OPA

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced the Department, hoping to keep as much of the present Indian estate as possible in Indian hands, has recommended major amendments of S.51, a bill dealing with the sale or leasing of tracts owned by two or more Indians.

One of the most important recommendations asks for a $15,000,000 increase in the Indian Revolving Loan Fund set up to help Indians acquire land, he said.

Under existing law, a tract of trust or restricted Indian land in multiple ownership can be sold or leased under most circumstances only with the consent of all the owners. S. 51 in its present form would change this by authorizing the Department to sell or lease upon request of those owning a majority Indian interest. The Department's report pointed out that this bill, if enacted, would result in more land going out of Indian ownership.

The amendments recommended by the Department, to prevent the loss to Indians of important tracts of heirship lands, would set up two major steps to facilitate Indian purchase of the lands offered for sale. First, each of the Indian owners of a tract offered for sale would be given a preferential right to buyout the interests of the others. Secondly, if none of the co-owners is interested in purchase, the tribe would be given a right to buy the tract either by negotiation at the appraised value, or by meeting the highest sealed offer submitted in competitive bidding, or by participating in an auction.

In recognition of the fact that many Indian tribes lack the funds for making such purchases, the Department recommended special Federal loans for the purpose. The amount needed, the Department said, is difficult to estimate. However, it asked for an increase from $10,000,000 to $25,000,000 in the appropriation authorization for the revolving loan fund of the Bureau of Indian Affairs "until some experience is gained."

Under the Department's proposal, the loans would have to be secured by a mortgage on the land purchased or on other tribal property equal at least to the principal amount of the loan. They would have a term of not more than 25 years and would be made only if the tribe has a plan for using the purchased land which is acceptable to the Secretary.

In a letter to Senator James E. Murray, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Department pointed out that it has been criticized in the past for allowing the sale of individually owned Indian lands, "notwithstanding the fact that we ordinarily may act only upon the request of all of the owners and only when we think a sale would benefit the owners." The letter also called attention to (1) a moratorium on all sales of Indian land declared by the Department last year at the request of Senator Murray pending a Senate committee review of the problem and (2) a memorandum from Senator Murray to the committee, after this review, which reflected continued criticism of Indian land sales by the Department, characterizing them as "alarming" and "potentially disastrous."

"It should be clearly understood,” the Department's letter to Senator Murray said, "that if your bill S. 51 is enacted and if the authority in the bill is used effectively, it will result in more land going out of Indian ownership."

The recommended amendments, the Department pointed out, will not only help keep the lands in Indian ownership but will also go a long way toward resolving what is known in Indian circles as the "heirship problem." This is a problem which has developed because many of the Indians who received individual allotments of land on reservations under Federal law--principally in the period from the 1880's to the 1920’s--have died and their interests have passed on to their heirs.

The Department estimates that more than half of the 60,000 allotted tracts, comprising some 13,000,000 acres, are now in multiple ownership and that 2,000 additional estates are being probated each year. In some cases the interests of individual owners have to be expressed by fractions with denominators in the millions. Rentals payable to the Indian owners sometimes amount to only a few pennies a year.

"The present system," the Department letter said, "works to the detriment both of the Indian owners and of the Government. All too often situations develop where the welfare of one or more of the Indian owners requires a sale of land, but a sale cannot be made under existing law because of the absence of one of the joint owners, the whereabouts of an owner is unknown, or one of the owners for no valid reason refuses to agree to a sale.

"There should be some way for each of the individual Indians to protect his own interests. Authority for the owners of a majority interest to sell or lease, with the approval of the Secretary, it seems eminently fair. In the case of non-Indians, anyone of the owners can compel a sale regardless of the wishes of the other owners. These ownership interests are individual property rights, and they should receive reasonable protection.

"It also seems to us obvious that the Federal Government, as trustee, should not be subjected to the exorbitant and extravagant expense of administration that is inherent in the present system, which requires an enormous amount of time to be spent in locating all of the numerous joint owners of a particular tract of land, in getting the concurrence of all of them to the proposed action, in keeping the complicated record system that is required to identify ownership and to distribute income from the land, and in maintaining accounts in which the income of each owner is recorded."

Award of a $235,683.40 contract for construction of 9.511 miles of graded roadway and untreated surface on Indian reservation lands in New Mexico was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project is located between Torreon and Johnson's Trading Post in the checkerboard section of the eastern Navajo Reservation. The segment being improved serves as a part of an access road from New Mexico Route 44, near Cuba, to Torreon. The New Mexico State Highway Commission has agreed to complete the section from Johnson's Trading Post to Highway 44.

The new road will permit regular scheduling of school buses and promote regular attendance of the approximately 175 Indian children at the public school at Cuba, New Mexico, as provided for by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' educational program. This road will also serve as an outlet for the isolated section in the vicinity of Torreon where the Bureau maintains a boarding school.

In adverse weather during the school term it has been almost impossible to maintain a supply service on a regular schedule and operate buses serving the school facilities.

Funds for this improvement are provided from regular appropriated funds for the improvement of the Navajo Road System.

James Hamilton Construction Company of Grants, New Mexico, submitted the low bid of $235,683.40.

Twelve other bids were received ranging from $238,380.16 to $374,959.72.

The Department of the Interior today announced its endorsement of H. R. 6128, a bill that will permit members of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina to divide their tribal assets and discontinue their special Indian relations with the Federal Government.

The Catawba Indians have requested such legislation and have explicitly approved the provisions of H. R. 6128.

The property to be divided consists of 3,388.8 acres of land under Federal trusteeship in York County, S. C., near Rock Hill; a tribal herd of 120 beef cattle; approximately 6,500,000 board feet of timber; and nearly $5,000 of cash on deposit with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The total estimated net worth of Tribe is slightly over $250,000.

Under provisions of the bill, tribal members who have received an assignment or use right in particular tracts of tribal land will be given the right to select these tracts as part of their distributive shares. The remainder of the tribal assets will be sold and the proceeds distributed. Any property not sold within two years after enactment will be conveyed to a trustee for liquidation and distribution.

The Catawba Indians have received services for many years from the State of South Carolina but have only a relatively short history of special relationships with the Federal Government. Under a 1943 agreement among the Tribe, the State, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the land now held in Federal trusteeship was bought for the Tribe by the State and conveyed to the United States in 1945. In addition, the tribe has had for many years a reservation of one square mile which g held in trust by the State. This will not be affected by H. R. 6128 unless the State Legislature takes action to have it included in the distribution plan.

Last fall the Bureau of Indian Affairs found 62 Catawba families living on the Federal trust land, 21 families living on the "old reservation" under the State, 26 families living in Rock Hill, and 53 families living elsewhere. The total includes 614 Indians in 162 family groups.

In its report the Department pointed out that the Catawbas have advanced economically at a steady pace during the past 14 years and have now reached a position comparable to that of their non-Indian neighbors.

Last December the State of South Carolina appointed a five-man legislative committee to help the Catawbas in negotiating for removal of the Federal trust restrictions from their land. This committee has studied H. R. 6128 and endorsed it.

Award of a $181,400 contract for construction of a new 80-pupil dormitory and additional dining facilities to provide for Indian school children at Ramah, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Completion of the work will make it possible for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to accommodate additional children at the existing Ramah facility while they attend the local public schools under arrangements worked out with the school district. This will also relieve the present overcrowding.

In addition to the new dormitory and the enlargement of the dining and kitchen facilities, the contract also provides for utilities, employees' quarters and work on the grounds.

The successful bidder was Oehring Construction Co. of Farmington, New Mexico, Four higher bids were received ranging from $188,338 to $240,000.

Award of a $243,427.06 contract for grading, drainage, and crushed gravel surfacing of 15.4 miles of roads on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in Dewey County, South Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract involves construction of 12.7 miles of road south from U.S. Highway 212. This will be the first section in a project covering approximately 50 miles of all-weather road proposed for construction to serve 40 Indian families who have resettled and are established in stock-raising enterprises in the southeastern section of the Cheyenne River Reservation. Travel in the area is possible at present only during dry weather over unimproved trails.

The contract also includes construction of 2.7 miles of access road to serve 12 Indian families who have relocated from the Oahe Reservoir taking area and are residing in the northeastern section of the Cheyenne River Reservation near the present site of the Moreau Indian Day School.

The successful bidder was Roy Kindt Construction of Winner, South Dakota. Eight other bids were received ranging from $247,874.63 to $311,438.93.

Under Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today cautioned against permitting lessees- of Indian lands the privilege of meeting the highest offer when the lands are sold under competitive bidding at the request of the owners.

He said such a provision, admittedly advantageous to the lessees, would in most cases have "an adverse effect on the Indian selling his land.”

The Under Secretary set forth the Department's position in a letter to Chairman James E. Murray of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

Senator Murray, of Montana, recently wrote the Department that a considerable number of lessees on the Crow Reservation in his State "are desirous of participating in the land sales which come up from time to time on that reservation."

Many of them have fairly extensive leases, he continued, adding that he had been requested to ask whether the Department would agree to a procedure permitting lessees of any Indian lands to meet the high bid.

“The lessee who is using the property,” Mr. Bennett replied, "is in a better position than any other prospective bidder to know the actual value of the land. He is acquainted with its potential, and can gauge the capital investment justified on the basis of the returns which he knows the property is capable of yielding. To that extent he has an advantage over other prospective bidders. Yet, if he were given the opportunity of meeting the high bid on the sale of the land, the lessee would need to make only a nominal bid with the knowledge that he had the privilege of meeting, without needing to surpass, the high bid.

“Consequently, competition would be stifled. Individuals who might desire to bid on land would readily recognize that, unless they offered a prohibitive amount in order to get possession, the present lessee could and would merely meet their bid. Thus, in actual practice, there would be no competition for the great majority of Indian land offered for sale."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has awarded an $83,305 contract for grading and surfacing 8.25 miles of roadway on the Klamath Indian Reservation in southern Oregon, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The work will be the last involved in a program of more than 80 miles of new and reconstructed roads being built by the Indian Bureau in preparation for final termination of Federal responsibilities on the reservation under the Klamath Termination Act. Under an agreement between the United States and Klamath County, the roads are being built to county standards and will be taken over by the county for maintenance upon completion.

Under the contract announced today, the work will be done on what is known as the Bray Mill-Lone Pine road approximately six miles northeast of Chiloquin, Oregon. The improvement is important to the reservation area for timber access and fire protection as well as for general transportation.

The work will be performed by Beaver Excavating Company, Gresham, Oregon, whose bid was the lowest of four received. Bids ranged to a high of $105,000.

The Department of the Interior favors legislation that would authorize transferring to the Navajo Indian Tribe full title and responsibility for all irrigation projects on the 15,000,000-acre reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton announced today.

Under its terms, the Navajos would permanently assume all operation and maintenance costs, estimated at $200,000 a year. They have borne this cost since January 1, 1958.

In submitting to Congress a proposed bill that would authorize the transfer, the Department pointed out that the Navajo Tribal Council indicated a desire and willingness to take on operational responsibility for the projects in resolutions of September 18, 1957, and February 14, 1958.

The projects involved include 67 units on which the Indian Bureau maintains active records plus an unknown number of others that are inoperative, abandoned or left to management by individual Indians and not carried on the Bureau's books. They were built by the Federal Government over the years since 1884 and have been maintained and operated as a Federal responsibility for the benefit of the Indians. They range in size from 100 to 6,000 acres and embrace a total of nearly 34,000 acres.

Under the legislation proposed by the Department, the Tribe's control over the transferred projects will be unrestricted but the facilities and the income from them will be tax-exempt as long as the facilities continue to be owned by the Tribe or by a legal entity controlled by the Tribe or its members.

Reimbursable construction costs of the projects, amounting to about $5,900,000, will not be affected by the legislation. However, under the Leavitt Act of 1932, these costs will not be assessed against the lands until the lands pass out of Indian ownership.

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

These awards, consisting of certificates of appreciation, were presented yesterday in Flagstaff, Arizona. Recipients, and the categories for which they won, include:

1. The Museum of Northern Arizona, of Flagstaff, Arizona--Nonprofit organizations.

2. Mr. Henry Claiborne Lockett, Tucson, Arizona--Dealers in arts and crafts.

3. Mr. Fred Kabotie, Oraibi, Arizona--Indian craftsmen.

4. Mrs. Mary Russell-Ferrell Colton, Flagstaff, Arizona--Collectors or patrons of Indian arts and crafts.

Dr. Frederick J. Dockstader, a member of the Board, made the presentation of awards this year. The basis for selection of winners is the long-standing services over and above the normal activities of the recipients in each classification.

The Chairman of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board is Rene d'Harnoncourt, Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. Board members serve without compensation, under appointment by the Secretary of the Interior.

Other members are Vincent Price, actor and Indian art collector, Los Angeles, California, and Erich Kohlberg, dealer in Indian crafts, Denver, Colorado.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has contracted with the University of Idaho for a comprehensive survey of the human and physical resources of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in southeastern Idaho.

In commenting on the significance of the contract, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs H. Rex Lee pointed out that for several years the Bureau has been seeking a more effective way to help the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation in improving their economic and social status.

“In this connection,” he said, "we felt the need of having an appraisal of the Reservation resources and population made by a competent agency outside of Government."

On a trip to Idaho during the week of June 8, Mr. Lee explored the possibility of such a survey with officials of the State University and then discussed the proposal with the Indians in a meeting at Fort Hall on June 12. In a resolution adopted that same day the tribes endorsed the proposal and agreed to cooperate in carrying out the study.

Purpose of the study is to provide basic information that can be used by the tribes and the Bureau in developing programs for more effective use of the Indians' lands and other resources as well as .for economic and social advancement of the tribal members.

The survey will be divided into four main parts. Specific projects under these headings will be agreed upon from time to time by the Bureau and the University.

The first part will be a study of the nature and extent of the physical resources of the Reservation and how these can be most effectively used for the Indians' benefit.

Second will be a study of the credit, employment and industrial possibilities, taking into consideration the financial feasibility of projects and the capabilities of individuals.

Third will be a survey of the human resources including such items as family composition, employment skills and preferences, and social conditions of the Indian people.

Fourth will be a study of the attitudes of non-Indians in the local and surrounding communities with suggestions for cooperative undertakings that would benefit both the Indian people and the surrounding communities.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has obligated $60,000 for the total survey. Actual costs, however, will be determined as specific projects are agreed upon by the Bureau and the University. They are expected to run considerably less than the $60,000 maximum.

Acting Commissioner Lee indicated that the survey may take two years and possibly longer.