Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will make a payment at the earliest possible date to persons who are entitled to share in the western Creg0n Judgment Fund. The checks should be in the mail during the next few weeks.

Reappointment of Floyd E. Maytubby as Governor of the Chickasaw Indians of Oklahoma for a two-year term beginning October 18, was announced today by Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst.

Mr. Maytubby has served in the office continuously since 1939.

Under terms of the appointment he will receive $250 a month from tribal funds for expenses.

The appointment was made under authority of a 1906 act of Congress o

The Department of the Interior favors the enactment of legislation that would permit further leasing of lands on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in western Arizona and southeastern California, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

Award of a $393,202 contract for the construction of about nine miles of highway on Navajo Route 1 in northern Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The section of road begins at Tuba City, Arizona 1 and extends northeast past the Rare Metals Uranium Mill, towards Kayenta, in the northern part of the Navajo Reservation.

This nine-mile section is the first project on Navajo Route 1 to be constructed or immediate takeover by the State of Arizona after the Bureau of Indian Affairs contract is complete.

High bids totaling $866,695 have been received by the Uintah and Ouray Indian Tribe of Utah for oil and gas leases on 14 tracts of tribally owned land comprising nearly 31,000 acres, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The high bidder on all 14 of the tracts was Standard Oil Company of California.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has asked the Department's Geological Survey for technical recommendation prior to acceptance of the bids

The Department of the Interior today announced completion of a trust agreement under which the United States National Bank of Portland, Oregon, replaces the Bureau of Indian Affairs as trustee for the tribal property of the remaining members of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall reported. today that an agreement has been reached between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Harry Winston, Inc." of New York City, for the establishment early next year of a diamond processing plant at Chandler, Arizona, which will provide new job opportunities for the State's Indian population.

Philleo Nash, former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, today took the oath of office as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior auditorium. He succeeds Glenn L. Emmons who resigned effective January 20.

Nash, 51, has had a career in government service, private business and higher education.

The Department of the Interior today announced the completion of property distribution plans on six additional Indian rancherias of California under terms of a 1958 law.

The rancherias involved are Alexander Valley (54 acres, 11 members) and Lytton (50 acres, 33 members) in Sonoma County, Chicken Ranch (40 acres, 16 members) in Tuolumne County, Mooretown (80 acres, 4 members) in Butte County, and Potter Valley (96 acres, 11 members) and Redwood Valley (80 acres, 27 members) in Mendocino County.

Appointment of Leonard O. Lay, relocation specialist of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Minneapolis, Minn., as superintendent of the Bureau's Turtle Mountain Agency at Belcourt, North Dakota, effective July 9, was announced today by the Department of the Interior. He succeeds Herman P. Mittelholtz who was recently named superintendent of the Minnesota Indian Agency, Bemidji, Minn.