The Department of the Interior today announced the completion of negotiations between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Harn Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio, for the establishment of a quilting plant that will provide employment for Indian workers on the Standing Rock Reservation at McLaughlin, South Dakota.
Under terms of the agreement between tribal and company officials, the Tribe will construct a factory with 25,000 square feet of floor space on tribal land in McLaughlin at a total cost of $200,000. The building will be leased to the Harn Corporation for 25 years with a renewal option. The target date for initial operations has been set for January 1, 1961.
The contract between Tribe and Company provides that preference in employment will be given to qualified members of the Tribe. It is expected that the company will employ an initial work force of from 25 to 30 workers, and this number will be expanded as demand warrants it.
The local community of McLaughlin is making the project a joint tribal community effort by pledging to underwrite an unannounced portion of the total cost of the new plant.
The new plant will be similar to the Harn plant already in operation on the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina, and is another outgrowth of the Indian Bureau's nationwide industrial development program to encourage the establishment of job-providing industrial plants on or near the reservations.
The Cherokee plant has just completed its first year and already has nearly 100 Indian employees on the payroll. An additional 50 employees are expected to be added within the next few weeks. The plant was constructed by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians at a cost of approximately $300,000 and leased to the Harn Corporation for 25 years, with a 25-year renewal option. It was opened in October 1959.
