OPA

Appointment of George A. Boyce, superintendent of the 2,000-pupil Intermountain Indian boarding school at Brigham, Utah, to develop a new instruction program in Indian arts and crafts at Santa Fe, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior. The appointment will be effective August 6.

Boyce was the first superintendent of the Intermountain School when it opened in 1949 and served there for eight years. In 1957 he was relieved of these responsibilities and given a variety of research assignments in Indian education. He was renamed superintendent at Intermountain in 1960. Before moving into the Brigham position originally he served for eight years as director of schools on the Navajo Reservation at Window Rock, Arizona, and for three years as curriculum specialist and textbook writer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kansas.

Prior to coming with the Bureau in 1938 Boyce had seven years of experience as a high school teacher of mathematics in Bronxville, N. Y., four years as a teacher at Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, Ohio, four years as dean of Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, Pa., and two years as a business assistant at the Lake Placid-Florida School, Lake Placid, N. Y. Born at Scranton, Pa., in 1898, he has a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., a master’s degree from Cornell University, and a doctor of education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University.

The Department of the Interior today announced the completion of property distribution plans on six additional Indian rancherias of California under terms of a 1958 law.

The rancherias involved are Alexander Valley (54 acres, 11 members) and Lytton (50 acres, 33 members) in Sonoma County, Chicken Ranch (40 acres, 16 members) in Tuolumne County, Mooretown (80 acres, 4 members) in Butte County, and Potter Valley (96 acres, 11 members) and Redwood Valley (80 acres, 27 members) in Mendocino County.

Under the 1958 enactment the group property of these rancherias, totaling 400 acres, was divided among the 102 Indian beneficiaries in accordance with plans approved by the Indians in referendum ballot. In all cases unrestricted title was conveyed to the distributees.

With the completion of these plans, the distributees are no longer eligible for special services from the Federal Government because of their status as Indians and the laws of the several States now apply to them as they do to other citizens.

This brings to 13 the total of property distribution plans which have now been completed under the 1958 enactment. Twenty-seven others are in process. The law covers 41 Indian rancherias in California but gives the members of each the option of deciding whether or not they wish to adopt property distribution plans.

It gives me special pleasure to announce, on behalf of the President, the nomination of Mr. Louis R. Bruce of New York State to be the new Commissioner of Indian Affairs. His biography is being passed out to you. As an enrolled member of the Sioux Tribe, Mr. Bruce has continually demonstrated his leadership among American Indians during a long and distinguished career.

He is a man of unparalleled qualifications, with the leadership and the desire necessary to carry out the Administration's pledge to bring dignity, education and economic progress to all of our American Indian citizens. Mr. Bruce's extensive experience in Indian activities, in community and youth relations, and in Indian housing programs will provide a solid foundation for advancing our programs to assure that the Indian American is no longer the forgotten American.

I have spent more than a quarter of a century in Alaska, where the native Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts comprise a substantial part of the population. I know them. I have been involved in their problems, and I have a personal commitment to help bring these native peoples into the mainstream of American life.

We have already begun that process with a bill now before the Senate Interior Committee to resolve one of the problems that has been hanging for a long time - full and final settlement of all Native Land Claims against the United States in Alaska.

I have directed Mr. Bruce to put into effect a re-structuring of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make the Bureau fully responsive to today's needs of the Indian peoples.

I am determined to wipe out any bureaucratic restrictions which prevent participation in decision-making by the Indians themselves.

To assure maximum responsiveness to Indian thinking, an all-Indian Advisory committee, representative of all parts of the country will be selected. This body will advise the Secretary and the new Commissioner on implementing programs to achieve the ultimate objectives of the Indian people.

This Administration intends to listen to the American Indian. Too often the Government: has attempted to "solve" the problem of the, Indian simply by ignoring him. Our Indian citizens should have the opportunity to live in dignity and self-determination, They have the right to plan their own destiny.

We do not promise instant solutions to problems that have existed for 145 years - since the BIA was founded - but I can assure you that action will begin.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the ending of the legal relationship which the Government has had for nearly 20 years with the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina and with its individual members as Indians.

The Secretary’s action was taken in compliance with the provisions of a 1959 act of Congress (73 Stat. 592) which were accepted by a majority of the adult tribal members.

The 1959 law authorized distribution of the tribally owned assets among the individual members if such action was first approved by a majority of the adult members. Under this statute, a roll consisting of 226 adult members was established in late 1959. In the intervening months 127 of these members filed with, the Department individual statements accepting the provisions of the act and former Secretary Fred A. Seaton proclaimed the law in effect on July 2, 1960. By its terms two years were allowed thereafter for completion of the property distribution.

The tribal assets to be distributed consisted chiefly of 3,388 acres of land and some buildings. About 100 acres were set aside for community purposes and the balance of the property was appraised. Taken together with tribal funds already on deposit in the U. S. Treasury, it added up to a tribal estate of $187,774.40 or $296 for each of the 631 enrolled members including minors.

Each member was given the option of taking his share in land or in cash. Parents or guardians made the choice for the minors. A total of 345 chose land and 286 elected to receive cash. Tribal members were given a preference to select land they had been using as homesites and family members were allowed to select their share of land in a block. Title to the land so selected was conveyed to the members by quitclaim deed.

The land not selected was offered for sale under sealed bids and the proceeds were distributed among the members electing to take their share in cash.

On completion of the distribution, the constitution and bylaws of the Tribe were revoked. The Department's special responsibilities to the people as Indians are being ended as of July 1, 1962.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today approved a plan proposed by the Crow Indian Tribe of Montana for using a judgment fund of over $9 million awarded to the Tribe by the Indian Claims Commission.

Under the Tribe's plan, the money will be used for a variety of economic development programs.

One million dollars will be set aside for land purchases involving mainly those tracts that are needed to round out farm and range units.

Another $1 million will be set up as a revolving fund to assure fair and economic returns for lands disadvantageously leased under the Crow Competency Act and to recapture for the Indians' use such of these lands as the individual owners may need for their economic and social betterment.

A third sum of $1 million will be used for industrial and other economic development projects on the reservation to provide jobs for landless and other under-employed tribal members.

In addition, $4,350,000 will be available for the social and economic development of Crow families with the understanding that such funds shall be used solely for producing substantial and lasting benefits such as better housing, higher education or capital improvements on farm or ranching enterprises. These funds will not be available, Secretary Udall stressed, for the purchase of nonessential items such as automobiles, or for current living costs.

The approved plan also provides $275,000 for a tribal credit expansion program, $200,000 for education, $120,000 for a multi-purpose tribal building program, and $100,000 for law enforcement.

Unrestricted per capita payments of $100 to each tribal member, totaling $435,000 were approved by Secretary Udall shortly before Christmas. An additional $100 per capital distribution will be made this month and a $50 distribution in March.

The proposal approved by Secretary Udall today was embodied in ten resolutions approved by the Crow Tribal Council on February 2.

The Department of the Interior today announced several major changes in the Federal regulations governing the conduct of elections of officers of the Osage Indian Tribe of Oklahoma.

Owners of “headright” interests in the Osage Tribe’s mineral estate 21 years of age or over are eligible to vote in these elections. While most of the headright owners live in Oklahoma, a substantial number are residents of southern California.

One of the most important changes involves the method of computing the value of ballots cast which is tied to the number of headrights owned. Under the old rules, these values were frequently computed to many decimal places with the result that the counting of ballots became extremely complex and time-consuming. The revised regulations simplify this aspect of the elections by requiring full computation only for headright interests amounting to less than a hundredth of a share and computation merely to two decimal places in all other cases.

A second major change clears up an obscure point in the former regulations by providing explicitly that watchers and challengers are subject to the same rules as the election board with regard to leaving and returning to the polling place.

A third modification eliminates a section of the old rules providing for the presence of interpreters at the polling places. The deletion was made because practically all Osage tribal members now speak English and are well versed on election procedures.

Other significant amendments deal with compensation of election board members and the affidavits required for absentee ballots. The amended sections of the regulations are being published in the Federal Register.

A proposal for a National Recreation Area adjoining Yellowtail Reservoir in Big Horn and Carbon Counties, Montana, and Big Horn County, Wyoming, is detailed in a report released today by the Department of the Interior.

A 7l-mile long reservoir will be formed by the construction of the Yellowtail Dam now being built near the mouth of Big Horn Canyon, about 42 miles southwest of Hardin, Montana, by the Bureau of Reclamation as a part of the Missouri River ( Project. The dam is expected to be completed by 1966.

The primary purposes of the Dam are to supply hydroelectric power and provide flood control, downstream irrigation releases, sedimentation storage, fish and wildlife conservation and recreation.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, for the dam last October, Secretary or the Interior Stewart L. Udall called attention to the Region’s potential as a national recreation area because of the striking canyon setting and variety of related interests--scenic, geologic and historical. He also mentioned the economic potential of the area to the Crow Indian Tribe and the Department's desire and interest in working with the Tribe to this end. The Reservation boundary includes about two-thirds of the 195 miles of shoreline.

Lands acquired by the Bureau of Reclamation the project provide only for the operation and protection of primary purposes. The study recommends a boundary extending far enough back from the reservoir to permit adequate management for potential recreation uses and for interpretation and protection of the natural, historical and, archeological values of the area. Crow Indian lands would be included in the development only if their inclusion is approved by the Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs noting as trustees.

"I am enthusiastic about the possibilities this region offers as a national nation area," Secretary Udall said, "and, I am urging the National Park Service to proceed with refinement of boundary and development plans, cooperating fully with the State agency, interested Federal agencies and the Grow Indian Tribe, so that a specific recommendation for establishment of the area can be made this coming fall. To expedite this process, I am suggesting that the Park Service assign one of its staff to the area.

“The report states that the scenery and other natural and historical landmark of Big Horn Canyon and its environs--the mountains, foothills, geologic formation prehistorical sites such as old Fort C. F. Smith have long been recognized and considered worthy of preservation. Ft. smith was an Infantry post established in 1866 as the northernmost of a chain of forts planned to protect travelers of the Bozeman Trail from attacks of hostile Sioux Indians the Fort was abandoned 1868.

The study shows that the Yellowtail Reservoir, combined with the picturesque canyon country, has great potential for sightseeing boat trips, pleasure boating, fishing, diversified camping, hiking, horseback riding and pack trips into the tributary canyons and nearby mountains, and visits to interpretive features having historic, scenic or scientific interest.

The proposed recreation area can be reached from U. S. 87 to the north, Wyoming State Route 14 to the south while the proposed Interstate 90 will provide primary access.

The report recommends concession developments at principal recreation sites to provide services beyond those installed by the National Park Service. A waterfowl management area has been proposed by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife for the upper end of the reservoir in Wyoming. This area will be developed and managed by the Wyoming State Game and Fish Commission.

The Department of the Interior today announced the completion of an Indian-approved property distribution plan for the Redding Rancheria in Shasta County, California, under terms of a 1958 law.

Under the 1958 enactment the group property of the rancheria, consisting mainly of 30.89 acres of land, was divided among the 44 Indian beneficiaries in accordance with a plan approved by the Indians in referendum ballot. In all cases, unrestricted title was conveyed to the Indians.

With the completion of the plan, the distributes are no longer eligible for special services from the Federal Government because of their status as Indians and the laws of the several States now apply to them as they do to other citizens.

This brings to 14 the total of property distribution plans which have now been completed under the 1958 enactment. Twenty-four others are in process. The law covers 41 Indian rancherias in California but gives the members of each the option of deciding whether or not they wish to adopt property distribution plans.

W. Wade Head, area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Gallup, New Mexico since 1954, and Fredrick M. Haverland, who has occupied the comparable position at Phoenix, Ariz., since 1955, will exchange positions in the near future, the Department of the Interior announced today.

A native of E1 Dorado, Ark., Head first came with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1937 as principal in charge of schools on the Papago Reservation in southern Arizona. After four years in this assignment he was promoted to superintendent of the Papago Agency and one year later transferred to the War Relocation Authority, a wartime agency responsible for maintaining and ultimately relocating the people of Japanese descent who had been evacuated by the Army from the West Coast. Head served as director of the Colorado River Relocation Center at Poston, Ariz., for two years.

In 1944 he returned to the Indian Bureau as superintendent of the Colville Agency, Nespelem, Wash., where he remained for three years. This was followed by one year of service as district director for the Bureau at Oklahoma City and six years as area director for western Oklahoma with headquarters at Anadarko. He was the first area director appointed for the Gallup Office when it was established in 1954 and has remained there since. He is a graduate of Northeastern State College, Tahlequah, Okla.

A native of Minneapolis, Minn., Haverland joined the Bureau in 1936 as a junior road engineer at the Winnebago Agency, Winnebago, Nebr. Five years later he was promoted to road engineer at the former Truxton Canon Agency, Valentine, Ariz.

In 1942 he transferred to Head's staff on the Colorado River Center at Poston and in 1944 moved to Chicago as the Bureau's warehouse purchasing officer. After two years in this position he was named administrative officer in the office at Billings, Mont., and in 1949 was promoted to assistant area director. He remained in this latter job until 1954 when he shifted to the same position at Muskogee, Okla. In early 1955 he moved to his present position as area director at Phoenix.

He was educated in the public schools of Minneapolis and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1934 with a degree in civil engineering.

A group of young American Indian and Eskimo trainees in electronics who have prepared themselves for defense and communications jobs in their home State of Alaska under the adult vocational training program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs will visit President Kennedy at the White House at 9:45 a.m. August 2 during the course of a two-day visit to the Nation's Capital, the Department of the Interior announced today.

They will be accompanied by members of the Alaska delegation in Congress, Officials of the Interior Department, and representatives of the Radio Corporation of America, which provided the training under an agreement reached about 18 months ago.

The trainees making the visit represent the first contingent to complete the training under this agreement. Included in the group are five Indians and three Eskimos who finish their 18-month course at the RCA Institute in New York on August 10 and two other Eskimos who still have several months to go. All eight of the graduates will take jobs with RCA's "White Alice" communications system in Alaska. Their beginning salaries will range from $9,357 to $10,209 a year.

"Use of technically trained Indians and Eskimos to staff the installations in Alaska," Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash pointed out, "is beneficial in two ways. It provides excellent employment opportunities for young Alaska natives immediately and over the longer pull it will undoubtedly produce a more stable work force, with a far lower rate of turn-over, than will the employment of technicians brought in from other States.

"We in the Bureau of Indian Affairs are particularly proud that the first contingent of Alaska natives to enter training have all successfully completed the course which is exceptionally difficult."

Under the contract with RCA the Bureau of Indian Affairs paid the costs of tuition and provided living expenses for the trainees as part of its adult vocational training program.

The program arranged for the trainees on August 2 includes the meeting with President Kennedy a conference with Commissioner Nash and other Bureau officials at 2:00 p.m. in the Interior Building, a reception later in the afternoon and a moonlight cruise on the Potomac in the evening.

The August 3 program will include a luncheon at the Capitol as the guests of the Alaska Congressional Delegations and a sightseeing tour.

The eight graduating trainees are:

Russell W. Attwood, 21, Tlingit Indian from Ketchikan;

Morgan Aukongak, 19, Eskimo from Nome;

Percy Ipalook, 22, Eskimo from Kotzebue;

Harry Kito, 21, Tlingit Indian from Petersburg;

Sam Kito, Jr., 24, Tlingit Indian from Petersburg;

Herman Kitka, Jr., 20, Tlingit Indian from Sitka;

Arthur H. Peterson, 22, Athapascan Indian from Fort Yukon;

Joseph Pungowiyi, 22, Eskimo from Savoonga.

The other two trainees, who will complete their courses late in 1962 or early next year, are:

Peter J. Tocktoo, 21, Eskimo from Shishmaref;

Gordon Upicksoun, 21, Eskimo from Point Lay.

The trainees will be accompanied on their Washington trip by G. F. Maedel, president of RCA Institutes, Inc.; Harold Metz, vice president of RCA educational services, and Harold Fezer, director of the RCA Institute in New York City.