Past News Items

Award of a contract for construction of 7.557 miles of roads on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, Gila and Navajo Counties, Ariz., to Bentson Contracting Company of Phoenix was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Bentson’s bid of $185,330.60 was the lowest of thirteen received. The others ranged from $193,784 to $315,590.

This is the first section of the planned 26-mile road from Fort Apache to U. S. 60 which leads to Globe and Phoenix. Its construction will stimulate further development of the reservation for commercial trade as well as recreation.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced Departmental approval of a resolution adopted by the Rosebud Sioux Indian Tribe of South Dakota calling for cancellation of grazing leases and permits granted in the future to nonmembers operating on the reservation if they fail to pay a tax imposed by the tribal organization.

Secretary of the Interior Fred. A. Seaton called attention today to the publication of a proposed membership roll of the Peoria Indian Tribe of Oklahoma in the Federal Register of May 9, 1957.

The roll was prepared by the tribe under terms of a 1956 congressional law which provides for termination of Federal supervision over the property of the tribe by 1958.

Leslie p. Towle, assistant area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Aberdeen, S. Dak., has been named new superintendent at Pine Ridge Agency, S. Dak., and John C. Dibbern, an assistant in the resources division of the Bureau's Washington office, has been selected for the similar position at Colorado River Agency, Parker, Ariz., the Department of the Interior announced today.

Over a million acres has been added to the land holdings of Indian tribes throughout the country in the past three years as a result of Congressional enactments and administrative section by the Department of the Interior, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

Award of a contract for grading, draining and crushed-gravel surfacing of 13.4 miles of road on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation in Lyman County, S. Dak., to R. C. Van Houten and Sons, Rapid City, . S. Dak., was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Van Houten's bid of $112,882.94 was the lowest of eight received. The others ranged from $115,985.94 to $168,140.82.

Award of a $214,950 contract to Alder-Child Construction Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, for construction of dormitory facilities to house Indian children at Richfield, Utah, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Sixteen higher bids, ranging from $225,313 to $368,413, were submitted by contractors from Utah and New Mexico.

Award of a construction contract for a sewage treatment plant on the Fort Apache Reservation (White River), Ariz., was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract was awarded to C. R. Davis Contracting Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on that firm’s low bid of $56,491.50. Two other bids of $67,381.48 and $78,000 were received.

The new plant will serve approximately 400 people at the Theodore Roosevelt School located on the reservation near White River, Arizona. There are some 346 pupils enrolled in the school.

Award of a contract for construction of a pumping station and rehabilitation of irrigation works on the Modoc Point Project of the Klamath Indian Reservation in Oregon to C. H. Strong Engineering and Construction, Eugene, Oregon, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Mr. Strong's bid of $129,297.50 was the lower of two received. The other bid was for $154,828.45.

Award of two contracts for construction of 77 flood control structures in the Schuk Toak, Gu Achi and Sif Oidak Districts of the Papago Indian Reservation in southern Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

One contract, covering 47 structures, goes to Clyde Jones and Sons, Indio, Calif., who bid $64,705. The other ten bids on this job ranged from $65,625 to $142,000.

The second contract, for 30 structures, was awarded to Don L. Riggs of Phoenix, Ariz., with a bid of $27,550. The other 14 bids ranged from $32,025 to $77,000.