Past News Items

Award of a $136,837.21 contract for grading, draining, and crushed-gravel surfacing of 11.6 miles of road on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota, to Roy Kindt of Winner, South Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Roy Kindt was the low bidder. Five other bids were received, ranging from $140,927.37 to $161,914.18.

Sanders Construction Company, Ltd, of Farmington, New Mexico, has been awarded a $51,513 contract for construction of additional dormitory facilities at Aztec, New Mexico, the Department of Interior announced today.

Two higher bids for the work, ranging from $52,647 to $57,389 were received by the Indian Bureau.

The contract calls for construction of a metal kitchen and dining hall building and extensions of two metal dormitory buildings.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of legislation extending the life of the tribal government of Oklahoma’s Osage Indians until 1984, it was announced today.

The principal function of the Osage tribal government, which is scheduled to expire in 1959 under existing law is to participate with the Secretary of the Interior in the execution of leases for development and extraction of the minerals that were reserved to the Tribe in Osage County, Oklahoma, under 1906 legislation.

DeGree Construction Co. of Bend, Oregon, will construct a $69,895 four classroom school building at Warm Springs, Oregon, under a contract awarded by the Indian Bureau, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Six other contractors submitted higher bids ranging from $77,500 to $94,937.

Award of a $73,494.33 contract for construction of additional floor space in the dormitory facilities for Indian children at Snowflake, Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bidder is D. H. Walker Construction Co., Inc. of Phoenix. The only other bid was submitted by Bob Roberts & Associates in the amount of $87,430.

The dormitory is operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Navajo children attending the public school at Snowflake. Approximately 120 Indian students above grade 5 or 12 years of age are enrolled there.

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.

Construction of two new school buildings at Bogue Chitto, Mississippi, to accommodate 86 additional Indian children in an area where about 170 of school age were not enrolled last year, will begin soon under a contract awarded by the Indian Bureau, the Department of 'the Interior announced today.

The contractor awarded the job is Central Construction Co., Inc. of Philadelphia, Mississippi on its low bid of $209,881. There were three higher bids ranging from $210,520 to $267,613.

An increase in fees which the Bureau of Indian Affairs charges to cover costs of preparing grazing permits on Indian rangeland was announced today by Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson.

Higher charges were recommended by the Comptroller General. In a report to Congress the Comptroller General said that the fees structure should be based on the objective of covering the cost of the services rendered, and that the former schedule was wholly inadequate to meet actual administrative costs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton has submitted a proposed bill to Congress that would equalize the value of tribal property divided among members of the Ague Caliente Band of Indians on the Palm Springs Reservation in California.

The legislation was developed after numerous conferences with the Ague Caliente Band. It would affect 92 Indians, 31 adults and 61 minors," who live in and around the resort community of Palm Springs. Also affected would be undivided tribal properties estimated to be worth over $12,000,000.

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.