Past News Items

Full independence from Federal supervision is being extended to an Indian Tribal group in the United States for the first time since 1909 under terms of a proclamation signed by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay, it, was announced today.

The affiliated Alabama and Coushatta Tribes of Polk County, Texas, under terms of the proclamation, will be removed effective July 1, from the scope of all Federal laws specially applicable to Indians.

Award of a $230,677 construction contract for Indian school facilities at Round Rock, Ariz., was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract was awarded to 'Wilson, Hockinson & Cantrall, Inc., of Albuquerque, N. Mex. Five other contractors from Colorado and New Mexico submitted higher bids, ranging from $238,990 to $294,000.

The Round Rock project is one of several which the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior is undertaking under its long-range program of providing school facilities for all school-age Indian children.

Awarding of contracts totaling $240,000 to three Arizona public school districts for the provision of additional classroom space to accommodate Navajo Indian children from reservation areas not now served by the districts was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

A contract of $120,000, covering space for 120 Navajo children, goes to Holbrook High School District No. 3, Snowflake Elementary School District No. 5 received $80,000 to accommodate 80 youngsters. Taylor Elementary School District No. 6 is being awarded a $40,000 contract for 40 students.

Aided by record lumber prices, Indians in the United States earned $32.7 million -- twice the amount of two years ago -- from the sale of reservation timber in fiscal year 1969, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced.

The $32.7 million represents an increase of $11 million over the previous fiscal year. However, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce said that the same level of income cannot be expected to continue in the face of recent declines in the market value of timber.

After careful consideration of a progress report submitted in person recently by T. B. Watters and Eugene G. Favell, management specialists working under Secretarial contract with the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Wesley A. D'Ewart today expressed the opinion that amendment of the Klamath Termination Act (Public Law 587 of the 83rd Congress) would be premature at the present time.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today that, in accordance with a decision jointly reached by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons and himself, a three-man departmental committee has been appointed to hold hearings in the State of Washington beginning February 13 on the controversial Yakima tribal election held last December 6.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced that representatives of the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs will meet with Indian tribal representatives in Washington, November 25 and 26 for a national conference on American Indian youth.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced the signing of a 25-year contract with Colorado River Enterprises, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, under which the corporation will complete the gravity irrigation system on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in western Arizona and develop approximately 67,000 acres of agricultural land at an estimated cost of $28,000,000.

During the last five years of the contract one-fifth of the developed land will be turned over each year for use by the Indians who are the beneficial owners of the property.

To enable the Navajo Tribe to expand its industrial development program, Under Secretary Hatfield Chilson has signed an order transferring 75 acres of the Coconino National Forest, near Flagstaff, Arizona, to the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The withdrawal was arranged by the Department's Bureau of Land Management.

Indian income from minerals other than oil and gas seems headed for a record high total in the fiscal year which ends June 30, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons said today in an informal report to Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.