OPA

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today made a public statement on the current status of a claim against the United States filed with the Indian Claims commission in 1948 by the Creek Indian Tribe.

The claim involves compensation for about nine million acres in Georgia and Alabama, ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Fort Jackson in 1814.

Commissioner Emmons’ statement was prompted by the large volume of correspondence the Department of the Interior has received from people in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, who feel they are entitled to share in the claim. Many of these people, he said, apparently have been misinformed concerning the status of the claim and the steps that will be necessary for them to establish any rights they may have.

The Indian Claims Commission is an independent Federal agency and not a part of the Department of the Interior. The text of Commissioner Emmons’ statement follows:

“The claim of the Creek Indians against the Government has not yet been determined finally. The case is still pending before the Indian Claims Commission. If the final judgment is favorable to the claimants, it would be necessary for the Congress to appropriate such amount as may be due the Indians, and these funds would then be placed in the Treasury of the United states to the credit of the Creek Indians.

“In these circumstances it would be necessary for Congress by separate legislation to authorize the distribution of this money and either specify in such law, in general terms, the qualifications of those who would be entitled to share in the distribution consistent with the findings of the Indian Claims Commission or authorize the Secretary of the Interior to do this by regulation.

"Application blanks, for which there would be no charge, would be made available by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and information given as to where they may be obtained and when, with whom, and by what date they should be filed. Information would also be given as to the information or facts which must be furnished in support of such application.

“At that time a deadline would be established for filing the application. Thereafter the Commissioner of Indian Affairs would proceed to examine each application and determine the eligibility of the applicant. When this work has completed, a roll would be prepared of those entitled to share and on the basis of the number of persons on such roll and the amount of funds available for distribution, the per capita share of each enrolled person would be fixed.

“The employment of a genealogist or other person to trace the ancestry of an applicant is not a requirement of the Government but a matter for each individual to determine for himself. The Government does not require the payment of a fee for filing applications.”

Regulations implementing the provisions of Public Law 95-471, the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978, are being published in the Federal Register, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary Rick Lavis said today.

The regulations prescribe procedures for providing financial and technical assistance to Indian community colleges and, in a separate part, to the Navajo Community College.

The regulations state that it is the policy of the Department of the interior "to support and encourage the establishment, operation and improvement of tribally controlled community colleges to ensure continued and expanded educational opportunities for Indian students, and to assist the Indian tribes in implementing social and economic development efforts leading to the fulfillment of tribal goals and objectives."

Numerous comments on proposed rules published in the Federal Register May 22 were received. A summary of recommendations adopted in the final regulations, and those not adopted, is part of the Federal Register notice

The regulations will be effective 30 days after publication. For further information contact Rick Lavis, Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, 18th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240 (202 343-7163)

In line with a commitment made three years ago by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons, Clinton O. Talley, superintendent of the Fort Peck Indian Agency at Poplar, Montana, will transfer March 10 to the comparable position at Mescalero, New Mexico, the Department of the Interior announced today.

In 1954 Mr. Talley undertook the Fort Peck assignment with some reluctance, because of difficulties which earlier superintendents had experienced there, and was assured by Commissioner Emmons that he would be called upon to serve in the post for only two years. His transfer to Mescalero at this time is in fulfillment of this earlier understanding.

In shifting to the superintendency at Mescalero, Mr. Talley will succeed Walter O. Olson, who moved into the Bureau's area office at Gallup, N. Mex., as assistant director for administration January 27 e At Fort Peck, Talley will be replaced on March 10 by David Paul Weston, who is now in charge of land operations in the area office at Muskogee, Okla.

Before going to Fort Peck in 1954, Mr. Talley served for six years in the Muskogee area office, first as land officer and later as assistant area director. He is a veteran of more than 30 years l service with the Bureau and saw duty at several field installations as chief clerk, subagent, principal-teacher, and education field agent before becoming district agent of the old Five Tribes Agency at Durant, Okla., in 1938. After nine years in this assignment, he left the Bureau for one year and returned as land officer at Muskogee in 1948. He was born in Murray, Okla., in 1904, graduated from high school at Nucla, Colo., and attended Adams State College, Colo., and the State College at Flagstaff, Ariz.

As preparation for the Fort Peck assignment, Mr. Weston has about 11 years of experience with the Bureau, mainly in soil conservation work. Before entering his present job in 1953, he was soil conservationist for two years at Pine Ridge Agency, S. Dak., four years at Winnebago Agency, Nebr., and several months at Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency Okla. During World War II he served with the Army for five years and emerged with the rank of captain. He was born in Macomb, Okla., in 1919 and is a graduate of Oklahoma A. and M. College.

Mr. Olson joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in June 1940, as a trainee in the Southwest field training program under a Rockefeller Foundation grant, National Institute of Public Affairs. In 1941, he was named assistant superintendent, United Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque, N. Mex. In 1946 he was named superintendent of the Zuni Agency in New Mexico and in 1948 became associate area director, Navajo-Hopi jurisdiction, Window Rock, Ariz. In 1952 he transferred to the Technical Cooperation Administration as deputy assistant administrator for Near East and Africa. Two years later he returned to the Bureau as superintendent at Mescalero.

He was born in St. Anthony, Idaho, in 1914 and attended the University of Idaho, and was graduated in 1940. He took leave of absence from the Bureau in 1947 to get a master's degree at the University of Idaho.

Award of a $216,700 contract to Fairbanks Morse and Company of Portland, Oregon, for irrigation pumps for the Michaud Unit of the Fort Hall, (Idaho) Indian Irrigation Project was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

The project is planned for completion in 1962 at an estimated total cost of $5,500,000.

The contract covers the furnishing of three vertical shaft centrifugal volute pumps of 110 cubic feet per second capacity at normal head of 92.4 feet to be delivered at Pocatello, Idaho, and installed in the proposed Portneuf Pumping Station about eight miles northwest of Pocatello.

The pumps are to be directly connected to 1,500 horsepower motors and will include the necessary control equipment. They will be used to lift water from the Portneuf River into the gravity system which will supply the 21,000 acre Michaud Unit of the Fort Hall, Project.

Four bids were received for this contract ranging from the low of $216,700 to $313,727.

Design work on the pumping station and appurtenant works is now in progress. It is anticipated that invitations for bids for their construction will be issued within the next few months. The contract for furnishing the pumps precedes the contract for construction of the pumping station due to the long delivery period incident to manufacture of large pumps.

Significant advances in Indian education and a broadening of economic opportunities for tribal members were achieved in the fiscal year which ended last June 30, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons reported to Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton. The report is included in the Department's annual report for Fiscal 1956 released today.

In education Commissioner Emmons reported a seven percent increase in Navajo school enrollment bringing the total up to a record level of 25,287 students as contrasted with about 14,000 in 1953. In five other tribal areas a “pilot” program of adult education was launched to provide the people with literacy in English and other basic training.

On the economic front good progress was achieved in further development of reservation resources, attraction of new industry to the periphery of reservations, and provision of relocation services to Indian workers and families seeking job opportunities in metropolitan areas.

Resource development was pushed through continued extension of Indian irrigation projects, additional expansion of soil and moisture conservation work, and other similar activities. Sales and local sawmill use of Indian timber were sharply stepped up in the calendar year 1955 bringing in a total income of nearly $12,000,000 for the Indian owners or nearly a third higher than in 1954. Combined Indian income from oil and gas reached an all-time high of more than $41,000,000.

A program to foster the establishment of manufacturing or processing plants on the periphery of reservations was set up under an Assistant to the Commissioner and numerous contacts were made with industrial firms throughout the country. By June 30, plants of this type were either operating or definitely in process at Kingman, Ariz., near the Hualapai Reservation; Cherokee, N. C., near the Cherokee Reservation; and Gallup, N. Mex., near the Navajo Reservation.

The number of individuals who applied for and received relocation assistance increased to 5,316 as compared with 3,461 the preceding year. The 1956 total included 1,051 family groups, 732 unattached men and 373 unattached women.

Sidney L. Mills, Acting Deputy Commissioner, announced today the appointment of three new Assistant Area Directors for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' office in Aberdeen, S. Dak.

Richard D. Drapeaux, formerly Deputy Area Director in Aberdeen will be the Assistant Area Director for Human Resources. This office will supervise the office of Employment Assistance, Social Services, Tribal Government, Law Enforcement, Housing and Indian Business Development.

Drapeaux, 50, a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, is a graduate of South Dakota State University and entered Federal service in 1952 as a teacher on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He subsequently served at the Turtle Mountain, Fort Totten, Fort Berthold agencies in education, employment assistance and housing positions. In 1975, he was appointed Deputy Area Director, a position he held until the reorganization of the Aberdeen Area Office in May which established Assistant Area Directors for Administration, Education, Human Resources and Natural Resources in lieu of the Deputy and Division Chief's positions.

Dennis L. Petersen, 53, enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe will be the Assistant Area Director for Natural Resources. His office will supervise the overall responsibility for roads, rights protection, real estate services, forestry, range management, environmental quality and energy resources. Petersen is a graduate of South Dakota State University and did post graduate work at Colorado State and the University of Arizona. He served with the U. S. Infantry in WWII and again during the Korean conflict. He was with the South Dakota State University Extension Service for many years and then was a project officer, planning officer and assistant to the area director for the Economic Development Administration at Duluth, Minn. He was an Indian Community Action Program economic development specialist at the University of South Dakota before his 1971 appointment as Superintendent of the BIA agency at Pierre, S. Dak. Peterson was also Superintendent at Sisseton prior to his present assign­ment in 1976 as Chief of Tribal Government Services at the BIA Central Office in Washington, D.C.

Loren J. Farmer, 41, will be the Assistant Area Director for Administration and will supervise general areas of financial management, budget, personnel services, real property management, procurement and contracting, and safety and planning.

Farmer, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet feet of Montana, is a graduate of Haskell Institute and joined the BIA in 1959. He has served in administrative and management positions in Western Washington, Portland and the Cheyenne River office anal was Superintendent of the Yankton and Fort Belknap Agencies.

The Aberdeen Area Office administers programs arid services for 15 Indian tribes with a service population of 61,300 in the States of North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Haumont Contracting Company of Phoenix, Arizona, has been awarded a contract covering construction of about 11 1/2 miles of road on the Navajo Indian Reservation running easterly from Tuba City, Arizona, toward Keams Canyon and Window Rock, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Haumont's bid of $267,721.04 was the lowest of eleven received. The others ranged from $276,725.73 to $419,467.05.

The road will be an important link in the highway system which the Bureau of Indian Affairs is constructing to promote Indian economic advancement under the 10-year Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Program. It will serve Indians and others in the Tuba City vicinity and facilitate cross-reservation travel between U.S. Highways 89 and 666.

When completed, the project will provide a graded and drained highway with a two-course base, the second course to be stabilized with liquid asphalt, and a bituminous seal coat with an aggregate wearing surface. It will involve 125,359 cubic yards of unclassified excavation, 19,178 cubic yards of borrow, 59,167 tons of base course, and 985 tons of liquid asphalt.

Acting Bureau of Indian Affairs Deputy Commissioner Sidney L. Mills has announced that the Minneapolis Area Office reorganization task force is working on the implementation of the reorganization of the Minneapolis office. The final restructuring of the office is scheduled to be completed by April, 1980.

The change is a continuation of Assistant Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard's commitment to provide better service to the tribes in the five states covered by the Minneapolis area office.

All area offices nationwide are undergoing extensive review to determine how they can best provide management and technical assistance to Indian tribes and agencies.

The reviews are being conducted under the direction of Assistant Secretary Gerard's management improvement program in consultation with Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, employees and unions. Implementation of the reorganization recommendations is the responsibility of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The Federal regulations governing the United States credit program for Indian tribes are being broadened to permit loans of funds which the tribes can use for the purpose of attracting industry to the vicinity of reservations, the Department of the Interior announced today.

In explaining the significance of the changes, Indian Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons pointed to the example of the Navajo Tribe in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah which has appropriated $300,000 of its own funds both this year and last year for an industry-fostering program. The new types of loans, he added, will make it possible for other tribes with little or no cash reserves to offer similar inducements.

Such inducements might include assistance in furnishing facilities, in training programs, and in the recruitment of qualified workers.

Loans will be made only to tribes having a form of organization acceptable to the Secretary and “at interest rates and under terms and conditions found by the Secretary to be in the public interest."

Encouragement of industry to establish plants near Indian reservations is an important phase of Commissioner Emmons t program to advance the economic and social welfare of Indian people. The work is headed by Carl W. Beck, Assistant to Commissioner Emmons.

Following is a tabulation of the plants which either have been established or definitely planned to date as a result of the program:

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $20.4 million contract for construction of laterals and pumping plants for Block 5 of the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project in New Mexico, Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today.

Granite Construction Co., Watsonville, Calif., has received the contract based on its low bid at the August 6 bid opening in Farmington, N.M., where the project headquarters are located. Granite has 580 days to complete the work.

Commissioner of Reclamation R. Keith Higginson said the major work will consist of furnishing and laying about 26 miles of 6- through 66-inch-diameter pipe, constructing about 4 miles of concrete-lined laterals and appurtenant structures, and constructing 12 pumping plants.- Other work items are furnishing and erecting three elevated steel tanks, two air chambers, and one surge tank and constructing approximately 9.2 miles of 34.5-kilovolt distribution line.

The Bureau of Reclamation is constructing the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to supply irrigation water to the Navajo Nation. Work started in 1962 and the first water was delivered about 31/2 years ago. The 110,000-acre project is being developed in 10,000-acre blocks, and Block 5 covers an area alongside State Highway 44 south of Bloomfield.

Second low bid was $20.9 million by C. R. Fedrick, Inc., Novato, Calif. and third low was $22.9 million by Martin K. Eby Construction, Inc., of Omaha, Neb. The engineer's estimate was $16.9 million.