Past News Items

The United States National Bank of Portland, Oregon, has been selected as trustee to manage the property of the 474 remaining members of the Klamath Indian Tribe under the provisions of Public Law 587 of the 83d Congress, as amended, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The property to be managed comprises 144,960 acres. The major portion--some 34,000 acres--is forest land and has 971,000,000 beard-feet of ponderosa pine and mixed species. It will be managed under a plan previously approved by the Department and in accordance with sustained-yield principles.

Under a reappraisal ordered by Congress, lands belonging to the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon have now been appraised as having a realization value of $90, 791,123, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The new appraisal total figures out to about $44,000 for each of the 1,659 withdrawing tribal members, and also includes realization values of land that will be administered for the non-withdrawing members.

Grave moral issues would be raised by last-minute attempts now to disturb Navajo Indian title to small "islands” of former public lands in Utah within the tribal reservation boundaries, the Department of the Interior warned today.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst presented the Department’s views in letters to Senator Frank E. Moss, and Representative David S. King, both of Utah.

Trust restrictions on allotted Indian lands, scheduled to expire in calendar year 1959, have been extended for an additional five years, Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton announced today.

The order reverses a custom, started in 1951, of limiting such extensions to a maximum of only one year. In 1951, the then Acting Secretary was considering terminating trust status on individual Indian lands on a year-by-year basis. Each trust case would be subject to review every year.

The Government has extended for another five years the trust restrictions on allotted Indian lands, scheduled to expire in calendar year 1962, the Department of the Interior reported today.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver, Jr., said the action underscores the Department's policy of taking all precautions against prematurely ending Federal trust protection of the property of individual Indians.

Award of a $288,588 contract for enlargement and improvement of Federal Indian school facilities at Tuba City, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract provides for construction of a new six-classroom building and 10 two-bedroom houses as well 8S for rehabilitation of an existing dining room kitchen structure.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced he has appointed H. Rex Lee, veteran career specialist on American Indians and dependent peoples, as Governor of American Samoa.

Secretary Udall also announced that Air Force Maj. Eric J. Scanlan, whose family has lived in American Samoa for three generations, is returning to his home islands to be Government Secretary. The post is similar to that of a lieutenant governor.

The Department of the Interior today announced award of a $693,122 contract for 16 miles of road construction on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona.

Upon completion, the project will provide an all-weather route from State primary road systems to Round Rock and Lukachukai which will serve the needs of the communities in the Chinle Valley area of the reservation.

The successful bidder was Daniels Construction Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Six other bids were submitted, ranging to a high of $1,057,960.20.

Award of five contracts totaling $878,597 for road and bridge construction on three Indian reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contracts are for road and bridge construction work on the Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, and Pine Ridge Indian Reservations.

Award of a $69,451.06 contract for construction of additional irrigation works that will bring water to about 750 acres now unirrigated on the Pine River Project of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in Colorado was announced today by the Department of the Interior.