Past News Items

Award of two contracts totaling $255,749 for road and bridge construction on the Cheyenne River and Lower Brule Indian Reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of three contracts totaling $887,704 for road and bridge construction on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico.

The largest contract, for $366,431, involves the grading, drainage and bituminous surfacing of 4.1 miles of Navajo Route 1 running west from the Arizona-New Mexico State line.

Award of a $235,683.40 contract for construction of 9.511 miles of graded roadway and untreated surface on Indian reservation lands in New Mexico was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project is located between Torreon and Johnson's Trading Post in the checkerboard section of the eastern Navajo Reservation. The segment being improved serves as a part of an access road from New Mexico Route 44, near Cuba, to Torreon. The New Mexico State Highway Commission has agreed to complete the section from Johnson's Trading Post to Highway 44.

Completion of the final membership roll of the Peoria Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, following the disposition of all appeals, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The preliminary membership roll, published in the Federal Register May 9, 1957, included 624 individuals. The net result of additions and subtractions made as a consequence of appeals to the Secretary of the Interior is a final roll of 640.

Under a 1956 congressional law, Federal trusteeship of the Peoria property is to be ended by next August 2.

Under a reappraisal ordered by Congress, lands belonging to the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon have now been appraised as having a realization value of $90, 791,123, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The new appraisal total figures out to about $44,000 for each of the 1,659 withdrawing tribal members, and also includes realization values of land that will be administered for the non-withdrawing members.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the reappointment of Floyd E. Maytubby, Oklahoma City, as Governor of the Chickasaw Indian Tribe and the appointment of Waldo E McIntosh of Tulsa as Principal Chief of the Oklahoma Creek Indian Tribe.

Under a 1906 law the President was empowered to appoint a Principal Chief periodically for each of the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" of Oklahoma-- Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Creek. In 1951 this appointing authority was delegated to the Secretary of the Interior.

The Department of the Interior favors proposed legislation to provide that judgment funds on claims against the United States awarded to any of the constituent Indian tribes on the Colville Reservation in Washington shall be deposited in the United States Treasury to the credit of the confederated tribal group on the reservation, Assistant Secretary John A. Carver, Jr., announced today.

Thomas H. St. Clair, industrial development specialist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Portland, Oregon, has been appointed superintendent of the Papago Indian Agency, Sells, Ariz., the Department of the Interior announced today.

The new superintendent will take office July 23. He succeeds Harry W. Gilmore who has been in charge at Papago since 1955 and now moves into a position as program officer in the Indian Bureau's area office at Phoenix.

The Department of the Interior today announced award of a $693,122 contract for 16 miles of road construction on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona.

Upon completion, the project will provide an all-weather route from State primary road systems to Round Rock and Lukachukai which will serve the needs of the communities in the Chinle Valley area of the reservation.

The successful bidder was Daniels Construction Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Six other bids were submitted, ranging to a high of $1,057,960.20.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda spoke today of the courage and sacrifices of Indian Country’s fallen police officers during the 27th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service, which was held on the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers campus in Artesia, N.M.