Regulations have been published in the Federal Register to govern distribution of $13.2 million awarded the Osage Indian Tribe of Oklahoma by the Indian Claims Commission, largely for fair payment for triba11ands taken many years ago, the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.
The new regulations specify procedures to be followed by eligible persons in order for them to share in the distribution of judgment funds.
All claims for per capita shares by heirs of Osage Indian blood must be filed with the Superintendent of the Osage Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pawhuska, Okla. 74056 not later than April 27, 1974. The claimant must identify, by name and allotment number, each allottee in whose share the individual claims an interest, in order that the Superintendent may notify the individual when the Order of Distribution for such allottee is made. 1£ a claim is not filed, an individual may not receive the notice of distribution.
The award is a result of a compromise settlement which disposed of four Indian Claims Commission dockets containing claims for:
No. 105: Additional payment for about 12.3 million acres of land in Missouri and Arkansas ceded under the Treaty of November 10, 1808 (7 Stat.l07).
No. 106: Additional payment for about 2 million acres of land in Oklahoma and Arkansas ceded under the Treaty of September 25, 1818 (7 Stat.183).
No. 107: Additional payment for about .13 million acres of land in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas ceded under the Treaty of June 2, 1825 (7 Stat. 240).
No. 108: Attorney fees and expenses paid from Osage funds to prevent ratification of the proposed Drum Creek Treaty of 1865. Settlement was negotiated on the basis that the Indian lands had an average value of about 50 cents an acre when they went into non-Indian hands and that consideration for the lands according to the treaties signed at the time exceeding a million dollars.
The Indian Claims Commission, an independent agency of Government, decided the case, and the Congress then appropriated the money to make payment of the award.' It next passed the Act of October 27,1972 (P.L. 92-586, 86 Stat. 1296) to provide for the disposition of the money to members of the Osage Tribe by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. According to this Act, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to prescribe rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of the Act.
The Act provides for the distribution of funds to allottees and heirs of Osage Indian blood of deceased allottees.
The superintendent shall put aside one per capita share for each allottee for distribution in this manner:
1. One share to go to each allottee who is living on the date the Order for Distribution for that share is issued; and
2. One share for distribution to the heir or the heirs of Osage Indian blood of each allottee who is deceased on the date the Order of Distribution for the share is issued, to be divided among such heirs in such proportions as shall be computed in accordance with other parts of the regulations.
