OPA

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today the appointment by President Kennedy of John O. Crow, a Cherokee Indian and 28-year veteran employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as Acting Commissioner of the Bureau and a member of a newly constituted expert group, charged with recommending plans for reorganizing the Bureau, and development of improved policies and programs.

A native of Salem, Mo. and currently a resident of Alexandria, Va., Crow is the first person of American Indian descent to have the responsibility as Commissioner of Indian Affairs since 1871 when Ely S. Parker, a Civil War general and New York State Indian, left office in the Grant Administration.

Crow has been chief of the branch of realty in the Washington office of the Indian Bureau since July 1960. He first joined the Bureau as a clerical worker at the Fort Totten Agency in North Dakota in 1933. Two years later he moved to the Truxton Canyon Agency, Valentine, Ariz. In the years that followed he tock on increasing responsibilities at Truxton Canyon and was appointed superintendent of the agency in 1942.

After four years in this post he served as superintendent of three other Indian agencies over the following 11 years. From 1946 to 1951 he was at Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex.; from 1951 to 1955 at the Fort Apache Agency, Whiteriver, Ariz.; and from 1955 to 1957 at the Uintah-Ouray Agency, Fort Duchesne, Utah. In June 1957 he was named assistant to E. J. Utz, the Bureau's Assistant Commissioner for Resources, and remained in that post until his appointment as chief of the realty branch last July.

He was an outstanding football player as a student at the Haskell Indian Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, and later played professional football with the Boston Redskins.

The group which will recommend plans for reorganizing the bureau will be headed by W. W. Keeler, 53, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, an oil company executive and longtime principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Mr. Keeler is a member of the Commission on Rights, Liberties and Responsibilities of the American Indian, created by the Fund for the Republic. He was born in Dalhart, Texas, in 1908. After he attended Kansas University, he started work in 1929 with the Phillips Company as a chemist, and rose through successive responsibilities to become Executive Vice-President in 1956. He is an officer of numerous subsidiaries of Phillips Company and of several petroleum trade associations. He is a regional adviser to the Institute of International Education and is a Trustee of the Dwight Presbyterian Mission. Married in 1933, he has three sons.

Other members of the group will be:

Philleo Nash, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. Born Wisconsin Rapids, 1909. Graduated from University of Wisconsin (A.B., 1932) and University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1937). Lecturer on Anthropology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1937-41; Special Assistant, Office of War Information, 1942-46; Special Assistant, the White House and Administrative Assistant to the President, 1946-53. President, Biron Cranberry Company, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Married Edith Rosenfels in 1935; two daughters. Member, Board of Directors, Association on American Indian Affairs, 1942 to present. Secretary, Yale-Toronto International Conference on Indian Welfare, 1939.

James E. Officer, Tucson, Arizona. Born Boulder, Colorado, July 28, 1924. Attended Universities of Kansas and Arizona. (A.B. Anthropology, Arizona, 1950; Ph.D. candidate, Anthropology, Arizona, 1961) Newscaster and writer, radio stations in Kansas City, Phoenix, and Tucson, 1942-50; U. S. Department of State, Washington, D. C., and Santiago, Chile, U. S. Information Officer, 1950-53; University of Arizona, Instructor in Sociology and Anthropology, 1954-60. Concurrently (1955-56), Assistant Director, Bureau of Ethnic Research, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. U. S. Army, 1945, 1946 (Sergeant-Major, Classification and Assignment, U. S. Ordnance Depot, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland).

Author of numerous publications in professional journals and Indians in School, II University of Arizona Press, 1956. Member, Phi Beta Kappa, 'Sigma Xi (Honorary Science Society), American Anthropological Association, American Sociological Society, and Tucson Arizona Press Club. Married Roberta Mitzel, Kansas City, February 22, 1946; one son, one daughter.

William Zimmerman, Jr., lives in Arlington, Virginia, and is the Washington Representative of Trustees for Conservation. Now retired, he is a longtime Interior Department career officer, who came into the Government in 1933 with Harold Ickes. In June of 1933 he became Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and he continued in that post until June of 1950, when he transferred to the Bureau of Land Management, first as Assistant and then as Associate Director. He continued in the Department until his retirement in 1954.

At that time he became Field Director of the Association on American Indian Affairs, where he remained until 1957, when he entered into a consulting relationship with a number of conservation groups. At the present time he is a Trustee of the Robert Marshall Wilderness Fund, a member of the Citizens Committee on National ReS01ITCeS; a member of the Council and a Vice-President of the Wilderness Society, and a Consultant to the National Congress of American Indians. Mr. Zimmerman was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1890, graduated from Harvard in 1910 (A.B.), and resides in Arlington with his wife, the former Eleanor Williams, and two children.

The text of Secretary Udall's letter to Mr. Keeler about the work of the group is attached.

February 8, 1961

Dear Mr. Keeler:

I am writing to invite you to be the head of a group in the Department of the Interior which will look into the organization and programs of the entire Department, insofar as they bear on the Department's mission and responsibilities with respect to Indian Affairs.

Others who will be associated with you in this project will be Mr. John O. Crow, whom I am designating Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Philleo Nash, formerly Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, Mr. James Officer of the University of Arizona, and Mr. William Zimmerman, Jr., formerly Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

For the next ninety days, the assignment of your group will be to advise me from day to day as to how we can be more effective in the discharge of our present statutory duties. I have particularly in mind President Kennedy's objective, stated in a letter to Mr. Clarence Wesley, President of the National Congress of American Indians: "During the recent campaign I have expressed my concern over the conditions of poverty and disease which afflict so many American Indians and have made clear that I am intent on doing something about the matter. I want to repeat, therefore, that I am pledged to a program for the development of the human and natural resources of the Indian reservations. Such a program will indeed be an integral part of the total program of my Administration."

It is understood that you are coming into the. Department as a consultant without compensation. I wish to express my personal appreciation to you and to your company for your willingness to make this important contribution to a better life for American Indians and thus to a stronger America.

Sincerely yours,

The Department of the Interior has asked Congress to increase the authorized amount of annual appropriations for vocational training of adult Indians from $7.5 million to $12 million.

In its request, the Department said the number of Indians who are qualified and wish to participate in the training program greatly exceeds the number for whom funds are available. If the present limitation is retained, some of those who have applied in the past six months cannot expect to enroll in vocational training courses before June 30, 1964.

"As of the end of November 1962, there were 1,283 Indians in training throughout the country," the Department said. "There were 346 applicants waiting A5n registers at the various training destinations and 624 applications were in process at the reservation level. Many individuals who had been interested in filing have refrained from doing so in view of the long waiting period involved. Many of them are concerned that they will not be given an opportunity to participate."

Under the program, the Bureau of Indian Affairs provides the tuition costs and living expenses (including those for family dependents) for enrollment of young Indians, mainly from 18 to 35 years old, in vocational schools. It also contracts with industrial companies for on-the-job training of Indians, chiefly in plants on or near reservations.

The program has been increasingly popular with young Indian people, the Department added.

On the basis of present costs, the Department estimated, an appropriation of $7.5 million can be expected to finance 2,470 single individuals or family heads in school training and 1,370 such units in on-the-job training (in varying stages of training) during one fiscal year. Increasing the appropriation to $12 million, he said, will permit the enrollment of 3,906 trainees in schools and the continuing provision of on-the-job training for 1,500.

“Although this request is for $12 million authorization," the Department said, "it is not anticipated that the full amount will be absorbed immediately. In order to expand the program ••• without placing an undue strain on the present staff and facilities, we expect to phase out the proposed increase over the next three years."

The Department of the Interior has announced it favors proposed Federal legislation that would permit the leasing of Indian lands for terms up to a maximum of 55 years for purposes other than farming or grazing.

Under present law such leases are limited to a 25-year term with an option to renew for 25 years except on five reservations where 99-year leasing has been authorized. These are the Palm Springs Reservation in California, the Dania reservation in Florida, the Southern Ute Reservation in Colorado, the Colorado / River Reservation in Arizona and California, and the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Authority for 99-year leasing on these reservations would be continued under S. 48, a pending Congressional bill favored by the Department.

In commenting on the bill, the Department explained that difficult problems arise, especially for those contemplating large-scale commercial or recreational developments, under present laws limiting leaseholds on certain Indian lands to the equivalent of a 50-year period. The minimum unexpired lease period for a construction or a development loan under the National Housing Act, the Federal Reserve Act, and the policies of most insurance companies is 50 years from the date the mortgage is executed. Thus the lessee, in effect, is given no time to arrange for financing.

"If the permissible period for leasing Indian lands could be extended, as proposed by the pending bill, “the Department pointed out, "there would be enough time to complete financial arrangements for developments before the unexpired term of the lease is reduced to less than 50 years. As a technical matter, this represents a comparatively minor change from a 50-year maximum to a 55-year maximum, but the practical effect on financing improvements will be great."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the reappointment of Vincent Price, the actor and art connoisseur, for an additional four-year term as a member of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

Mr. Price, of Los Angeles, Calif., was first appointed to the Board in 1957 to fill the unexpired term of William J. Lippincott. In light of his distinguished service in the advancement of Indian arts and crafts, he was reappointed to the board again in 1959. His current term started July 6 and expires July 6, 1967.

As one of the five commissioners on the Board, Mr. Price will share the responsibility of operating two Indian museums. He will also aid in the establishment of policies for the many field staffs which work directly "with the Indian craftsmen and artists--giving them advisory assistance in the production, pricing, publicity, marketing, and the maintaining of trade standards.

Mr. Price will serve on the present Board with its chairman, Dr. Frederick J. Dockstader, director of the Museum of the American Indian, New York, N. Y.; Rene d’Harnoncourt, director, Museum of Modern Art, New York, N. Y.; Erich Kohlberg, international dealer in arts and crafts, of Denver, Colo.; and Lloyd New Kiva, artist-craftsman and director of arts at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, N. Mex.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board was created as a part of the Department of the Interior by an act of Congress in 1935. Its function and duty is the promotion of economic welfare of Indian people through the development of their arts and crafts and the expansion of the market for such products. Members of the Board are appointed by the Secretary of the Interior and serve "without pay.

Awards of contracts totaling $6,950,700 for the construction of school facilities at Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, and Chuska, New Mexico, on the Navajo Indian Reservation, were announced today by the Department of the Interior. In both cases, the successful low bidder was Bateson-Cheves Construction Company of Mesa, Arizona.

Award of a $3,676,400 contract for construction of four 160-pupil dormitories, a 22-classroom school with multipurpose room and an instructional materials center, 1 660-pupil kitchen-dining room, employees' quarters and related facilities was made in connection with the Chuska, New Mexico, school. Outside work will include streets, walls, utilities and erection of a 200,000-gallon elevated water storage tank. When completed, the work will relieve the overcrowded conditions at the Tohatchi School of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and provide school facilities for 660 Navajo children in the general area of Tohatchi, Twin Lakes, Coyote Canyon, Mexican Springs, and Naschitti, who are not now in school.

Nine higher bids on the contract ranged from $3,887,247 to $4,594,825.

The Teec Nos Pos School contract award was in the amount of $3,274,300. This construction will include two 256-pupil dormitories, a 17-classroom school addition with a 1,000-pupilmultipurpose room and a 660-pupil instructional materials center, an 800-pupil kitchen-dining hall, housing for employees, and related facilities. This project is the second phase of work to be done at the existing Teec Nos Pos School of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The school, which had an enrollment of 353 students in 1962, is being rehabilitated and expanded to accommodate a student body of 1,000. / Four higher bids from $3,296,500 to $3,800,000 were received

The Department of the Interior today announced award of a $963,560 contract for construction of 8.1-miles of roadway on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona from Marsh Pass, approximately 58 miles northeast of Tuba City, running northeasterly towards Kayenta.

This section of road is part of Navajo Route 1, which was authorized by the Anderson-Udall legislation of 1959.

Completion of this addition to the Indian Bureau's extensive road construction program on the Reservation will provide a total of approximately 78 miles of paved highway from U. S. 89 north of Flagstaff, extending northeast through Tuba City toward Kayenta.

Construction of Navajo Route 1 has aroused wide interest because of the rapid development of the Four Corners oil field to the northeast and the fact that the northern part of the Reservation and State of Arizona previously had no improved highway. When complete, this route will be a short-cut from southwestern Colorado to the Grand Canyon, the West Coast and the entire northern part of the Navajo Reservation.

H. E. Lowdermilk Company of Englewood, Colorado, was the successful bidder. Six other bids were submitted, ranging to a high of $1,179,945.05.

Responding to tribal requests, the Department of the Interior announced today it is restoring to the San Carlos Apache Indian Tribe ownership of the subsurface interest in approximately 225,000 acres of land in a portion of eastern Arizona known as the "San Carlos Mineral Strip."

Under Secretary James K. Carr approved an order which will make it possible for the tribe to recover the minerals in lands which were ceded to the Federal Government in 1896. The 1896 transfer was made on condition that proceeds from the disposition of the mineral lands be credited to the Indians. Only about 1,760 acres, of the 232,320 acres originally ceded, have been disposed of under mineral land laws.

The restoration order includes minerals under the approximately 12,000 acres -~6f the Coronado National Forest which lie in the "Mineral Strip." Excluded from this restoration are lands held under patent from the United States.

Restoration of the subsurface interest in the 225,000 acres to tribal ownership will take effect only if the tribe adopts a resolution providing protection to the surface of the Coronado National Forest lands, Mr. Carr explained. The lands in the "Mineral Strip" were originally included in the San Carlos Apache Reservation when it was created by Executive Orders of 1871 and 1872. Since 1932, the area has been withdrawn from all forms of public entry. Recently, great interest has been shown in the copper and other mineral potential of the lands. The Department said restoration to the tribe will allow development of this mineral potential and could add significantly to the economy of Arizona.

The tribe asked for restoration of the entire interest in the lands some years ago and a public hearing on the restoration was held by the Department of the Interior at Globe, Ariz., in February 1960, giving interested parties an opportunity to register their views. On April 2, 1963, the tribe withdrew its previous request and petitioned Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall to restore the subsurface interest to tribal ownership. Under Secretary Carr said that matters placed in the record have been examined thoroughly and he has been advised by Solicitor Frank J. Barry of the department that the land can be restored legally to the tribe under the Indian organization Act of 1934.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said today that ten more conservation projects totaling $927,400 and assuring more than 100 man-years of employment have just been approved under the Accelerated Public Works Program for administration by the Department of the Interior.

The projects are in addition to the $4,970,000 in public works allotments announced January 30 by Secretary Udall for 49 projects in 18 States.

The latest job generating betterments, certified by the Area Redevelopment Administration for areas with a high rate of unemployment, will be in seven States as follow:

Arizona

Navajo Indian Reservation

In Apache, Navajo, and Coconino counties, $203,400 will be invested in improving forest stands and in soil and moisture conservation activities.. Thirty man-years of employment will result.

California

Round Valley Reservation--Mendocino County will be the site of $20,000 in forest improvements. The equivalent of three man-years of employment is assured.

Minnesota

Fond du lac Reservation--In St. Louis County, in the Hibbing-Virginia area, $25,000 will be invested in forest stand improvements, creating four man-years of work. In the same reservation in Carlton County, $67,000 will be invested in grading and surfacing roads and in forest improvement. Seven man-years of new employment will result.

Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge--A total of $39,000 will be invested in this strategic refuge in Marshall County to promote development of wildlife. Four man-years of employment will be created.

Montana

Hungry Horse Project--This well-known Bureau of Reclamation dam in Flathead County will be provided with a tour center building, a parking area, a picnic area, and other betterments for serving the visiting public. The work will result from an investment of $175,000, creating the equivalent of 12 man-years of employment.

Lake Mason National Wildlife Refuge--A $40,000 project will center on digging of wells, installation of fencing, cleaning ditches and repairing water control structures, and creating a shelter belt to guard against fire. The equivalent of four man-years of new employment is assured.

Oklahoma

Shawnee Reservation--In Pottawatomie County, 17 man-years of employment will be created in a $140,000 project of grading and surfacing roads, improving timber stands, and conducting soil and moisture conservation work.

Washington

Quinault Reservation--The equivalent of 30 man-years of employment will result in the Aberdeen area of Grays Harbor County through $200,000 in betterments on this reservation. Work will include grading and surfacing roads, timber stand improvements, and soil and moisture conservation jobs.

Wisconsin

Lac du flambeau Reservation--In Oneida County, $18,000 will be invested in grading and surfacing roads. The equivalent of two man-years of employment will result.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash today announced the completion of an agreement between the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, and a Pelham, N.Y., electronics company which will lead to the establishment of I a new branch plant providing jobs for at least 200 workers on the Laguna Indian Pueblo west of Albuquerque, N. Mex.

The firm involved is Burnell & Co., Inc., which manufactures electronic filters and related components.

As part of its program to promote greater economic development and fuller job opportunities in Indian communities, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has agreed, subject to the availability of funds, to enter into a contract with Burnell for on-the-job training of Indian workers in the new plant.

"We are delighted to be playing an active role in this most promising enterprise," Commissioner Nash commented, "but major credit for making these jobs available properly belongs to the Laguna Indians. They have taken the initiative in dealing with Burnell and Company and are investing a substantial amount of their own funds in the operation."

Under an agreement between Laguna and Burnell, the Pueblo will furnish a $440,000 building to house the new plant. Construction is expected to begin in 8arly spring.

The Department of the Interior today announced proposed regulations governing the preparation of a membership roll of the Ponca Indian Tribe of Nebraska.

The roll is to be compiled under provisions of a law approved by the President in September 1962 which gives enrolled tribal members an opportunity to express themselves for or against division of the tribal assets among themselves. Those on the roll would be the beneficiaries if division of the assets is approved.

Under the proposed rules those eligible for enrollment would include (1), all persons living on September 5, 1962, whose names appear on the Ponca census roll of April 1, 1934 and the supplement thereto of January 1, 1935, regardless of their degree of Ponca blood, (2) descendants of such persons having one fourth or more Ponca blood, and (3) children of tribal members adopted by non-Indians if they are otherwise qualified. The Department believes that there are eligible individuals now living in widely scattered localities throughout the United States.

The full text of the regulations will be published shortly in the Federal Register. Applications for enrollment must be filed within two months after such publication and application forms may be obtained from the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 820 So. Main St., Aberdeen, S. Dak. Superintendent, Winnebago Agency, Winnebago, Nebr.; or the Ponca Negotiating Committee, Niobrara, Nebr.

Interested parties are invited to submit comments concerning the proposed regulations within 30 days after their publication in the Federal Register to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington 25, D. C.