Past News Items

Regulations to govern the leasing of unassigned land on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in western Arizona until August 14, 1957, were announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today expressed "extreme gratification If over the selection of Fred H. Massey, a Choctaw Indian from Oklahoma and Assistant Commissioner of the Indian Bureau, as the representative of the Department of the Interior to attend a two-week conference for career Government executives being held by the Brookings Institution at Williamsburg, Va., starting December 1.

The wind-up of all Indian Bureau road maintenance responsibilities in Michigan has now been accomplished with the transfer of 18.3 miles serving the L'Anse Reservation and Potawatomie Indian lands to Barage and Menominee Counties, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Award of a contract for construction of dormitory and dining facilities to accommodate Navajo Indian children attending public school at Flagstaff, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of Interior.

The successful bidder is Wilson Hockinson & Cantrall, Inc., of Albuquerque with a bid of $801,723. Six higher bids, ranging from $804,880 to $899,500, were submitted by contractor, from Arizona, New Mexico and Missouri.

Three personnel changes involving Indian Bureau positions in Montana and North Dakota were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Charles S. Spencer, superintendent of the Blackfeet Agency, Browning, Mont., for the past three years, moves June 16 to the comparable position at the Flathead Agency, Dixon, Mont., replacing Forrest R. Stone who recently retired.

At Blackfeet Mr. Spencer will be succeeded by Howard F. Johnson, who transfers June 23 from the Navajo Agency, Window Rock, Ariz., where he has been agricultural extension supervisor since 1951.

Leslie p. Towle, assistant area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Aberdeen, S. Dak., has been named new superintendent at Pine Ridge Agency, S. Dak., and John C. Dibbern, an assistant in the resources division of the Bureau's Washington office, has been selected for the similar position at Colorado River Agency, Parker, Ariz., the Department of the Interior announced today.

A contract to supply 10,000 feet of corrugated metal culver pipe for use in water spreading and drought alleviation work on the Papago Indian Reservation of southern Arizona has been awarded to the

Consolidated Western Steel Division of the United States Steel Corporation in Phoenix, the Department of the Interior announced today. Consolidated Western Steel's bid of $28,485.60 for supplying the 18- and 24- inch pipe was the lowest of four received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The others ranged from $30,781.80 to $34,917.60.

Award of a $43,000 bridge construction project on the Wind River Reservation, Fremont County, Wyoming, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project, on the Fort Washakie-Arapahoe Road, involves the construction of a three-span steel H-beam bridge with concrete deck, making use of the existing abutments and piers, widening the roadway and increasing the loading design.

The road is a school bus route and services a large number of Indian families in an irrigated district and completes a through route between Fort Washakie and Riverton, Wyoming.

Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced changes in two superintendencies in the Pacific Northwest involving the Yakima, Colville and Klamath agencies.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior announced today the first set of four awards which will hereafter be made annually "in recognition of long and outstanding services in the preservation, encouragement and development of the arts and crafts of the American Indians."

The 1958 awards, consisting of certificates of appreciation, are being presented today in Gallup, New Mexico. Recipients, and the categories for which they won, include: