Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will step up its program of helping natives of Alaska modernize their fishing vessels so that they can compete more effectively by using the most efficient mechanical devices on their seine boats.

Proposed regulations governing the removal of Federal trust restrictions from lands belonging to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of eastern Oklahoma, in response to requests from the owners, were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Regulations covering such removal in cases where there is no 'application from the owner were recently adopted by the Department and published in the Federal Register August 22, 1958.

Mounting interest in the leasing of lands on the 475-acre Dania Indian Reservation about 25 miles north of Miami, Florida, for commercial and industrial development was reported today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior.

Nearly 78 percent of the 2,133 enrolled members of Oregon’s Klamath Indian Tribe have elected to withdraw from the tribal organization and receive a cash payment for their proportionate share of the tribal assets, Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson announced today in approving the final results of a tribal election held in April.

Mr. Chilson approved the results in a letter to T. B. Watters, chairman of the management specialists administering the program under the Klamath Termination Act of 1954.

Proposed amendments to the Federal regulations governing the oil and gas leasing of land owned by Indian tribes or individual Indians were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The purpose of the amendments is to permit overriding royalties or payments out of production on oil and gas leases on Indian lands. Such royalties or payments are those paid to a lessee when a lease is assigned and are in addition to the royalties or payments paid to the lessor.

Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced that he has issued a notice to Colorado River Enterprises, Inc., successful bidder last August on an Indian reservation development lease in western Arizona, that the corporation has until May 7 to show cause why the lease should not be canceled.

The action was prompted by the corporation's failure to post a $5,000,000 performance bond as required by the terms of the lease contract.

Appointment of Willard W. Beatty, executive vice president of the Save the Children Federation of Norwalk, Connecticut, as a member of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior, was announced today by Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst.

Dr. Beatty was appointed to fill the unexpired term of James W. Young, Pena Blanca, New Mexico, who recently resigned. The term expires July 6, 1960.

The Department of the Interior announced today the award of a $252,990.00 contract for the improvement of the water and sewer systems at White River Agency, White River, Arizona.

The improvements will benefit Indian homes on the Fort Apache Reservation as well as the Agency headquarters of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The contract provides for approximately 9-miles of 8-inch water line, 24 new fire hydrants, a new sewage treatment plant, one-half mile of sewer line and three-quarters of a mile of earth dike.

The Department of the Interior today announced .its support of H. R. 4786, a bill that would turn over to the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Tribe approximately 16 acres of land, together with a Government-owned cottage and warehouse office building, in Dewey County, South Dakota.

The land was bought by the United States from a private company in 1915 and was for many years used as the site for an Indian Bureau farm station. Its use for this purpose was discontinued in 1948.

Under Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced approval of Federal regulations governing the enrollment of members of the Rincon, San Luiseno Band of Mission Indians of California. Adoption of such regulations was requested by the band.

Under the regulations, which will be published shortly in the Federal Register, anyone who believes that he or a minor or incompetent should be enrolled is given a period of 90 days after publication to file an application with the Area Field Representative of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Riverside, California.