Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel announced today that the first meeting of the Pyramid Lake Task Force will be held October 16 at Reno. The Task Force includes representatives of the Department of the Interior and the States of California and Nevada.

The Task Force will study water allocations in the Truckee-Carson Basin and develop a plan intended to satisfy various water demands in the area.

Ground is being broken for a new Indian vocational-technical school at Albuquerque, N.M., the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

An $8,778,185 contract for the school's construction recently was awarded to the Lembke Construction Co. of Albuquerque, which submitted the lowest of three bids.

Retirement of John M. Cooper on March 31 from the position of area director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Billings, Mont., was announced today by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons.

In making the announcement Commissioner Emmons paid tribute to Mr. Cooper's record of service with the Bureau over the past 21 years. This included two years as area director at Billings, three years and six months in comparable positions at Aberdeen, S. Dak., and Anadarko, Oklahoma, and one as director of Indian Bureau participation in Missouri River Basin Investigations.

Indians can continue to maintain their tribal organizations and hold their lands in common for as long as they wish after termination of Federal trusteeship over their property and affairs, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons said in a statement released today by the Department of the Interior.

He said widespread misinformation among Indians and the public could be corrected by a further congressional declaration of policy on the matter, and added that he plans to consult members of Congress about it soon.

The text of the Commissioner’s statement follows:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs expects to enable about 500 adult Indians to enroll in accredited vocational training schools during the fiscal year that ends next June 30, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst announced today.

Under the Indian school vocational training program, the Bureau will not only provide tuition but also transportation to the place of training and subsistence during the course of study for the trainee and his immediate family dependents.

With an appropriation of $109,410,000 for the fiscal year which began July 1, 1957, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is in position to initiate a new adult vocational training program and substantially broaden educational facilities for Indian children, Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton announced today.

Award of a $73,494.33 contract for construction of additional floor space in the dormitory facilities for Indian children at Snowflake, Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bidder is D. H. Walker Construction Co., Inc. of Phoenix. The only other bid was submitted by Bob Roberts & Associates in the amount of $87,430.

The dormitory is operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Navajo children attending the public school at Snowflake. Approximately 120 Indian students above grade 5 or 12 years of age are enrolled there.

Secretary of the Interior Fred. A. Seaton called attention today to the publication of a proposed membership roll of the Peoria Indian Tribe of Oklahoma in the Federal Register of May 9, 1957.

The roll was prepared by the tribe under terms of a 1956 congressional law which provides for termination of Federal supervision over the property of the tribe by 1958.

Designation of new Indian Bureau superintendents at the Fort Belknap Agency, Harlem, Mont., and the Uintah and Ouray Agency, Fort Duchesne, Utah, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Darrell Fleming, who has been superintendent at Fort Belknap for nearly five years, will take over the Utah post April 13 replacing John O. Crow who transferred to the Bureau’s Washington office as a program officer March 24. At Fort Belknap Mr. Fleming will be succeeded April 5, by Howard Dushane who has been program officer in the area office at Portland, Oreg., since 1955.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton and Acting Secretary of Agriculture D. Morse today announced the signing of an agreement with the Department of Agriculture for the free distribution of feed grains to Navajo Indians in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, for the maintenance of subsistence livestock.

The program is being initiated, Secretary Seaton said, because of the acute economic distress produced among Navajo tribal members as a result of drought conditions in previous years.