Past News Items

Award of a $375,000 construction contract that will more than double the capacity of an Indian Bureau school at Cove, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior

The project covers construction of a four-classroom building, a kitchen and multipurpose room, a storage and generator room, and expansion of all utilities.

Six real estate employees from four field offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been authorized to attend special courses in appraisal techniques at the University of Southern California starting August 6, Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

The courses are given in two sessions, from August 6 through August 18, and from August 20 through September 1.

Income received by Indian tribes and individual Indians from oil and gas leasing of their lands reached the record total of more than $41,000,000 in the fiscal year that ended June 30, Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton reported today.

This compares with an income of about $28,000,000 in 1955 and approximately $13,000,000 in 1951.

Nearly $36,000,900 of the 1956 total was accounted for by ten tribal groups. The great majority of tribes, as usual, received little or no oil and gas income.

The Department of the Interior today announced issuance of an order restoring to tribal ownership a large number of scattered lots, comprising about 253 acres, on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana.

The lands being restored are comparatively small parcels designated as townsites and villa sites which have not been disposed of. The action was originally requested by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, was recommended by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and was concurred in by the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.

To help the Colorado River Indian tribes of western Arizona in a fight against juvenile delinquency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is proposing to give the Indians a 10 percent discount in power rates for lighting a tribal recreation area, Acting Commissioner w. Barton Greenwood announced today,

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.

In accordance with their own expressed wishes, about 2,100 Indians of western Oregon are taking over full control of their ow property and will no longer receive special Federal services because of their status as Indians under a proclamation signed this week (August 13) by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

A $1.6 million contract for expanded school facilities at Choctaw Central School, at Pearl River, Miss., has been awarded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The contract calls for the construction of a 16-classroom building with offices and an instructional materials center; a combination music and industrial arts building; an addition to an existing dormitory building; a food storage building, and remodeling of some existing facilities.

The project includes related on-site improvements such as paving and utility systems.

Since I first took office as Commissioner of Indian Affairs on August 10, 1953, I have received four invitations to attend the annual meetings of the Governors' Interstate Indian Council. And I have now managed to be present at three of these occasions. This gives me a percentage of 750 which, if I remember my baseball correctly, is a pretty fair batting average.

Our Bible history tells us that Noah and his ark were on the stormy seas for 40 days and 40 nights before the waters receded.

I can tell you -- I think I know what life on that ark must have been. This is my 40th day as skipper of another ark, the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We did not have the time to scrape the barnacles off her hull before we were hit by Hurricane Teddy, battered a bit by Hurricane Wendell, and sprayed again with a lot of salt by the militants, at the NCAI Conference in Albuquerque.