News by Year

The Northern Cheyenne Indians of Lame Deer, Mont., recently launched a small industry on their reservation that is beginning to bring dividends with the Yule season. The firm, called Northern Cheyenne Originals, manufactures Christmas trees, wreaths, costume jewelry and other novelty items for decorations from pine cones collected on the reservation.

Federal supervision over the Indians of Greenville Rancheria in Plumas County, Calif., has been terminated with their consent, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. Notice is being published in the Federal Register.

Greenville is the 31st rancheria in California to be removed from Federal trust supervision in accordance with the 1958 Rancheria Act (72 Stat. 619, as amended). More than 100 Indian rancherias -- small tracts of land under Federal trust -- are affected by the law.

Under a $177,849 contract awarded December 2 to RCA Service Co. of Camden, N.J., the Bureau of Indian Affairs will commence at once a program of occupational training, basic literacy education, counseling and job placement for the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, said today in announcing major features of the contract:

In response to recent inquiries from the press and from individuals, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett today issued the following statement concerning the distribution to Creeks of the award from their case based on an 1814 treaty:

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall will meet December 1 with 11 top management representatives of major industrial firms to discuss the potential for plant expansion and development on or near Indian reservations.

The luncheon meeting is the second such conference in Secretary Udall's drive to speed economic development and employment possibilities for Indians. In May the Secretary met with representatives of major electronic firms.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today that John H. Artichoker, Jr., Superintendent of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Agency, Lame Deer, Mont., has been named Superintendent of the Papago Agency, Sells, Ariz.

John R. "Bob" White, Superintendent of the Rocky Boy's Agency, Box Elder, Mont., will replace Artichoker at Lame Deer. Both transfers became effective November 27, 1966.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the award of two contracts that will make on-the-job training available for 134 Indian workers.

A $65,375 contract was awarded to the First Seneca Corp. of New York State to train 124 Seneca Indians in occupations relating to the textile mill products industry. First Seneca is a corporation formed to promote industrial development on the two Seneca Reservations, in western New York. Most of the trainees will be employed as sewing machine operators and fitters in the production of pillows and other soft goods.

The popularity of the Eskimo Graphic Arts and Sculpture exhibit in the Department of the Interior's Art Galleries has brought about an extension of the hours and addition of more than a hundred additional new pieces of sculpture and eighty new prints, according to Mrs. Stewart L. Udall, president of the Center for Arts of Indian America, sponsoring the unusual display.

Dr. William J. Benham, a Creek Indian, has been named to head up the Bureau of Indian Affairs education programs on the Navajo Reservation. In this capacity, he will serve as one of three Assistant Area Directors for the Bureau's operations in the Navajo area.

Dr. Benham, a native of Holdenville, Okla., is a veteran of the Navajo education program. He joined the Bureau in 1950 and has served as both teacher and principal in various BIA schools for Navajo children. From 1963 until his recent reassignment he was Director of Schools for the Gallup Area Office.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the award of a $2,237,520 contract to construct new facilities at its Concho, Okla., elementary school. The school, originally established as the Cheyenne-Arapaho Boarding School in the late 1800's to serve two area tribes, now enrolls Indian students from a number of other tribes. Last year 162 students in grades 1-8 were enrolled.

This is an important time in the history of Indian affairs, and this organization, the National Congress of American Indians, is in a good position to affect the future course of events.

Because this organization is comprised of Indian membership -- both tribal and individual -- it can and needs to become a source of great strength in the shaping of policies, programs and laws.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today gave $1,500 to Sidney M. Carney, Bureau of Indian Affairs, for sustained superior performance as a Federal employee.

Carney, a Choctaw Indian, is a special liaison representative with the Seneca Indian Nation at Salamanca, N.Y.

An exhibit of Eskimo Graphic Arts and Sculpture will be on display in Washington's Department of the Interior Art Galleries beginning Tuesday, November 8 through December 31. Featured will be the work of Canadian Eskimos from the famed Cape Dorset area, located at the southern tip of Baffin Island. Stone-cut prints and a variety of small sculptures will be shown. Hours for the exhibit, sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America, will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4: 00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Federal supervision over the Ponca Indian Tribe of Nebraska has ended, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. Notification of the action is being published in the Federal Register.

A tribal decision by the Nebraska Poncas in 1956 set the stage for the termination action. Petitions to Congress for appropriate legislation to end Federal supervision led to the 1962 termination law (P.L. 87-629) calling for establishment of a tribal roll and division of tribal assets, if division met with the approval of the majority of' adult tribal members.

Forrest J. Gerard, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, has been appointed Legislative Liaison Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Robert L. Bennett, BIA Commissioner, announced today.

Gerard had been chief of the Tribal Affairs Division of the Public Health Service's Indian Health Division. In his new position he will be an advisor to the Commissioner and Bureau officials on legislative matters and will analyze pending legislation which would affect Indians and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has prepared a 13-booklet series suitable for use by classroom teachers, youth groups and others interested in the story of the American Indian.

The illustrated publications describe the culture and eventful history of tribes whose past is linked with various States or regions of the country. The reader is brought up to date with facts about Indian life today and the Federal programs that serve reservation dwellers.

Federal supervision over the Indians of Blue Lake Rancheria in Humboldt County, Calif., has been terminated with their consent, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. Notice is being published in the Federal Register.

Blue Lake is the 30th rancheria in California to be removed from Federal trust supervision, in accordance with legislation enacted in 1958 and amended two years ago. More than 100 small Indian rancherias are affected by the law.

Paul W. Hand, Special Assistant at Palm Springs, Calif., to the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Director for the Sacramento Area, has been appointed superintendent of the BIA agency at Chinle, Ariz., on the Navajo Indian Reservation. He fills the position vacated by Paul A. Krause, who transferred to the superintendency of the Bureau's Bemidji, Minn., agency last July. The new assignment became effective September 11, 1966.

Timber harvest and sales on Indian reservations set records in the fiscal year which ended June 30, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

Annual receipts from stumpage sales totaled $14.3 million, nearly $2 million over the previous fiscal year. The volume harvested was approximately 848 million board-feet, an increase of 100 million board-feet over fiscal 1965, the Bureau said.

An additional 100 million board-feet was cut by Indians under free permits for fuel and home and farm use.

Commissioner Robert L. Bennett of the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today plans for a series of regional meetings with Indian tribal leaders to discuss proposals for legislation and other matters of general interest to the Indian people.

Commissioner Bennett said the nine meetings would "help us to prepare and present to the Congress proposals that represent the best of Indian thinking on how to attack Indian problems.

The award of a $2,759,058 construction contract fora large school complex in the New Mexico section of the Navajo Reservation was announced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In the Navajo language, the new facility will be known as Dzilth-Na-o-dith-hle School. The name roughly translates as "Turning Mountain," a reference to an unusual nearby hill which seems to revolve, always presenting the same appearance to a traveler passing through the reservation.

A unique collection representing the traditional and contemporary aspects of American Indian art is currently drawing capacity-plus crowds at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and is slated to open September 26 for a two-weeks showing in Berlin, Germany.

A $700,000 contract to provide on-the-job training for 1,481 Navajo Indians has been signed with the Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp., the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. The training will take place at Fairchild's Semiconductor plant at Shiprock, N. Mex.

The largest of several electronics plants now located in Indian areas, Fairchild currently employs 366 Navajos in the operation at Shiprock which commenced 14 months ago.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the award of a $251,472 contract to a San Diego, Calif., company for installation of two 750-kilowatt gas turbine generator sets at the Bureau's Point Barrow, Alaska, power generating station.

The generators will double the output capability of the present equipment which serves the needs of the village of Barrow and the Bureau installation, including elementary and high school facilities for about 630 native children. The plant also will supply power for a new Public Health Service hospital.

NEW INDUSTRY FOR NORTHERN CHEYENNE -- It may be mid-summer, but it looks like Christmas on Montana's Northern Cheyenne Reservation.

Fourteen tribal members are working to fill a large order for Christmas trees which are fashioned from pine cones and are scheduled for delivery to a San Francisco candy company.

A new company that began operating only a few months ago on the Crow Indian Reservation near Hardin, Mont., plans doubling its working force in a few months to capitalize on the exceptional skill of Indian employees, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs reports.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced the signing of a contract today between the Western Superior Corporation, a subsidiary of the BVD Co., Inc. and the Hopi Tribal Council for the establishment of a new $1.5 million garment manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Winslow, Ariz. The nationally known organization will be located on a 200-acre area site donated to the Hopi Indian tribe by the town of Winslow.

What is it like to be an Indian or Eskimo child? It is part ceremonials and dances and colorful costumes of an era gone by, and it is part school days and rule days, too. It is sometimes life on a ranch, sometimes adventure in the big city, sometimes the life of a fisherman's family, says the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Because nearly all youngsters love stories about American Indians, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs has just published a special picture book, "Indian and Eskimo Children."

For those who equate reservations 'with tar-paper shacks and abject poverty, the first sight of the Seneca Indian Nation's Allegany Reservation in southwestern New York State is an impressive surprise. The story behind these new homes and the hopes that go with them is equally impressive.

It is a story of men who turned adversity into triumph. Most of these men are Senecas led by their forceful and articulate President, Martin Seneca. But one, a prime mover, is a Choctaw from Oklahoma -- Sidney Carney.

Award of an $894,186 construction contract at historic Fort Sill Indian School, Lawton, Okla., was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Successful bidder was the V and N Construction Co., Lubbock, Tex. A total of nine bids was received, the highest $1.5 million.

Solon G. Ayers, a career educator and employment assistance officer with the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, has been named Superintendent of the Albuquerque Indian School in New Mexico, the Bureau announced today.

Ayers has been on detail to the Albuquerque office of the Bureau since June, working with Bureau architects in planning a new structure to replace the century-old Indian boarding high school there.

Opportunities for developers and investors to grow along with America's rapidly expanding recreational industry are being offered by the Cochiti Indian Tribe of New Mexico, which has concession rights on what will be the biggest lake in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area.

When the Cochiti Dam is completed across the Rio Grande, 50 miles north of Albuquerque, in 1970, it will create a 2,300 acre-lake in the midst of some of the Southwest's most scenic and historic country.

NEW SUPERINTENDENT AT MESCALERO APACHE RESERVATION--Paul H. Clements, assistant superintendent at the Pima Agency in Arizona since 1964, has been named superintendent of the Mescalero Apache Agency in New Mexico. He fills a post vacated by the transfer last May of Kenneth L. Payton to head the United Pueblos Agency. The new assignment became effective June 26. Clements, a native of Port Townsend, Wash., has since 1948 held various BIA administrative posts -- at the Yakima Agency in Washington; the Umatilla Agency in Oregon; and the Flathead Agency in Montana.

Will Rogers, Jr. will join the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a consu1tanton-call, Commissioner Robert L. Bennett announced today.

The actor, who is part Cherokee Indian and a native of Oklahoma, now resides in Beverly Hills, Calif., and calls Tubac, Ariz. his second home. He served one term in the U. S. House of Representatives from the Beverly Hills district in 1942-44.

Federal supervision has been terminated for three more rancherias in California the Department of the Interior announced. The affected Indian lands are Elk Valley in Del Norte County; Rohnerville in Humboldt County; and El Dorado in El Dorado County.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, will be honored as “Indian of the Year" during special ceremonies July 16 at the annual Indian Exposition at Anadarko, Okla.

The first Indian to head the Bureau in 97 years, Bennett is a member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin. He was a career employee of the Bureau, with 29 years of service, before being appointed Commissioner by President Johnson on March 18, 1966.

Two contracts totaling $367,043 have been awarded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs for road construction projects on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, S. D. and the Yakima Reservation in Washington.

A $247, 885 contract for crushed rock and bituminous mat surfacing of approximately 15.5 miles of the Signal Peak road on the Yakima Reservation was awarded to Bohannon Asphalt Paving, Inc.; of Yakima, Wash. Five bids were received, ranging to a high of $298,520.

BIA SCHOOL OFFICIAL NAMED TO INTER-STATE BOARD--Dr. William J. Benham, Jr., Director of Schools for the Navajo Area of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' school system recently was appointed to the board of directors of the Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory. Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico are represented on the 16-member panel.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the award of two road construction contracts on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota and the Colville Indian Reservation in eastern Washington.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, has announced transfers of four men which will affect two field offices and two Central Office posts.

William T. Schlick of Iowa has been promoted to a newly established position of Assistant to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C. He will be staff assistant for liaison and program coordination with other Federal agencies, including the Office of Economic Opportunity. Since January, 1965, Schlick has been the Bureau's Job Corps Conservation Center Officer.

“Indians of Arizona," latest in a current series of publications from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, turns the spotlight on the State with the largest Indian population.

Names that ring through the history of the American Southwest crowd the 24 pages of this profusely illustrated booklet. Here are the Apaches, whose very name once brought terror to westward bound settlers; the peaceful Hopis of the sky-reaching mesa villages; the Navajos, now the largest Indian tribe; the desert-dwelling Papagos; the agrarian Pimas; and the canyon-dwelling Havasupais and Hualapais.

The Department of the Interior today announced a proposal to adopt new regulations governing the use of Indian government-owned fishing grounds by the Yakima, Umatilla, and Warm Springs Tribes and by other Columbia River Indians in the Pacific Northwest.

The lands affected are in Washington and Oregon, are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, and were made available to the Indians in lieu of fishing grounds flooded or destroyed when Bonneville Dam was constructed during the 1930's.

A $261,176 contract has been awarded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a road improvement project on the Fort Hall Reservation in southeastern Idaho. The reservation is the home of about 1,770 Shoshone and Bannock Indians.

Contract specifications call for crushed rock base and bituminous plant-mix surfacing of slightly over 12 miles of the Ross Fork and Lone Pine roads, located one mile east of the Fort Hall Indian Agency.

This project is part of the Bureau’s long- term program to improve transportation on Indian reservations through better roads.

A $125,049 contract for grading and surfacing roads on the Uintah and Ouray I Reservation in Utah was announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Improvements will include a five-mile stretch of Route 7 which provides access to picturesque Uintah Canyon and a seven-mile section of Route 17, from Neola toward Big Springs.

Better roads will open an exceptionally scenic area for which the Uintah and Ouray Tribe has recreational development plans.

The Seminole Indians of the Hollywood Reservation in Florida this week signed a contract with Amphenol Corporation of Chicago to lease 10 acres of tribal property for industrialization.

This is the Tribe's first venture into economic development.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has announced the appointment of new superintendents for three field Agencies.

Jose A. Zuni, a Pueblo Indian from Isleta, N. Mex., and former superintendent of the Consolidated Ute Agency, Ignacio, Colo., will move to the position of superintendent of the Nevada Agency (mainly Paiute, Shoshone and Washo Indians) at Stewart, Nev. His appointment becomes effective June 26, 1966.

Zuni will fill the vacancy created by the transfer of Dale M. Baldwin to post of Director for the Portland, Oreg., Area last March.

Alaska is home to three native peoples. The Eskimos, although best known, share the vast land with their island relatives, the Aleuts, and with a large number of Indians.

The story of these native residents of the great northern peninsula that became a State in 1959 is told in a booklet just published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs--Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts of Alaska.

Here is a sampling of some little known facts revealed in the new publication:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the award of a $238,895 contract for improving the road that serves Kahneeta Hot Springs, a popular resort on the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon.

The Department of the Interior has amended existing Federal Regulations governing preparation of tribal rolls and enrollment appeals, to implement preparation of rolls for the Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska, a current activity of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The amendments to Title 25, Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 41 and 42, became effective upon publication in the Federal Register June 1, 1966. They establish qualifications for enrollment in the Tlingit and Haida Tribes and set a June 30, 1967 deadline for filing applications.

LOWER BRULE INDIANS TO BE TRAINED--The CalDak Electronics Corporation of Pierre, S. D., recently negotiated a $6,950 contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide on-the-job training for a group of South Dakota Indians. The trainees, 16 Sioux from the Lower Brule Reservation, will learn to assemble electronics components while employed in the company's plant on their reservation. The opportunity to learn while earning is a part of the Bureau's employment assistance program aimed at expanding job opportunities for reservation Indians.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett announced today a series of shifts in supervisory personnel affecting four Indian reservations and one Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

An old Indian saying goes, "Give us good roads and we'll take care of our other problems."

While more than roads are needed to meet the many problems of the Indian people, a vigorous road-building program is doing much to improve the living conditions on the Navajo Reservation, largest and most heavily populated in the country, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Before 1950, the vast interior of the Navajo Reservation, which is roughly equivalent to the size of West Virginia, was virtually devoid of roads.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced three appointments to high-level positions in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and said the appointments were "key steps in making the Bureau more responsive to the needs of the Indian people."

Named to the top-level posts under Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert LaFollette Bennett were:

-- Theodore W. Taylor, a career civil servant, to be Deputy Commissioner. Taylor has been Assistant to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution since 1959, and is a veteran of Interior and BIA service.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the award of a $737,093 contract for construction of a new school at Tyonek, Alaska, a native community on Cook Inlet.

The new building replaces a dilapidated structure that was built in 1930. Contract specifications call for: three classrooms; a kitchen; multi-purpose room; library; offices; a gymnasium with a stage; a storage area and janitor facilities. Also included will be a sewerage system; utilities; concrete sidewalks; play areas and site grading. There are now approximately 60 Indian children enrolled at the Tyonek School.

"Hoss" Cartwright of "Bonanza" and Sergeant O'Rourke of "F Troop" are in there pitching for the American Indians.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced that the two television personalities--Dan Blocker and Forrest Tucker--are making radio and TV spot announcements for the Bureau-sponsored campaign: "See America first with the first Americans."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall will meet in Washington, D. C., May 24 with representatives of several major electronics companies to explore ways of expanding industrial job opportunities for American Indians.

Mr. Udall said the meeting is the first step in an all-out drive to spur large-scale commercial activity in Indian areas.

Warren W. Frebel, Vice President and Director of Purchasing for the Magnavox Company, will serve as chairman of the meeting.

"SIPAPU" B. drama of authentic American Indian tales, dances and chants, will be presented at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Washington, D. C., June 1, 3, 4 and 5 at 8:30 each evening. The show will include a cast of 75 performers representing 31 Indian tribes from virtually all over the country. The drama is sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America.

Travelers who are planning a trip to Washington, D. C., next month, can add an Indian Dance Festival to their itinerary. The Department of the Interior's Center for Indian Arts in America will stage a performing arts program made up entirely of Indians and scheduled for Carter Barron Amphitheatre on June 1, 3, 4 and 5. It will be produced by the staff and students of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and includes 75 performers representing 31 Indian tribes from all over the United States.

Responsibility for the administration of the Federal Water Pollution Control program was transferred today to the Department of the Interior from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall began immediately to exercise his new authority by issuing guidelines to the States for the setting of water quality standards on the Nation's interstate waters.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the award of a $161,960 contract for road improvement on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. The reservation was among those hard-hit by floods in 1965 which washed away several accesses to Indian communities.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today urged the tens of millions of visitors who will enjoy Interior-administered recreation areas this year under the “Discover America" slogan to "discover, also, that safe travel begins with the traveler."

Secretary Udall estimated that a record high of approximately 185,000,000 visitor-days of use will be recorded in areas managed by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Reclamation. The 1965 total was about 173 million.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR BIA TEACHER--Mrs. Iva Kingsley, the academic head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs School at Kayenta, Ariz., was recently honored as an Outstanding World Educator. The award was presented by the Society of International Educators, headquartered in London, and recognizes Mrs. Kingsleys skilled service in elementary education. Mrs. Kingsley has been a Bureau teacher for the past 26 years, with the exception of three years spent in teaching military dependent children at Flagstaff, Ariz.

The war on poverty, and our strivings toward a Great Society, have brought the American Indian people into the forefront of the national conscience. There are organizations, such as the Indian Rights Association, which have for years plugged away in behalf of reservation Indians, but the voices have been like whispers under the din of other issues. The voice of the Indian people themselves has not yet been raised in one chorus, although there are signs that this is happening now.

I have chosen to discuss two subjects today - - Indian development and the development of the natural resources of the West.

It would be an untoward event if any Secretary of the Interior appeared before "an assembled group of Western Governors and did not discuss natural resources. It is, on the other hand, a rare occasion when any Secretary does discuss the future of our Indian people with a gathering of Governors. However, the time has come for all of us to face up to the failure of many of our Indian programs, and I propose that we confront them candidly here today.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of a $3,859,000 contract for construction of a new 18-classroom school facility at Sanostee, on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico.

One little, two little, three little Indians--and 206 more--are brightening the homes and lives of 172 American families, mostly non-Indians, who have taken the Indian waifs as their own.

A total of 209 Indian children have been adopted during the past seven years through the Indian Adoption Project, a cooperative effort of the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Child Welfare League of America Adoptions are arranged through customary court procedures.

The rate of Indian adoptions is increasing. There were 49 in 1965, compared to 35 in 1964.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the award of a $913,000 contract "for construction of new school facilities on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation at Cibecue, Arizona. Successful bidder was Taylor Construction, Inc., of Tucson, Arizona.

The contract calls for construction of an 8-classroom school building to replace a smaller structure that has become dilapidated and inadequate. The new school will accommodate a total of 240 Indian children, 80 more than formerly were served.

Mrs. Stewart L. Udall and the District of Columbia Committee for National Library Week, April 17-23, are presenting a dual exhibit of art works, "This Is Our Library," by school children of Metropolitan Washington and displays depicting new trends in library services.

The free exhibit will be in the Interior Department Art Gallery and will be open to the public from April 18 to 28.

A reception and preview celebrating the opening of the exhibit will be held Sunday, April 17, from 3 to 5 o'clock in the Art Gallery for invited guests.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today gave the Department's Distinguished Service Award for outstanding records or exceptional contribution to the public service to 43 employees and a Valor Award to another employee for bravery in attempting to save a child's life.

Included among the recipients of certificates for superior Federal service were John M. Kelly, former Assistant Secretary for Mineral Resources, and Dr. Thomas B. Nolan, former Director of the Geological Survey.

The Department of the Interior today announced that in response to a request from the Hopi Indian Tribal Council, it is directing the removal of about 35 Navajo Indians who are illegally residing within the Hopi Reservation in northern Arizona.

Assistant Secretary of Interior Harry R. Anderson instructed the Superintendent of the Hopi Agency, Clyde Pensoneau at Keams Canyon, Arizona, to serve the eviction notices on those Indians who did not comply with previous eviction notices of the Hopi Council.

With American families taking to the highways in greater numbers every year, often in search of a scenic trail or a restful campsite, Indian reservations are putting up welcome signs.

American Indians have discovered that they are the owners of some of the most scenic, unspoiled and undeveloped real estate to be found. As business men, they are turning these natural beauties into profits, with financial and technical aid from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall has commended the White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona for setting aside 7,400 acres of reservation land around Mount Baldy as a primitive area.

The effect of the tribal resolution is to preserve the Indian-owned lands against timber cutting and vehicular traffic for at least five years.

Construction of a new elementary school at Cottonwood, Ariz., to accommodate upwards of 450 Indian children, is scheduled to begin soon, The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today the award of a building contract for $1,359,828.

Children in the area of Blue Gap, Tachee, Smoke Signal, Whippoorwill and Cottonwood, who have all been attending trailer schools, will use the new Cottonwood School when it is completed.

Acting Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver Jr. today announced the resignation of Philleo Nash as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, effective March 15, 1966.

Mr. Nash, a former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, was nominated by President Kennedy as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in August 1961.

Prior to this appointment he served for five months as a member of the Indian Affairs Task Force named by Secretary Udall.

WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHES ESTABLISH PRIMITIVE AREA

The White Mountain Apache Tribal Council has voted to set aside a 7,400-acre tract on its Arizona reservation as a primitive area for the next five years. The area, which includes Mount Baldy on the east boundary of the reservation, will not be subject to any development, timber cutting, or vehicular traffic, except as needed for fire or insect control operations. It will remain under tribal control and-is not part of the National Wilderness Preservation system.

John C. Dibbern, a career BIA employee and former university professor, is slated to head Bureau activities in connection with Missouri River Basin development, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash has announced.

With headquarters in Billings, Mont., Dibbern will head a staff of economist, soil scientists, and engineers engaged in continuing studies to protect the interests of Indian landowners in the multi-State Missouri Basin area.

A four-day camp-in at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago is planned by Montana's Blackfeet Indians for March 9-12.

Tribal Chairman Earl Old Person and veteran Boy Scout Leader Francis Guardipee will preside over the event in the lobby of the windy city's biggest hotel as a promotion, not a protest.

The Tribe hired exhibit space for the national convention of the American Camping Association, hoping to interest camp owners and operators in establishing residential camps on the Blackfeet Reservation.

Dale M. Baldwin, a career employee of 17 years' service, will head the Bureau of Indian Affairs area office in Portland, Oregon, the Department of the Interior has announced.

The transfer from his present post as Superintendent of the Nevada Indian Agency at Stewart, Nev., will be effective March 20, 1966.

In 1965 Baldwin was cited for outstanding performance during his five years of work with the 26 tribal groups throughout Nevada.

Thomas H. Tommany, a Creek Indian from Oklahoma, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas.

Established in 1884 as a boarding high school, and the alma mater of numerous Indians prominent in public life today, Haskell moved into a new phase in its , history last year. The high school program was closed out, new curricula and facilities were created, and Haskell became the first Indian school offering vocational and technical training exclusively at the post-secondary level.

The Miccosukee Indians of Florida and the Red Lake Chippewas of Minnesota soon will have new agency heads, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash has announced.

Reginald C. Miller, the first superintendent of the four-year-old Miccosukee Indian Agency in Florida, leaves that post this month for a new assignment as superintendent of the Red Lake Chippewa Reservation.

Lawrence J. Kozlowski will succeed Miller at Miccosukee Agency headquarters in Homestead, Florida. Kozlowski formerly was assistant superintendent of the Great Lakes Indian Agency at Ashland, Wisconsin.

When the first year's operations under the War on Poverty were summed up recently, the record showed that Indian reservation communities were among the most responsive of all groups to the self-help challenges of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.

American Indian art--just now becoming widely recognized in the United States--has already found a solid niche abroad.

From the arts and crafts markets of the Southwest, the Plains, Oklahoma, and Alaska, a collection of these "cultural ambassadors" have been touring the world under the joint auspices of the Interior Department's Indian Arts And Crafts Board, the United States Information Agency, and the State Department.

Federal supervision has been terminated for four more rancherias in California in accord with recent legislation, the Department of the Interior announced today. The newly terminated Indian lands are North Fork and Picayune, in Madera County; Graton in Sonoma County; and Pinoleville in Mendocino County.

Under a Congressional Act of August 18, 1958, naming 41 rancherias, and a 1964 amendment to include the remaining 74 California rancherias or reservations, Indians are permitted to distribute lands and other rancheria assets among themselves.

From prosperity to poverty and back again--three times! That’s the story of North Carolina's Cherokee Indians, as told in a new booklet published this week by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“Indians of North Carolina," second in a series of regional brochures devoted to the life and times of American Indians, traces Cherokee history in the State from the 18th century to date. According to the booklet, progress of the tribe has been phenomenal in almost every field. For example:

Drilling Specialties Company, a subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum Company has announced plans to establish a plastic pipe factory in the Mid-American Industrial District, near Pryor, Oklahoma.

The Company, which expects the new plant to be operating by April, is negotiating an on-the-job training program with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to prepare Indian workers for jobs in the plastic industry. An initial group of 20 Cherokees will be employed, with the figure doubling when full-scale operations are reached.

The award of a $2,930,848 contract for the construction of an elementary boarding school at Dilkon, Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The new school complex will make possible the closing of three small trailer schools. Construction plans call for 26 classrooms; a multipurpose building; kitchen-dining building; bus garage; two 128-pupil dormitories; 10 one-bedroom staff apartments; 20 two-bedroom houses and 30 three-bedroom houses and an instructional materials center and administration offices.

A total of $65.8 million was awarded to Indian tribes in judgments handed down by the Indian Claims Commission during calendar year 1965, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported today. Appropriations to meet the judgments were made during the year in 17 of the 24 cases.

Judgment funds from land claims settlements are held in trust for the tribes by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Programs for use of the funds are developed by tribal governing bodies and approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

"Oklahoma! Its very name stirs memories of a long-ago Indian civilization.”

So begins “Indians of Oklahoma" - a 16-page illustrated booklet published this week as the first of a regional series to be issued by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. About a dozen more booklets will follow, each devoted to the history and progress of Indians in a particular state or region.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today petitioned the Federal Power Commission for leave to intervene in the pending application by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, Montana, to compel the Montana Power Company to maintain proper amortization reserves at its Kerr Project on the Flathead River in Montana.

Secretary Udall said the Tribes have charged the Company is failing to maintain amortization reserves in the manner required by the Federal Power Act and the license.