OPA

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of Federal legislation to establish a special three-judge Federal District Court to settle a disputed boundary between the Navajo and Ute Mountain Indian Tribes in New Mexico. Several millions of dollars are at stake.

The disputed area is a strip of land immediately south of the Colorado border approximately two miles wide and ten and one-half miles long. The United States holds the title to the area in trust for one of the two tribes and both claim it.

The dispute developed from the following facts:

The Navajo boundary in the area was fixed by a treaty of June 1, 1868 which provided a boundary "parallel of longitude which if prolonged south would pass through Old Fort Lyon, or the Ojo-de-oso, Bear Spring." The boundary was surveyed and monumented in 1869, but the monuments cannot now be located. The Ute Mountain boundary was established by an Act of Feb. 20, 1895 in terms of II all of townships 31 and 32 of ranges ….. 16.”

It is "reasonably apparent, II that the Navajo boundary, if resurveyed in accordance with the original field notes, would overlap a portion of the two townships, the Department reports.

The dispute over the area became active during the past decade when oil was discovered in the Four Corners area. The two tribes entered into an agreement in 1957 to lease the area jointly and place all revenues in a joint account pending a settlement of the dispute. Originally, because of the leasing pattern, the agreement covered a two-mile area on each side of the disputed strip. A supplemental agreement approved Sept. 8, 1965 eliminated both two-miles areas from the joint leasing agreement.

As of February 1965, bonuses, royalties, and rentals in the joint account totaled $5,768,226, although that amount would be reduced by severance and other State and local taxes. Accrued interest on the principal in the joint account was an additional $969,843.

The maximum either tribe could expect to receive if it established full title to the land would be about two-thirds the joint account.

Legislation now being considered by Congress provides that a special three-judge court in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico would decide the case with the right of direct appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

In recommending passage of the legislation, the Department of the Interior proposed an amendment to eliminate language which suggested that the United States was a party in the proposed litigation. The amendment proposes substitute language to the effect that the United States, which holds the legal title to the land in trust, consents to the litigation so that the issue between the two tribes may be settled, but that the United States has no beneficial claim to or interest in the land involved and shall not be joined as a defendant in the litigation.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today issued the following statement on the restoration of Fort McDowell in Arizona:

"In visiting Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, Ariz., recently I noted the initial attempts being made to stabilize remnants of two of the structures built and utilized by the Army when the post was an active military establishment. Tribal leaders and officials of the Salt River Indian Agency have indicated their willingness to initiate a restoration and preservation project on these dilapidated buildings and environs. This is a worthwhile endeavor, and I commend the Council on Abandoned Military Posts for encouraging its undertaking.

"Of particular interest is the significance of Fort McDowell to the present-day metropolitan area of Phoenix. Fort McDowell was established in 1865 as a base of operations against the aborigines ranging the Mazatzal Mountains and the Tonto Basin. Jack Swilling, who had commanded the Confederate troops in the engagement in 1862 at Picacho Pass, undertook in 1867 to supply hay from the Salt River plain to Fort McDowell. From this activity he organized a party to build the first irrigation canal, and the settlement which later became Phoenix was begun.

''Whatever can be done to retain those relics of the old post which first attracted settlement to what developed into Arizona's most populous community should be encouraged."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said today that recent weeks had brought "heartening examples of solid economic gains for American Indians as the result of a determination to put tribal resources and energies to work for the benefit of all."

Udall approved plans last week for a multi-million dollar forest product complex on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon that will create 250 jobs for Indians and bring about $2 million in annual revenues to the tribe.

"This is not a Federal project," Udall said. "The money involved is tribal money and the basic negotiations were between tribal officials and officers of the Jefferson Plywood Co. of Madras, Ore., the firm that will run the sawmill and plywood complex under contract with the tribe.

"Indians will be represented on their board which fill direct operations from harvest through sale. The direct benefits, such as an Indian payroll of $1.5 million annually, will be great, but equally important will be the experience gained, by a people learning, under our competitive American enterprise system, to put their resources and their abilities to work for a better future."

Udall noted also that during a trip to Arizona last month he helped break ground for an industrial park on the Gila River Reservation south of Phoenix.

"Five industrial firms -- producing products ranging from marine hardware to asphalt -- will form the nucleus of an industrial complex of tremendous growth potential," he said. "And the tribe has a detailed social action and community development program underway so that individually and collectively the tribe can grow with the industry.

"These are results of programs operated by the Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs that brought 26 new industrial plants to Indian areas in the past year," Udall said. "And these plants are to create 1,700 new jobs.

"A little more than a year ago I suggested at a conference of tribal, Congressional and Government leaders in Santa Fe, N. M., that 'the time has come to operate on our hopes instead of our fears.' I think we are beginning to see the results of that policy in action now."

Other promising developments within the past year, cited by Udall, are:

• The dedication of a new electronic connector plant on the Seminole Indians reservation at Hollywood, Fla. The site is leased by the tribe to the Amphenol Corp. of Chicago. The plant will have an initial workforce of 200, one-half of whom will be tribal members. The company is already looking to future expansion
• On the Makah Reservation in Washington, Indians are repairing and enlarging a pier to serve as the floating fish processing facility of the Cape Flattery Company. Cape Flattery will process all kinds of fish into fish protein concentrate, a product recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for human consumption. This is one of the first private domestic ventures in this field. A separate pilot plant is to be constructed under a program sponsored by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries.
• The Indians, in addition to owning a part of the business through an investment of $50,000 of their own funds, will share in the plant employment and will operate a fleet of fishing vessels to provide, daily, the 200 tons of fish the company is expected to process.
• The Navajo Tribe will begin construction next week on a plant at Fort Defiance, Ariz., where General Dynamics Corporation will produce components for the Standard Missile. The tribe will provide training facilities during the construction period for Navajos expected to fill most of the 200 jobs to be created by the plant. Annual payrolls are estimated as approaching three-quarters of a million dollars
• The receipt of $757,938 in high bonus bids for copper leases on the San Xavier Reservation in southern Arizona. Tribal officials anticipate that this figure will be far surpassed by tribal revenues resulting from royalties and mining payrolls.
• The receipt of $2.6 million in high bonus bids for new oil and gas leases by the Tyonek Village of Alaska which used $12 million in earlier oil lease funds to completely refurbish their village and acquire real estate in downtown Anchorage, renting office space to clients who include the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"These are solid achievements in just one field of endeavor," Udall said. "They will be matched by progress and innovation in the areas of education, on-the job training and relocation programs, as we expand our efforts and further develop the new feeling of partnership in progress that is developing under Commissioner Bennett in the Bureau of Indian Affairs."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today issued the following statement on education programs for Indian children:

"Indian children in Federal schools are handicapped educationally, economically and geographically through physical and social isolation from the mainstreams of American life. Many are further handicapped by an only partial understanding of the English language, if, indeed, they speak English at all.

"The programs of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, applied to Federal Indian schools over the past six months have been a direct and effective frontal assault on the pressing problems of these youngsters.

"In this short span of time we have seen, not only real progress in closing the gap that separates many Indian children from the non-Indian contemporaries but also a new spirit of enthusiasm and support for education develop in families and tribal leaders in Reservations across the nation.

"The Quie Amendment to this milestone legislation would exclude Federally educated Indian children from this Act and would take from these children the hope of continued progress toward educational equality with the rest of the nation and quash the new hopes and new aspirations developing for the Indian peoples who would assist their children to the life of economic and social equality that has been denied.

"It is inconceivable that these projects which have meant so much in terms of academic progress and improved self-image could be summarily abandoned.

"This program has made an appreciable and measureable difference in the lives and achievement of these children. These programs represent an effective discharge of the federal obligation to these children and should be continued."

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of three bills affecting Indians now before Congress. One bill would- increase the appropriation authorization for Indian adult vocational education programs and the other two would permit tribes to issue long-term land leases for industrial and commercial development of reservation properties.

In recommending passage of a bill which would increase the vocational training appropriation authorization from $15 million to $20 million annually, the Department suggested an amendment bringing the authorization to $25 million to meet an anticipated heavier demand for these services.

The Department noted a steadily increasing use of 'vocational training among young Indians. In Fiscal 1966, more than 5,000 heads of families or single persons received institutional vocational training and an additional 1,652 Indians were placed in on-the-job training, the Department said.

By Fiscal 1969, the Department estimated, most of the 5,400 Indian students graduating from high school that year and an undetermined number of drop-outs will need vocational training if they are to compete successfully for jobs. The expected increase in demand, together with increased opportunities for on-the-job training, because of increased industrial activity on or near reservations, will require an increase in funds, the Department said.

The two leasing bills would affect the Hualapai Reservation in northwest Arizona and the San Carlos Apache Reservation in the southeastern part of that state. The Department said that both reservations possess lands suitable for extensive tourist and recreational development and that the San Carlos Tribe has received several proposals for industrial projects.

The lack of authority to enter into property leases for longer than 50 years has discouraged lending institutions and developers in both areas, the Department said. Authority to offer leases up to 99 years has already been extended by special legislation to nine reservations with beneficial results, the Department noted, and would have the same affect for the two Arizona tribes, making possible maximum use of tribal land resources and increased employment for tribal members.

With the filing deadline only two months away, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported only 2,000 applications have been received from descendants of Miami Indians who believe they are eligible to share in more than $4 million in Indian Claims Commission awards to the tribe as additional payment for Ohio and Indiana land the Miami's sold the Government in 1818.

Virgil M. Harrington, BIA Area Director, Muskogee, Okla., said that he has issued 5,000 application forms and received only 2,000 back. All applications must be received at his office no later than July 31, 1967, he said.

Miami descendants are found in all parts of the Nation, Harrington said, with many living in the Midwest.

To be eligible for enrollment to share in the funds, Harrington said, a person must have been born on or prior to and living on Oct. 14, 1966 and be a direct lineal descendant of a person named on one of the rolls listed below: (Copies of the rolls are available upon request, he said,)

Roll of Miami Indians of Indiana of July 12, 1895.

Roll of "Miami Indians of Indiana, now living in Kansas, Quapaw Agency, Indian Territory, and Oklahoma Territory."

Roll of Eel River Miami Tribe of Indians of May 27, 1889, prepared and completed pursuant to the Act of June 29, 1888 (25 Stat.223).

Roll of Western Miami Tribe of Indians of June 12, 1891, prepared and completed pursuant to the Act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat.1000)

Harrington said that part of the award, under Indian Claims Commission Docket l24A, totaling $64,700, less $3,400 in attorney's fees, will be paid to those who prove eligibility as an enrollee or descendant from a person listed on any of the rolls except the Roll of Western Miami Tribe of Indians June 12, 1891. Those on the current tribal roll of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma are ineligible to share this portion of the award.

The rest of the award was paid in Claims Commission Docket 67 and 124 which totaled $4,647,500, less 10 percent for attorney's fees.

Application forms are available from the Bureau's Muskogee Area Office, Federal Building, Muskogee, Okla. 74401, or from David W. McKillip, Room 222, Spencer Hotel, Marion, Ind. 46952, Harrington said.

He noted that the burden of proving eligibility is on the applicant and that completed application forms should be accompanied by birth certificates and such other evidence as is necessary to trace ancestry to the person through whom eligibility is claimed. Applicants are not limited as to age, degree of Miami Indian blood, or generation, Harrington said.

A change in leadership of the Public Information Office of the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today by Commissioner Robert L. Bennett.

Virginia S. Hart, the Bureau's Chief of Public Information for the past three years, has been succeeded in that post by W. Joynes Macfarlan, for many years a member of the Washington Bureau of the Associated Press. Macfarlan's appointment was effective May 29. Mrs. Hart was named Special Assistant (Communications) to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on May 7.

A native of Darlington, S. C., Macfarlan has been for some years the senior regular news reporter regularly covering the Department of the Interior, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, General Services Administration, Selective Service System, Veterans Administration, and Federal Power Commission. He was also responsible for the AP's basic news coverage of the Civil Service Commission.

Macfarlan began his career with Associated Press in Charlotte, N. C. after two years as a reporter for the Columbia, S. C. "State." He served in the Navy during World War II, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Macfarlan is a member of St. Andrews' Society of Washington and is a Scottish Rite Mason.

Mrs. Hart's Federal career of approximately 12 years has included appointments as an Information Officer for the U.S. Office of Education, feature writer for the Voice of America, and publications editorial work for the Department of State. Her non-government experience includes public relations and radio production work in the Washington, D.C. area. She began her career on the Worcester (Mass.) "Evening Gazette," in her hometown. She is a member of the Women's National Press Club and the American Newspaper Women's Club, and holds an M.A. degree from American University.

Both Mrs. Hart and Macfarlan are residents of Arlington, Va.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, today hailed the agreement to provide electric power for the Quinault Indian village of Queets, Wash., as "the final step in bringing the basic comforts of adequate homes to this community."

Bennett said the agreement is a "tribute to the ability of many different agencies representing several levels of government, and private enterprise to work out solutions to difficult problems." He noted that extremely complicated right-of-way problems and a multiplicity of jurisdictions created "many unusual problems that had to be solved before work could begin on the electric power transmission line."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has built 20 new homes in Queets as part of a pilot project in total community redevelopment which includes new roads, water and sewer systems for the little fishing village on the Olympic Peninsula which until now has never had electric service.

The agreement, arrived at in consultation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, calls for construction of a 15-mile underground power line to Queets. Participating in the agreement are the National Park Service, the State Highway Commission and the Grays Harbor Public Utilities District. The line should be finished by the end of the year, Bennett said.

"There has been wide comment on the fact that the homes the power arrived," Bennett said. "There was never any doubt responsible public officials that power would come to Queets. In the construction of the new homes we made provisions for heat, light and other available means until electricity could become available.

"We wired these homes for electricity since it is far more economical to wire a home during its construction than to go back later and install wiring. Many Indians took advantage of the opportunity to improve their homes beyond the basic house provided by the program by purchasing appliances and other improvements but the Bureau has not provided a single electrical appliance to any family in Queets."

The project is one of many "long overdue" housing programs in Indian communities, Bennett said. "There are housing programs of many types on many different Indian reservations," he said, "and where there is a good prospect that electricity will soon be available -- as in the case of Queets -- electric wiring is installed.

"I am confident that the public supports the many Federal, State and local programs designed to bridge the gap between the Indian standard of living and that of the rest of the Nation. The Queets program is just one small part of this effort, but it is an indication of the progress that can be achieved through cooperative enterprises.

A bill to provide a means of settling claims of Alaska Natives to lands in that state is being submitted to Congress today, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall has announced.

The problem of Native Land Claims, in Alaska has been unsettled ever since an Act of May 17, 1894 provided that the Natives "shall not be disturbed in the possession of any lands actually in their use and occupation or now claimed by them, but the terms ono conditions under which such persons may acquire title to such lands is reserved for future legislation by Congress."

The Secretary described the bill as proposing "an equitable solution" to "one of the most important and difficult problems facing the State of Alaska." Claims of ownership to about 75 percent of Alaska's 365,500,000 acres have been asserted by various groups of Alaska Natives in notices filed with the Secretary of the Interior.

Alaska Natives comprise three principal groups--Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos--who are descendants of the aboriginal occupants of Alaska. Together they compose about 20 percent of the State's total population. They live in all parts of the State, but principally in several hundred native villages scattered along the coast and inland waterways.

The Alaska Native Claims Bill, as submitted to Congress by the Department, would authorize the Secretary to grant up to 50,000 acres of federal public domain in the environs of each native village for the use and benefit of the members of the village. Reserves of land heretofore set aside for native villages would remain in effect.

Title to lands set aside to the Natives would be held in trust for 25 years. The trustee would be either the Secretary of the Interior, the state of Alaska, or a private trustee selected by the village and approved by the Secretary. State, laws, except real astute tax laws, would apply on the lands set aside for the villages.

The bill further authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to grant to village occupants 25-year hunting, fishing, and trapping permits on other federal lands beyond the village environs. Such permits could be exclusive or non-exclusive, and could be extended an additional 25 years. Hunting and fishing by natives would be subject to state and federal game laws.

In respect to Native Claims of aboriginal occupancy of areas beyond the village environs, the bill would authorize the Attorney General of Alaska to bring suit against the United States for the value of such occupancy as of 1867, the year that the United States purchased Alaska from Russia. Jurisdiction to hear the suit would be granted the United States Court of Claims, and any moneys recovered in the suit be granted the United States Court of Claims, and any moneys recovered in the suit would belong equally to the Alaska Natives. Groups of Natives who have claims pending before the Indian Claims Commission or the Court of Claims would have the option to pursue their pending claims, but if they elected to do so they could not share in any recovery made in the Attorney General's suit.

The Department of the Interior said it is not able to estimate the amount of any judgment that might be recovered for the benefit of the Alaska Natives in the Court of Claims. When the United States purchased all of Alaska from Russia in 1867, it paid $7,200,000.

The bill authorizes the appointment of a five-man commission to assist the Secretary in selecting the lands to be granted villages, preparing the village census rolls, and performing other administrative functions. Of the five members, one would be appointed from nominees submitted by native groups, end one from nominees submitted by the Governor of Alaska.

The bill provides that selections of land by the State of Alaska under the Alaska Statehood Act, as well as other public land transactions, would proceed upon the enactment of the bill even though in conflict with Native Claims. Federal lands in a village environs, however, could not be selected by the state, or otherwise disposed of, until the secretary of the Interior had determined that they would not be set aside for the benefit of the Natives of that village.

A new program designed to help Indians buy homes in off-reservation locations has been launched by the Employment Assistance Branch of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert Lo Bennett announced today.

The plan is another building block in the Bureau's efforts to develop a real sense of belonging in the off-reservation Indian who decides to settle in the city.

Confined mostly to the major cities where training programs are effectively being carried out for Indian families, a $500,000 appropriation for fiscal year 1968 is designed to supplement other activities that help Indian people make the transition from reservation to urban living.

Bennett pointed out that for some years the Bureau has guided Indian families who wish to leave reservations and move to the cities by first informing them of the benefits of the Employment Assistance Program in various cities. They receive counseling and guidance on job opportunities, institutional training, cost of living, climate, housing, and community resources. The head of the household may go into direct employment or adult vocational training. When this is determined, he and his family are guided to go to the place that has the kind of vocational training or employment he prefers. The entire family is transported to a major 9ity.

Meanwhile, the BIA Employment Assistance Officer in the city the Indian family · has chosen is informed about all members of the family and when they will arrive. Arrangements for temporary housing are made for the family. When the head of the household has chosen the place he will work or the school he will attend, BIA counselors help the family find suitable permanent housing. Also, the counselors guide the couple on how to shop in a city, enroll their children in school, use public transportation, and use community resources.

"Yet, too often, somewhere in the course of these plans, something happens to destroy the Indian's confidence, his sense of identity," Bennett said, "In many cases, the desire for a home and family, with a plot of ground, is frustrated by an inability to pay."

By the time the man is established in a job or has finished his schooling and is ready to take on a job, the family is usually pretty well adjusted to city life. After the man goes to work, often a real need arises for the permanently of a home and a family neighborhood in which to bring up the children. But the Indian family that has spent month getting itself accustomed to a new life and surroundings, including work, home, and school, doesn't usually have cash set aside for a down payment on a home.

Under the new program, after the man has shown satisfactory work habits, the Bureau puts up the money for the down payment and closing costs, no strings attached. Employment Assistance staffers realistically evaluate the chance the family has to keep up regular mortgage payments, and check the prospects of the community in which the Indians want to live.

Generally, requirements are that the Indian applicant for these funds must have been steadily employed off the reservation for at least 6 months, or if he has been in training, he must have been steadily employed at least 3 months. In both cases he must have demonstrated job and family stability and shown a real desire to become a home owner. A Bureau counselor then guides the applicants on how to secure a loan.

Typical of the current success of .the program is the story of Phillip Starr, an Arikara Indian from Emmet, N.D.

Starr went to Chicago in March this year leaving his wife and six children on the Fort Berthold Reservation. He was finding it increasingly difficult to support his family in the reservation area and felt that with his background in various jobs, including meat-cutting learned in the Army, he would have better employment opportunities in the city.

The Jewel Tea Company was impressed with his sincerity and willingness to learn and he was soon earning $170 a week, including overtime, as a junior engineer mechanic. The work involves the maintenance of conveyor equipment, welding, and the repair of battery-operated fork lifts.

Soon, Starr could afford to have his family with him, but his small savings blocked attempts to find a home that was large enough and in a proper community for bringing up children.

The new Home Purchase Program was the answer to Starr's and many Indians' problems. The Chicago Employment Assistance housing specialist had found few rental units available and rental rates exceedingly high. In looking into purchases, Starr himself found one that exactly suited his purpose in suburban North Lakes, Ill.

The two-story home has three bedrooms and a large living room on a 60' x 130' lot. A Bureau specialist inspected the home and was impressed. It was located in a good neighborhood and close to both shopping and transportation. Schools were within a few blocks, with a large playground nearby.

Under the home purchase plan, the Starr family was given a small grant which was sufficient, with Starr’s own savings, for the down payment and closing costs. The family has moved into their new home. Today, Phil Starr is remodeling the upper half of the home to provide additional space.

The same program is being launched in Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose and other major cities.