OPA

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today the award of a $1. 9 million contract with Broce G6nstruction Co. of New Mexico, Inc., of Tucumcari, N. M., for the bituminous surfacing of 20.582 miles of highway and the widening of a bridge on the Navajo ‘Reservation. When the surfacing is completed it will provide an all-weather highway from Crownpoint, N. M. to within approximately three miles of Whitehorse, N. M.

Completion of the project will mark the first ·of several planned projects by the Bureau of Indian Affairs transportation division to provide an all-weather highway from Crownpoint to Torreon, N. M. via Route N9.

The road surfacing project is in line with Commissioner Bruce's five-point program to accelerate reservation development. An immediate objective is to increase the number and improve the quality of reservation roads.

Eight other bids were received, ranging to a high of $3.1 million.

Washington, D.C. -- Commissioner Louis R. Bruce of the U. S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs has been presented a copy of the Southern Ute A Tribal History" by members of the Southern Ute Tribe of Colorado, the group responsible for the writing of this unique book. The presentation took place last week in the Commissioner's Office.

Making the presentation were Everett Burch, Southern Ute Vice Chairman, Eddie BOX, Sr., a tribal member, and Floyd A. O'Neill, Associate Director, Documentation and Oral History, American West Center of the University of Utah and the book's editor.

In accepting the book, bound in the blue that is also used in the Southern Ute's tribal seal, Commissioner Bruce, said: "The history of Indian tribes and the Indian peoples has been written by non-Indians top long. I am happy to see that Indian tribes are interested now in-doing their own research and in telling their stories themselves."

The Southern Ute representatives pointed out that half the 106 page book is documented European-style history and an explanation of the Southern Ute culture. A large section of the book is devoted to stories that are part of the Southern Utes oral tradition. A chronology and maps are also included. The book will serve as a text in schools that teach Southern Ute children.

The book shows that although today the Southern Utes represent less than 900 people, the larger group of which it was a part are the oldest continuous resident of Colorado that also lived in Utah and New Mexico. These Indians' first European contact was with the Spanish, who came to their homelands from Mexico in the 1630's and the 1640's.

A by-product of the book, the Southern Ute delegation explained, is "The Southern Ute Archival Collection.” This is more than 12,000 pages of maternal -- treaties, maps, photographs, letters, agreements 4+ that are now bound in tribal volumes. These volumes are kept in the Southern Ute tribal offices. They represent the first formalized attempt of an Indian tribe to assemble its own records – that have a unique value in legal matters involving land claims, tribal enrollment, and other issues in which the Indians have an interest.

The University of Utah started working with the Southern Ute Tribe in the documentation of some of the memories of the oldest residents of the reservation in 1967. In 1971, the southern Ute Tribal council received money from two private foundations, and from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Research and Cultural Studies Development Section, to create a tribal history that would be of general interest and would also be a textbook for the schools serving the children of the southern Ute.

"Efforts such as this one restores the idea of Indian leadership” commissioner Bruce pointed out. “In this case the University of Utah worked under the leadership the tribe. “

The Southern Ute Tribal Council chose James Jefferson a member of the tribe and its public relations director Dr. Robert Delaney, Fort Lewis College, a longtime friend of the tribe and a scholar who has researched their history deeply, and Gregory C. Thompson, originally of Durango, Colo., a Research Associate in American Indian History, American West Center, university of Utah, to write the book.

The cover drawn by Russell Box, a Southern Ute

Copies of the book are available for $7.50 from the southern Ute Tribe, Tribal Offices, Ignacio, Colo. 81137

Increased emphasis on the ultimate goal of transferring basic Indian Bureau functions either to the Indians themselves or to State and local highlighted the 1952 work of the Bureau, Commissioner Dillon S. Myer said today.

Among the major moves during the year were Indian Bureau-sponsored bills introduced in the last Congress to transfer civil and criminal jurisdiction over Indians to the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, California, Oregon and Washington;

Establishment of a new Division of Program in the Central Office of the Indian Bureau to concentrate on joint formulation of withdrawal plans by Indians and the Government;

Completing plans for the transfer of 25 Indian Service schools during the coming year;

Accelerated efforts to encourage Indians to seek loans from banks and other types of credit institutions instead of from the Bureau.

An important move in this direction was modification by the Bureau of regulations governing Indian trust land to permit mortgaging of such lands under certain conditions, thus allowing Indians for the first time to borrow from the private and public sources on a basis of equality with other citizens.

A survey of Indian finances during the year showed that in 1951 Indians received nearly $20,000,000 in credit from non-Bureau sources.

Total amount of loans from the Bureau and tribal sources outstanding at the end of the year was approximately $24,000,000.

Development of withdrawal programs for Indians will be preceded and based upon compilation of all relevant factual data, it was emphasized, such as an inventory of tribal and individual Indian resources, a study of the laws and treaties affecting any particular group, and many other factors. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has made known a "standing offer" by the Bureau to work constructively with any tribe that wishes to assume either full or partial control over its own affairs. During the year the Bureau and the Department of the Interior sponsored bills to facilitate withdrawal from supervision of Indian affairs throughout California, and from the Grand Ronde-Siletz area of western Oregon covering 41 Indian bands.

The 10-year rehabilitation program for the Navajo and Hopi tribes, initiated during fiscal year 19511 moved forward on several fronts to improve and expand (school facilities at seven key spots on the reservation, to improve basic health installations, enlarge irrigation facilities and to improve transportation and communication.

Prospects for further progress under the 10-year program were encouraging since a total of $9,259,000 was made available by the Congress for fiscal year 1953, as compared with $8,645,520 in 1951 and $6,675,100 for 1952. However, it became increasingly apparent that, because of inflationary factors, the full program contemplated when Public Law 474 of the 81st Congress was enacted could not be carried out with the $88,570,000 authorized by that Act.

Leasing of Indian lands for oil and gas production reached an all-time high during the past year. Activity was especially pronounced at the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, at several of the Sioux reservations in North and South Dakota, and at the Ute Mountain, Southern Ute, Jicarilla Apache and Navajo reservations in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

A total of some 600,000 acres of Indian lands were leased for oil and gas production during the year, as compared with some 400.000 during the previous fiscal year. The amount received by Indians in bonuses as compensation for the signing of oil and gas leases almost doubled, increasing from less than $4,000,000 to more than $7,000,000, while the total income realized from such leases, in the form of bonuses, royalties and rentals together, rose from about $13,000,000 in 1951 to more than $15,000,000 in 1952.

During the year, the Bureau continued administration of schools and hospitals and other social and economic services for Indians.

The highest number of physicians and dentists for the past 20 years - 19 -were on duty during the year at the Bureau's 62 hospitals and 10 out-patient dispensaries. On duty also were 711 nurses, and 140 practical nurses. Approximately 40,000 Indian children received dental services during the year.

The Bureau continued its activity under the Johnson O’Malley Act to provide public health and preventive medical services to Indians by county health departments, bringing to 30 the number of contracts of this kind totaling $155,000 in payments to States, counties or local health units.

The Bureau also sponsored enactment of Public Law 291, approved April 3, 1952, which authorizes transfer of Indian hospitals to appropriate State or local agencies, as well as admitting non-Indian patients to such hospitals where other facilities are not available.

Welfare assistance dropped during the year, averaging 6,059 cases a month compared with 6,392 monthly cases in 1951.

The trend of Indian children being accepted into the country’s public school system continued, Of the 37,000 Indians enrolled in public schools, 7,000 received no aid from the Federal Government. Aid was supplied for the remainder - 30,000 children - to local school districts unable to assume the full cost because of non-taxable Indian lands within the districts.

The Indian Bureau has withdrawn from direct school operation in the States of Idaho, Michigan, Washington and Wisconsin. Bureau responsibility in these States (excluding Michigan) is exercised through financial assistance to the States under the provisions of the Johnson O'Malley Act.

In 1952, 14 State contracts and 27 district contracts were in effect. This is an increase of one State contract over the preceding fiscal year. A decrease of 1.5 district contracts from the preceding year was because of the consolidation of district contracts on a county basis in one area.

The Bureau operated during the year a total of 93 boarding schools, 233 day schools in 14 States and Alaska with an approximate enrollment in all schools of 38,000 Indian children. Of this number, 40 are high schools offering both vocational and college preparatory courses, and are accredited by the States in which they are located. Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas is also accredited by the North Central Association of High Schools and Colleges.

Since many of the pupils entering these schools could not speak English and were unfamiliar with many phases of modern living, emphasis was placed on the acquisition of English, and the development of habits, knowledge, and skills that would enable the students to make the adjustment necessary to their economic welfare.

Placement of Indians in employment took place in fiscal 1952 at an encouragingly high level and on a much wider scale than ever before. Out of a total of approximately 59,000 Indian placements reported during the year, the Bureau's placement staff participated directly in about one-third. In contrast to the Bureau-assisted placements of 1951, which involved mainly Navajos and Hopis, those placed with Bureau assistance in 1952 were from a large number of tribal groups throughout the western United States and Alaska. Nearly 6,000 of the placements reported were in permanent employment and about two-thirds of these involved Bureau participation.

In order to assist Indians leaving reservation areas for permanent employment in becoming established in their new locations, the Bureau initiated a program of financial aid for such re-settlers in January 1952. During the balance of the fiscal year assistance of this type was extended to approximately 1,000 Indians, including some 480 family units.

In the field of training to provide Indians with skills which they need for permanent employment, the most significant development of the year was the establishment of an apprenticeship program in the Navajo-Hopi area to teach 27 skilled trades. This activity, which was part of the ten-year rehabilitation program for Navajos and Hopis, was initiated in cooperation with a number of labor unions, the State Employment Services of Arizona and New Mexico, and the Labor Department's Bureau of Apprenticeship Training. It is being operated under the direction of a joint apprenticeship committee consisting of Bureau officials, Navajo and Hopi Tribal representatives, and officials of the Arizona and New Mexico State Federation of Labor.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay will present the Special Award in Human Relations of the American Public Relations Association to the community of Sheridan, Wyoming, at 7 p.m., Monday, March 2, 1953, at a banquet to be held in the ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel. The APRA is holding its annual convention here, March 1-3.

The award, given only twice previously in the history of the APRA, is in recognition of Sheridan 1s two-year campaign to improve relations between the non Indian members of the western community of 12,000 population and the nearby Indians of the Crow and Cheyenne reservations.

Receiving the award on behalf of the Sheridan community will be the 1952 Rodeo Queen Miss Lucy Yellowmule, Crow Indian girl, who was chosen by the community to preside over its traditional rodeo celebration, and four Indian girl attendants chosen by her--Miss Joy Old Crow, Miss Alta Drift Wood, Miss Regina Spotted Horse, all from the Crow Tribe, and Miss Dolores Little Coyote, Cheyenne, who is taking the place of Miss Evangeline Whiteman who was unable to make the trip.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Dillon S. Myer will introduce the girls to Secretary McKay in his office prior to the banquet.

During the noon hour of March 2 the Indian girls will be the guests of Representative William Henry Harrison, a resident of Sheridan and Chairman of the Indian Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, at a luncheon in the Speaker's dining room at the Capitol.

The presentation ceremony at the Mayflower Hotel will be recorded by the State Department's Voice of America for presentation in the overseas information programs.

Washington, D.C. -- Hazel E. Elbert, a Creek Indian and Legislative Specialist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has been named a Fellow for the 1972-73 Congressional Operations program, Louis R. Bruce, Commissioner of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, announced today.

The objective of the program is to give promising young Federal executives, journalists, political scientists and educators a thorough understanding of congressional operations. It is administered jointly by the Civil Service Commission and the American Political Science Foundation.

Said Commissioner Bruce, in commenting on the honor, "Mrs. Elbert has had ever-increasingly responsible jobs, leading to her present post in the Bureau's Office of Legislative Development. I am confident she will make the most of this career opportunity. “

The Eufaula, Okla., native is a graduate of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Haskell Institute, now Haskell Indian Junior College. She began 'her career with the Federal Government in the Division of Indian Health, U. S. Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, where she served from 1957 to 1966, since that time she has been with the Bureau's Office of Legislative Development.

Young Federal executives selected for the Fellowship in Congressional operations will have the opportunity to study and learn firsthand how the Congress functions. They will participate in full-time work assignments in the offices of Congressmen and Senators and in the Congressional Committees from mid-November of this year until August 1973.

Appointment of Ralph M. Shane as superintendent of Fort Berthold Indian Agency, New Town, N. Dak., was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Mr. Shane has been supervising highway engineer at Fort Berthold for three years. He joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in November 1936, as an engineering draftsman at the same agency and a year later was promoted to junior road engineer. In January 1939, he transferred to the Sacramento, California agency as chief of road survey party.

Two years later he became road engineer at the Fort Belknap Agency, Harlem, Mont. He was given a military furlough in 1943, and after serving four months as an ensign in the Navy, returned to duty with the Bureau as road engineer at the Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, N. Dak.

Until his appointment as supervising highway engineer at Fort Berthold, Mr. Shane served as road engineer successively at the Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Cass Lake, Minn.; Uintah and Ouray Agency at Ft. Duschesne, Utah, and at Warm Springs Agency, Warm Springs, Oregon.

A graduate civil engineer, Mr. Shane was born at Edelstein, Illinois in 1910, and received his early training in the Pipestone, Minn., public schools* He attended the University of Colorado and received his B. S. from the South Dakota School of Mines in 1935. Following graduation he worked for the South Dakota State Highway Commission drafting right-of-way and strip maps.

Mr. Shane succeeds Benjamin Reifel who was transferred to the superintendency at the Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, last January.

W. Barton Greenwood, Federal career man today became acting commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the resignation of Dillon Myer became effective, the Department of the Interior announced.

Mr. Greenwood, a resident of Washington since early boyhood is a veteran official of the Indian Bureau where he has been executive officer since June 1949.

Born in McKeesport, Pa., Mr. Greenwood came here with his family when he was ten years of age. He was graduated from McKinley High School and studied at Cornell University for two years when he enlisted in the Army in World War I as a cadet pilot serving until after the Armistice. When he was discharged he entered George Washington University and on finishing a course in economics enrolled in National University Law School where he received a law degree. He is a member of the D.C. bar.

He first entered the Federal service as a clerk in the District Post Office in 1919 and later worked as a clerk in the War Department. He became a fiscal clerk in the Indian Service in 1920 and rose through the ranks to the position of chief of budget and executive officer. In 1943 he joined the Bureau of the Budget where he remained until 1949 when he returned to the Indian Bureau as executive officer.

He resides at 5229 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.

Final regulations to establish officially the Reservation Acceleration Program (RAP) are being published in the Federal Register, the Commissioner of the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, Louis R. Bruce, announced today. Publication of the-new regulations in the Federal Register officially establishes the Bureau program which has been in operation since January.

RAP is designed to give federally recognized Indian tribes the chance to consult with Bureau of Indian Affairs line officials on restructuring Bureau services to provide maximum support for the tribes' comprehensive development plans. To date, 37 tribes have been selected to participate in the program, and are presently in negotiations.

The regulations establish purpose, eligibility, applicant submission and acceptance, and implementation procedures of the Reservation Acceleration Program, and will become effective 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register.

In line with President Nixon's 1970 message to the Congress on self-determination for Native Americans, RAP was one of the principal features of the Commissioner's 5-point policy directions for '72.

Hopi farmers who have cooperated with conservation and livestock technicians of the Indian Service and increased the productivity of their farm and ranch operations were honored at a recent ceremony at Polacca school on the First Mesa in Arizona.

John C. McPhee, representing the Window Rock Area of the Indian Service, presented the United States Department of Interior Conservation Service Award certificate to Andrew Seechoma, chairman of the First Mesa village delegation. Herbert Seeni, George Cochise and Samuel Shing, Hopi leaders, reviewed the progress of their farm and stock efforts.

Government representatives who spoke included Dow Carnal, superintendent of the Hopi agency; L.W. Rogers, Jr., soil technician; Paul Krause, range technician; Howard Johnson, chief of the extension branch; Jean Fredericks, water supply branch; Otto K. Weaver, conservationist and James S. Beck, extension agent.

The award was based on a record of achievement which began 10 years ago. On 242,463 acres of land, the Hopis have saved the soil through erosion preventive measures; have improved the range and marketing methods and increased production of crops and orchards. Fleeces now weigh approximately eight pounds, an increase of four pounds. Lambs now weigh 75 pounds when marketed. In 1933 they weighed only 40 pounds.

Commissioner Louis R. Bruce of the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, today announced the approval of a 1965 claims judgment for more than $4.9 million to the Creek Nation of Oklahoma.

The judgment represents more than $1 million in Indian Claims Commission docket 276 and $3.9 million in docket 276. Decision to begin payment was recommended by Claude Cox, Principal Chief of the Creeks; Ed Johnson, Chairman of the Creek Indian Council; and Virgil Harrington, Area Director of the Bureau's Muskogee, Okla. Area Office.

The award for docket 276 represents additional payment for more than 2 million acres of land in Oklahoma ceded under the Treaty of August 7, 1856. Funds to cover the award were appropriated in 1966 and legislation authorizing expenditure of the funds was enacted in 1968.

The award for docket 21 represents payment for about 8.9 million acres of land in Alabama and Georgia ceded under the Treaty of 1814. Legislation authorizing expenditure of the funds was enacted in 1968 and the funds were appropriated in 1965.

The Muskogee Area Office expects to complete per capita distribution of the award by January 1, 1973.