Past News Items

The Department of the Interior favors legislation that would reinvest in the Indian tribes of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming title to the minerals in 161,500 acres previously ceded to the Federal Government, it was announced today.

In a report to Congress Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst recommended enactment of H. R. 11141, a restoration pill, with some technical and clarifying amendments.

The award of a $439,600 contract for adding seven classrooms and a 500-seat gymnasium to an Indian school plant at Fort Yates, North Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bidder was Kyburz Construction Company of Aberdeen, South Dakota. Nine higher bids ranging from $452,990 to $497,800 were received.

Standing Rock School, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has a present enrollment of 133 boarding and 157 day pupils in grades 1 through 12.

Award of a $157,300 contract for the construction of Indian school facilities at Conehatta, Mississippi, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Conehatta School, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has a present enrollment of 180 pupils. The new facilities will provide more adequate facilities for the present enrollment and allow the enrollment of 30 pupils not now in school due to lack of school facilities.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will delay until the end of the present congressional session any additional sales of Indian trust land requested by the Indian owners.

The action was taken in. compliance with a request by Senator James E. Murray in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

Award of a $624,782 road construction contract that will provide an all-weather bus route to enlarged school facilities at Kayenta, Arizona, on the Navajo Indian Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract, which was awarded to Lyle Price of Flagstaff, covers construction and bituminous surfacing of a 19.2-mile section of road in northern Arizona between Kayenta and Utah State Highway 47 at the Utah Line.

Award of a $64,850.08 contract for construction of a 50-foot bridge and reinforced concrete box culverts on the road between U. S. Route 59 and State Highway 100, in Adair County, Oklahoma, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The road when completed will be an important asset to the Indians and other residents of the district and will serve as an important school bus route, mail route and farm-to-market road passing through heavily populated Indian lands.

Award of a $64,850.08 contract for construction of a 50-foot bridge and reinforced concrete box culverts on the road between U. S. Route 59 and State Highway 100, in Adair County, Oklahoma, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The road when completed will be an important asset to the Indians and other residents of the district and will serve as an important school bus route, mail route and farm-to-market road passing through heavily populated Indian lands.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst today announced proposed changes in the Federal regulations on the granting of rights-of-way across Indian lands.

The major effect of the proposed amendments would be to increase the permissible term on rights-of-way for oil or natural gas pipelines from 20 to 50 years.

The 20-year limitation, Mr. Ernst explained, was originally adopted many years ago and has become obsolete. Modern trunk pipelines, he added, are engineered to last much longer.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has tightened up its procedure to protect Indian landowners against unwise or unwitting disposition of actual or potentially valuable mineral assets when they sell their lands, Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

Improved safeguards for the property interests of both individual Indians and tribes were announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons. The Department of the Interior made public his statement on the Indian Bureau's policy governing sales of individually owned Indian lands.