Past News Items

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today that he has asked the Solicitor1s Office of the Department of the Interior for advice on questions of law involved in a proposed 25-year oil and gas development contract between the Navajo Indian Tribe and the Delhi-Taylor Oil Corporation of Dallas, Texas.

The proposed contract, which covers about 5,000,000 acres or nearly a third of the entire Navajo Reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, was recently submitted to Commissioner Emmons by Chairman Paul Jones of the Navajo Tribal Council.

In an effort to learn more about the problem of alcoholism among Indians, and how to deal with it more effectively, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today announced the appointment of a special three-man commission which will begin in the near future a three-month study on the Navajo Reservation (of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah) and other Indian reservations of New Mexico and Colorado.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today formally welcomed delegates to a Washington conference on Indian youth being held by Arrow, Incorporated, a nonprofit organization, and read to them a telegram of greeting from President Eisenhower.

Award of a $351,746 contract for construction of enlarged dormitory facilities to accommodate 58 additional Indian children at Huerfano, on the Navajo Indian Reservation, near Bloomfield, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bidder is Anchor Construction Company, Roswell, New Mexico. Eight higher bids ranging from $356,590 to $473,400 were submitted by contractors from New Mexico and Illinois.

Regulations governing a new vocational training program for Indians between 18 and 35 years of age and residing on reservations ware announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The new program is being initiated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs with an appropriation of $1.5 million, contained in the Department’s fiscal 1958 appropriations measure signed by the President on July 1. Authorization for the program was provided by the 84th Congress in Public Law 959.

Award of a $393,000 contract for construction of a central heating plant at Haskell Institute located at Lawrence, Kansas, was announced by the Department Of Interior today.

C. L, Mahoney Co. of Kalamazoo, Michigan, was awarded the job on the basis of its low bid. Eight other bids, ranging from $407,390 to $450,000, were received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The new plant is to replace present manually operated boiler equipment, some of which has been in service since 1921.

Award of a construction contract for a sewage treatment plant on the Fort Apache Reservation (White River), Ariz., was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract was awarded to C. R. Davis Contracting Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on that firm’s low bid of $56,491.50. Two other bids of $67,381.48 and $78,000 were received.

The new plant will serve approximately 400 people at the Theodore Roosevelt School located on the reservation near White River, Arizona. There are some 346 pupils enrolled in the school.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today praised the progress being made by Pacific Northwest Indian tribes in 'establishing tribal scholarships for Indian youths seeking education beyond the high school level.

At the same time the Commissioner said he was hopeful that the four tribes which received portions of the $26,000,000 Celilo settlement would use some of their money received for ancient fishing rights to educate their youths to take their rightful place in modern American society as full-fledged citizens.

Amendments to Federal regulations which are designed to bring the oil and gas leasing of Indian lands more into conformity with present industrial practices and still provide Indian owners with adequate protection have been approved, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Award of a $94,357 contract for construction of a new water supply system and a new sewage disposal system to serve dormitories housing Blackfeet Indian school children at Cut Bank, Montana, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract will provide two new drilled wells, discharge lines and chlorination system, and a new sewage lagoon-type oxidation system. This will improve the sanitation conditions affecting the dormitories at Cut Bank which house 106 Indian boys and girls who attend the public schools at Browning, six miles away.