on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, Elko County, Nevada, the Department of the Interior announced today.

It will be the first section of some 26 miles of the road to be improved.

Award of an $85,400 contract for the improvement of the Heart Butte Short Cut Road on the Blackfeet Reservation at Browning, Montana, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project covers the grading and graveling of 7.637 miles of road from the bridge over Two Medicine River to Badger Creek. It is the center section of a route known locally as the Heart Butte Short Cut Road. It is the main traffic route from the all-Indian community of Heart Butte to the agency and serves several public schools in the vicinity of Two Medicine River.

Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced preliminary results of the Klamath Indian election in which members of the Oregon tribe were given the opportunity to remain in the tribal organization or withdraw and receive cash payment for their pr0portionate share of the tribal assets.

Of 2,133 members who received ballots in March, 1,649 or 77.3 percent have elected to withdraw and 74 or 3.5 percent have elected to remain. Ballots for 405 or 19 percent of the tribal members have not been received. Five ballots still remain to be validated.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today that he has accepted “with regrets’ the resignation of William R. Olsen, effective May 12, as Area Director of the Interior Department’s Indian Bureau at Juneau, Alaska.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced plans today to change the assessments in the San Carlos Indian Reservation Irrigation Project in Arizona. The new proposal would comply with present policy that assessment rates should reflect the full cost of the work required.

For more than 10 years the annual basic assessment rate has been 50 cents an acre. It was only a token assessment. The project provides subsistence truck gardens and the Indians are unable to pay the full cost. The Federal Government paid most of the cost from appropriated funds.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today expressed the Department’s opposition to the so-called “Four States" Indian bills.

He said the three identical bills, S.574, H. R. 3362 and H. R. 3634, would make the Federal Government financially responsible for a multitude of services which rightfully should be provided by the States.

Moreover, it would extend special Federal responsibility to include a great number of additional persons, some of them not even necessarily Indians, he said.

A $374,915.15 contract for construction of approximately 10 miles of highway on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona has been awarded to Richey Construction Company of St. Johns, Arizona, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The contract involves 1.593 miles from Chinle Junction to Chinle with a 291- foot, 9-span bridge across Nazlini Wash and 8.384 miles from Chinle Junction south toward Ganado with a 33-foot precast concrete beam bridge.

The Department of the Interior announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is inviting proposals by private capital for development of a full section of Indian land in the heart of Palm Springs, California.

Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced that he has issued a notice to Colorado River Enterprises, Inc., successful bidder last August on an Indian reservation development lease in western Arizona, that the corporation has until May 7 to show cause why the lease should not be canceled.

The action was prompted by the corporation's failure to post a $5,000,000 performance bond as required by the terms of the lease contract.

Appointment of Dinsmore Taylor, an Olympia, Wash., attorney and former member of the Washington Tax Commission, as a management specialist to administer the program for termination of Federal trusteeship over the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

Award of a $162,934.45 contract for the improvement of about six miles of road on the Navajo Indian Reservation at Ganado, Ariz., was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project will provide the last link of bituminous surfacing on the eastern half of Navajo Route 3 which runs across the big reservation connecting U. S. Highway 666 on the east with U. S. Highway 89 on the west. It will also connect with a recently completed concrete bridge across Ganado Wash.

Award of contracts totaling about $217,000 for remodeling kitchens and dining facilities at Indian schools at Pierre and Flandreau, South Dakota, and Wahpeton, North Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

E. J. Pfeiffer Construction Company of Aberdeen, South Dakota, was awarded the job at Pierre on its bid of $63,798. The successful bidder on the work at Flandreau was H. L. Grohne Company, Decatur, Illinois, with a bid of $89,000. The $63,880 contract at Wahpeton was awarded to Comstock Construction Company, Wahpeton, North Dakota.

A $39,548 contract for construction of 14 earth-filled flood control structures in the Baboquivari district of the Papago Indian Reservation in Arizona has been awarded to M. A. Dunlap of Phoenix, the Department of the Interior announced today.

When completed, the structures will minimize flood damage to Indian homes, roads and lands on the reservation. They will also provide water for livestock and wildlife.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today called attention to the proposed roll of the Ottawa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma which was published in the Federal Register March 21, 1958.

Award of an $112,758 contract for grading, draining, and crushed gravel surfacing of 12.983 miles of road on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, from U. S. Highway 212 north to the Thunder Butte Indian settlement along the Moreau River, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bid, by E. Stoltenberg &Son of Naper, Nebraska, was the lowest of' 19 received. Higher bids ranged from $119,065.71 to $162,760.61.

A $51,306.45 contract for road construction on the Big Pine Reservation at Big Pine, Inyo County, California, has been awarded.to J. T. Smith Company, San Fernando, California, the Department of the Interior announced today.

It was the lowest of the fourteen bids received.

The construction of the 2.66 miles of road will give access to existing residential areas and other areas within the reservation.

The Department of the Interior today announced it intends to issue regulations governing removal of trust restrictions from lands belonging to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of eastern Oklahoma, without application by the owner.

Properties of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon, including the 694,000-acre tribal forest, have been appraised at a "realization value" of $121,659,618, Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson said today.

In a letter to Thomas B. Watters of Klamath Falls, management specialist supervising the Klamath termination program under the act of August 13, 1954, Under Secretary Chilson authorized Mr. Watters to proceed immediately with arrangements for a tribal election as provided in the termination statute.

A $116,373.90 contract for construction work on 5.603 miles of road on the Soboba and Pechanga Indian Reservations in Riverside County, California, has been awarded to the Hubbs Equipment Co., P.O. Box 17; Colton, California, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The Hubbs bid was the lowest of sixteen received. The others ranged from $117,597.05 to $159,761.00. Bids were opened by the Bureau of Public Roads.

Appointment of John B. Keliiaa as superintendent of the Jicarilla Apache Indian Agency, Dulce, N. Mex., succeeding Guy Robertson, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Mr. Keliiaa has been serving as acting superintendent of the agency since January 5 when Mr. Robertson transferred to the post of assistant area direct in the Indian Bureau’s office at Sacramento, Calif. He will take over full responsibilities of the position February 23.

Legislation that would make it a Federal criminal offense to trespass for hunting, fishing or trapping purposes on Indian reservations and other Indian lands held in trust by the United States is needed to protect the property rights of Indian tribal groups, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst said today.

The Interior Department, Mr. Ernst pointed out, has reported favorably to Congress on H.R. 7240, a bill which would provide such protection by amending appropriate sections of the United States Code.

Plans for further insuring the secrecy of absentee ballots in Osage Indian Tribal Council elections, and representation proportionate to each voter’s financial interest in the Osage mineral estate, were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

In a letter to the chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Department said it has submitted a notice of the proposed changes for publication in the Federal Register.

Additional progress toward the goal of full educational and economic opportunities for American Indians was accomplished by the Bureau of Indian Affairs along many different lines in the fiscal year 1957, the Department of the Interior reported today.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton, to assure continued conservation management of the 750,000 -acres Klamath Indian Forest in Oregon and thus protect one of the Nation’s most valuable ponderosa pine stands from the threat of destruction, has asked Congress to amend the 1954 Act which now provides for an end of Federal Trusteeship of the Klamath Reservation by August 1960.