OPA

The States we know as Nevada, Utah, and Colorado were once the hunting and warring grounds of numerous Indian tribes. Their stories are told in an illustrated, 24-page booklet just issued by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs -- Indians of the Lower Plateau.

Latest in a popular series of publications about the first inhabitants of the United States, the booklet describes aboriginal life in Utah and Nevada, where Indians had to summon all the stamina, intelligence and ingenuity they possessed to eke out a meager existence. Colorado Indians, blessed with more fish and game in their forested mountain glens, led a somewhat easier life.

Into this land of contrasts came white men, beating a path westward and bringing a new culture that soon clashed with the Indian pattern.

Today, descendants of the hardy tribesmen of the past still live in the tri-State area. The Bureau of Indian Affairs' new booklet tells about their life and explains the Bureau services they received.

Indians of the Lower Plateau is the 13th booklet in the series on Indians of various regions.

Other titles in the series are: Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts of Alaska; Indians of Arizona; Indians of California; Indians of the Central Plains; Indians of the Dakotas; Indians of the Great Lakes Area; Indians of the Gulf Coast states; Indians of Montana, Wyoming; Indians of New Mexico; Indians of North Carolina; Indians of the Northwest and Indians of Oklahoma.

Each is available at 15 cents a copy from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. A 25 percent discount is allowed on quantity orders of 100 or more, if mailed to one address.

The Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida, which once sent all its messages by runner, soon will become landlord for a plant that will be the world's largest manufacturer of electronic connectors for the telecommunication industry.

The Tribe today took part in ceremonies for the new plant at its Hollywood, Fla., reservation. The facility will be operated by Amphenol Corporation of Chicago. The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs served as the liaison agency that brought the Seminole Tribe and the company together.

A 32,400 square foot plant building was constructed on the ten-acre tract of land leased by Amphenol from the Seminoles in an agreement signed last June. About one-half the initial work force of 200 will be comprised of local Indians, the company announced.

Deputy Commissioner Theodore W. Taylor, who represented the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the dedication, had high praise for the cooperation of American industry in creating new jobs for Indians.

Taylor said: “The Amphenol experience is becoming increasingly typical as Indians develop the courage and know-how to successfully penetrate the business world. The Seminoles have proved once more that they are in the forefront of this movement. Today, the Tribe and the Amphenol Company already are looking ahead. This ten-acre site will permit plenty of expansion when the present plant reaches full operating capacity.

“We have great hopes for industrial development of Indian areas,” the Deputy Commissioner added. “There are now nearly 100 American companies operating plants of various sizes on Indian reservations or in nearby communities and providing employment for 7,000 Indians in their home areas. This is extremely important for those Indians who, through inexperience or fear of the unknown, do not choose to move to unfamiliar surroundings to find work. While the Bureau is providing employment assistance for reservation dwellers who move away for training and better jobs, many prefer employment on or near their reservations.

“The Bureau of Indian Affairs,” said Taylor, “is grateful for the confidence Amphenol has shown in the Indian people by deciding to establish this plant on the Hollywood Reservation. I believe the Seminoles have shown extremely good judgment in choosing to do business with this sound and farsighted company.”

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman this week commended the cooperation of citizens in communities across the country where 85 Job Corps Conservation Centers are operated by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture.

March 26 to April 2 has been designated by the Job Corps as "Salute to Communities Week." Open house celebrations and other activities will be held by Job Corps Centers throughout the country during the week.

Located on or near Federal and Indian lands throughout the Nation, these Conservation Centers each accommodate 100 to 250 enrollees who perform conservation work while acquiring basic education and work skills.

Under the supervision of experienced Federal conservation officers, enrollees learn basic entry level skills for occupations such as surveying, forestry, carpentry, masonry, and power tool operation.

Secretaries Udall and Freeman noted that more than 13,000 young men in these Job Corps Conservation Centers, more than merely learning, are contributing their time and efforts in helping improve and beautify communities, raising money for charitable causes, donating their blood, helping underprivileged youngsters, rescuing accident victims, fighting fires and floods and preserving and improving natural resources.

These efforts by the Corpsmen, the Secretaries said, do not go unnoticed by nearby communities and their citizens, who have opened their hearts and homes, schools, churches and clubs to these young people.

One such citizen, who found there were 77 Corpsmen financially unable to go home for Christmas, launched a drive in his area to raise $2,100 needed to pay for these trips. The people showed their gratitude quickly, mostly in $1.00 and $5.00 contributions.

In another community, the telephone and telegraph company gave a reception for 100 Corpsmen from the nearby Center and as Christmas gifts, provided free, five minute telephone calls for each Corpsman to anywhere in the country.

"These are typical examples of what went on in a great many communities last Christmas as individuals and groups tried to make the holiday a happy one for these youth. These were not sudden, seasonal impulses but characteristic of year-round community involvement and concern with the Job Corps;' the two Cabinet officers said.

According to Secretaries Udall and Freeman, the success of conservation centers has been, to a great extent, based upon the vitality of their relationships with their adjacent communities. "For the Job Corps enrollee," they said, "a good community relationship exemplifies the meaning of good citizenship and also provides good opportunities for on-the-job training and participation in community service projects."

Likewise Job Corpsmen have proved their spirit of helpfulness and their willingness to assist people in trouble. The Secretaries cited as examples the following:

When Belmond, Iowa was seriously damaged by a tornado, last October 14, Corpsmen from four Conservation Centers volunteered their services and were rushed to the site. They worked hard and long to help the city dig out.

Earlier in the year, volunteer Corpsmen from three Centers performed similarly to assist the city of Topeka, Kansas, when it was damaged by a severe tornado. Topekans were grateful to the 200 young men who toiled to help clear the debris. Eighty Corpsmen asked to stay longer than originally scheduled so that they could finish the job.

One Center helped to set up what may be one of the most unusual nature trails in the world, a nature trail for the blind. Corpsmen made the signs for the trail and a group of volunteers from the Center helped put them up.

Noting the accomplishments of their respective Departments, Secretaries Udall and Freeman said, "Already the Job Corps has contributed much to the improvement of the public lands administered by the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture. Estimated value of conservation work performed 'by Job Corps enrollees to date has been substantial and includes developing many miles of new hiking and riding trails, building roads, construction of new recreation areas and related facilities, beautification and erosion control work and construction of many improvements necessary for the proper development and protection of the Nation's natural resources. All of this is needed work not financed in the regular programs of these conservation agencies.

"Not only during Salute to Communities Week -- but on a continual basis since the beginning of the program, we are proud of the Corpsmen accomplishments, -- gratified with the positive response of communities across the Nation in living and working with Corpsmen, and grateful to these same communities for this harmonious relationship," the two Secretaries said.

The Department of the Interior has recommended that Congress amend certain provisions of "the Act of March 1, 1933, which added lands in southern Utah to the Navajo Indian Reservation.

The act provides that 37.5 percent of net royalties from tribal oil and gas leases on these lands be paid to the State of Utah. The State, in turn, is required to spend the money for “tuition of Indian children in white schools" and for road construction.

As of May 18, 1966 the special fund totaled more than $5 million.

The Department has suggested that the act be amended to authorize expenditure of the money for any purpose that would contribute to the health, education, and general welfare of the Navajos. The Department said the original provisions have been subject to varying interpretations in the past and, in the Department's opinion, the restrictions are not in the best interest of the Indians.

Another recommendation by the Department is that beneficiaries include all Indians residing in San Juan County and not solely those who live on former public lands in the county

SALT RIVER SPONSORS TRADE FAIR -- The first National All-Indian Trade Fair sponsored by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indians will be held May 4-7 on the Salt River Reservation near Scottsdale, Ariz.

More than 40 Indian tribes have been invited to participate in the program, which will feature products of nationally-known industrial firms employing Indian workers.

Special events will include: "An Evening of Indian Culture)" presented by the Institute of American Indian Arts of Santa Fe, N. M.; a two-day all-Indian Championship Rodeo; a barbecue; and a sky-diving show by a U.S. Army team from Yuma, Ariz.

SIXTY-FOUR NEW PROJECTS TO BENEFIT INDIAN SCHOOLS -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Office of Education have approved more than $4.7 million for a total of 64 projects to benefit Indian children in schools operated by the Bureau. The projects are made possible under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-10) which was amended by the 89th Congress to include educationally deprived Indian children.

Sixty-one of the projects will aid Indian and Eskimo children in Alaska; Arizona; California; Florida; Iowa; Mississippi; Montana; Nevada; New Mexico; North Carolina; North Dakota; Oklahoma; Oregon; South Dakota and Utah.

The remaining three projects are designed to provide planning and consultative services and to evaluate and disseminate information about all Title I projects carried on by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

UNITED SCHOLARSHIP SERVICE GETS CARNEGIE GRANT -- United Scholarship Service, Inc. (USS) of Denver, Colo., has been awarded a grant by the Carnegie Corporation of $50,000 a year for the next three years to expand a program of graduate school aid for Indians.

A national voluntary agency directly concerned with educational needs of Indian and Mexican youths, USS was formed in 1960. It is sponsored by the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and, since 1966, by the National Indian Youth Council.

Its graduate school assistance hitherto has been limited to the fields of medicine and law, but will extend to all professions under the Carnegie grant.

BIA CONTRACTS FOR ON-THE-JOB TRAINING -- Recent contracts signed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs with manufacturers will provide job training opportunities for Indians in Florida, New Mexico and Washington.

An $18,844 contract with White Swan Industries, Inc., of South El Monte, Calif., will provide on-the-job training for 50 Washington Yakimas in the furniture industry.

A $13,972 contract with Holiday Garment Co. of Tacoma, Wash., will make available on-the-job training in the garment industry for 61 Yakima Indians at Toppenish, Wash.

An $8,400 contract signed with Amphenol Corp., which recently opened a new plant on the Hollywood Reservation in Florida, will provide training in electronic industry jobs for 75 Seminole Indians.

An $8,260 contract signed with Aspen Wood Products Corp. of Algodones, N. M., will enable 20 Indians, mainly Pueblos, to receive on-the-job training in the hardwood core manufacturing industry.

LONG-TERM LEASING PROPOSED FOR GILA RIVER -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs has recommended passage of H.R. 2154, a measure now before Congress which would permit long-term leasing of Gila River Indian Reservation lands in Arizona. The Reservation is in the greater Phoenix, Ariz., area and has potential for industrial, commercial, recreational and residential development. Under present law, however, no leases can run more than 50 years. The measure under consideration by Congress would permit leases for terms not to exceed 99 years, including any renewal options. Hearings on the proposal began in April.

INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION EXTENDED -- President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law April 10 a measure (Public Law 90-9) which extends the life of the Indian Claims Commission for another five years -- until April 10, 1972. The Commission was scheduled to expire April 10, 1967 under the 1946 Act which created it. The new law calls for increasing membership of the Commission from three to five members. It also provides for a trial calendar and limits the time for continuance of cases to expedite the work of the Commission. More than 850 Indian claims against the United States have been placed before the Commission, and 347 are pending.

INDIAN CLAIMS -- The Indian Claims Commission issued three Interlocutory orders in Docket No. 279-A on March 31. It found that:

• The Blackfeet and Gros Ventre Tribes are entitled to recover the gross sum of $11,125,606 for 13,907,000 acres of land in Montana, ceded under the Act of May 1, 1888.
• The Assiniboine Tribes residing on the Fort Belknap and Fort Peck Reservations in Montana are entitled to recover the gross sum of $3,108,506 for 3,885,633 acres, their share of a larger tract in Montana ceded under the May 1, 1888 Act.
• The Sioux Tribe of Montana's Fort Peck Reservation is entitled to recover the gross sum of $2,364,216 for 2,955,271 acres, its share of a larger tract in Montana ceded under the May 1, 1888 Act.

All three awards are subject to deductions of the amounts already paid for the land and of allowable offsets.

The Indian Claims Commission also approved a proposed compromise settlement of claims in Docket No. 125 on March 30 and granted an award of $136,165 to the Snohomish Tribe of Washington. The award represents additional payment for 164,265 acres of land ceded by the tribe under a treaty of January, 1855.

BILL TO PAY CHEHALIS JUDGMENT -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs has recommended passage of a bill (H.R. 678) before Congress to pay $754,380 in judgment funds, appropriated by Act of June, 1964, to the Upper and Lower Chehalis Indians of Washington. The award represents a compromise settlement of an Indian claim for compensation for lands in Washington acquired by the United States in March, 1855 without Chehalis consent and without compensation.

The proposed bill provides for a per capita payment to the widely scattered descendants of the original land owners.

Three American Indians, including Miss Indian America and the curator of the Navajo Tribal Museum. will fly to Germany April 1 as part of the first European promotion of Indian-made merchandise.

They will take part in an "American Week" series being launched in several foreign countries by the Department of Commerce in cooperation with the State Department.

The promotion will test the European sales potential of American Indian merchandise. It is sponsored by two German department store chains, Klingenthal and Gebreuder-Lefferso

The sales effort was announced by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett, who termed it "a reversal of the policy established 300 years ago. Now it's the Indians' turn to trade with the European natives."

The Indian group will help with sales and public inquiries and will .demonstrate Indian dances. rug weaving, beadwork and silversmithing.

Heading the group is Martin Link, an anthropologist and curator of the Navajo Tribal Museum at Window Rock, Ariz. The Indians are: Wahleah Lujan, of Taos Pueblo, N.M., Miss Indian America XIII, and a sophomore at Fort Lewis College, Colo.; Katherine Lou Dahozy, a Navajo from Fort Defiance, Ariz., and a junior at Northern Arizona University; and Charles Chee Long, a Navajo silver craftsman from New Mexico and museum assistant at the Navajo Museum. Miss Lujan has paintings exhibited in several galleries and Miss Dahozy is a talented weaver.

Department stores in seven German cities will take part in the promotion. The display opens in Bremen April 1 and will also be seen in Paderborn, Minden, Herford, Salzkotten, and Cloppenburg before closing in Meppen on June 7. In addition to the Indian display, the exhibit will have an American space craft display, ship and aircraft models and a historical display.

More than $35.000 worth of American Indian work from across the Nation is being collected for the display by Arrow Inc., of Washington, D.C., a nonprofit Indian development group. Tribes of the Southwest will be represented by the Gallup Indian Trading Co., Gallup, N.M.; Plains Indians by the Northern Plains Indian Crafts Association of Billings, Mont.; Sioux by the Sioux Pottery Co., Rapid City, S.D.; Northern Indians by Chippewayan Authentics, Belcourt. N.D.; Seminoles through their Hollywood, Fla. Reservation; and Cherokees by "The Cherokees" of Cherokee, N.C.

The Navajo Indian Tribe and the Pomona (Calif.) Division of General Dynamics Corp. have joined forces to establish a missile parts plant at Fort Defiance, Ariz., it was announced today by the Tribe, the Company and the Department of the Interior.

Operations will consist mainly of electronic component and circuit assemblies for flight and guidance of the Standard Missile, a tactical weapon for use in U.S. Navy vessels.

The Pomona Division of General Dynamics has developed a series of tactical missiles for the Navy, Army, Marine Corps and armed forces of allied countries. Among these is the new standard missile for which General Dynamics was recently awarded a multi-million dollar Defense Department production contract.

Operations at the Fort Defiance site will consist of production and supporting services necessary to the manufacture of welded modules -- electronic components and circuits necessary to flight and guidance of the missiles. Jobs will include assembly, welding, inspection, repair, and preparation of parts for loading into encapsulation (protective) equipment, as well as supporting activities.

The lease of a five-acre plant site on Navajo property was negotiated between the Tribe and the Company with the unanimous approval of the Tribal Council. The Tribe will also construct the 26,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, under terms of the agreement.

Three-fourths of the construction costs will be repaid during the first five years of the lease, which is to run for 15 years with renewal options annually to the lessee after the first five years.

A yearly payroll of $500,000 to $750,000 is expected, with 200 Navajos comprising the bulk of the work force when production reaches capacity. Operations will commence this Fall in a temporary facility, with 20 to 35 Navajos employed initially.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, in making the announcement today from Washington, said:

"The Navajo Tribe is to be congratulated for its business acumen in inviting General Dynamics to expand in an area where it will help an Indian community. Not only does the event mean increased income to the Tribe and to individual workers, but it heralds the advance of the space age into the Navajo world. General Dynamics also deserves commendation for its readiness to venture into a relatively remote community in order to spread some of the benefits of its new defense contract to the Indian people."

Establishment of the enterprise will mark the second electronic manufacturing facility on the vast Navajo Reservation, where nearly 20 percent of the total American Indian population lives. Fairchild Instrument Corp., of New York, employs 300 Navajos at a transistor assembly plant opened last year at Shiprock, N.M., on the reservation.

INDIAN MONEY EARNS BETTER INTEREST -- Indian money has been earning more interest lately, thanks to cooperative investment agreements worked out by the Tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior. Over a year's time this increased earning power will put an additional $1 million into tribal treasuries.

Trustee by law of Indian funds, the Bureau has traditionally kept these funds in the United States Treasury where they are super-safe, but draw lower interest rates.

Recent increases in interest rates or yields in the general money market led to purchase of short term bank time deposits, Treasury notes, bonds, and bills with Indian trust monies. With principal and interest guaranteed by the Government, or through collateral backed by the Government, this type investment has provided bigger and faster returns on Indian capital.

At least 13 tribal groups have requested the Bureau to invest funds in Treasury securities and in banks across the Nation.

The latest of these investments was the placing of $14 million of Cheyenne and Arapahoe funds in six-month bank certificates of deposit in Oklahoma and California, at interest rates above five percent. The additional interest will give the tribes $97,000 more than they would have received at the four percent treasury rate.

The money came from an Indian Claims Commission award for Western lands the tribes had sold the Government in the 19th Century for which they did not receive full payment.

BIA CONTRACTS FOR JOB TRAINING -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the signing of two contracts to provide on-the-job training for American Indians.

A $16,160 contract with California Gir1swear, Inc. of Coolidge, Ariz. will enable 40 Pima and Maricopa Indians to learn skills used in the garment industry.

A $3,668 contract with the Black Lumber Co., Inc. of Lame Deer, Mont. will provide training for seven Northern Cheyenne Indians in jobs associated with the lumbering industry.

NEW BIA SUPERINTENDENTS -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs has named new superintendents for field agency offices in Montana, and Oregon.

Harold Do Roberson, 39, who became superintendent of the Flathead Agency, at Dixon, Mont., effective March 12, is a native of Goldthwaite, Tex. He holds the degree of B.S. in agriculture from Texas A &M and has been with the Bureau since April, 1958. His first BIA post was that of range conservationist on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. He has since served in the same capacity on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, No M. and the Cheyenne River Reservation at Eagle Butte, So Do Roberson was resources development officer on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana from May, 1963 until March, 1965 when he transferred to Fort Belknap Reservation at Harlem, Monto, where he has been superintendent until his latest reassignment.

Roberson will be replaced at Fort Belknap as superintendent by Maurice W. Babby, effective April 9.

Babby, 33, has been tribal operations officer for the Aberdeen, So Do area office since June, 1965. A Sioux Indian, he was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He holds a B.A. in public administration from Sacramento State College, Calif. and joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1956 as a clerk at the Aberdeen area office. He has since held posts of increasing responsibility at BIA offices in Aberdeen and in Sacramento, Calif. Prior to his last assignment to Aberdeen in 1965 he was tribal operations officer at the Sacramento area office.

Anson A. Baker was named to the superintendency of the Fort Peck Agency, Poplar, Mont. to fill the position vacated by the transfer last January of Stanley Lyman to Utah. Baker is a Gros Ventre Indian, born on the Fort Berthold Reservation at Elbowoods, N. D. He began his Bureau service in 1951 at the Aberdeen, S. D. area office and has since held positions in other BIA installations in the Dakotas. Prior to his present promotion he was assigned to the Blackfeet Agency office, Browning, Mont. as administrative manager.

Harold A. Duck, a native of Keystone, Okla. was appointed superintendent of the Umatilla Agency at Pendleton, Oreo Duck, who has been serving as assistant to the superintendent of the Warm Springs Agency, with responsibility for the Umatillas, was promoted when the Umatilla subagency was recently raised to full agency status.

The new superintendent has been with the Bureau since 1947. He began his career as a teacher and principal in Bureau schools and later assumed more general administrative responsibilities. He holds a B.A. degree from Northeastern State College, Tahlequah, Okla.

NEW HOUSING FOR LEECH LAKE CHIPPEWAS -- The Chippewa Indians of Minnesota's Leech Lake Reservation now are moving into new low-rent housing constructed under the Government’s Indian housing program. The program - conducted jointly by the Housing and Urban Development Department's Housing Assistance Agency and the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs -- accounts for 28 units already completed at Cass Lake on the reservation. Twelve of these units are earmarked for elderly Indians and the remainder are four, three, and two-bedroom units for single families. The housing units are equipped with complete kitchens, drapes and curtains. All housing is assigned, with the exception of six units for the elderly for which applications are now being processed.

In all, a total of 50 units of low-rent housing is planned for the Leech Lake Indians. Two other projects are under construction in the reservation communities of Ball Club and Inger, with completion scheduled for early spring.

The. Department of the Interior announced today a proposed revision of that part of the Code of Federal Regulations governing the process for obtaining rights-of-way over Indian lands.

The most important change would be the substitution of the methods of conveyance used in the commercial world -- recordable deeds -- for the archaic practice of granting rights-of-way by endorsing approval on a plat or map of definite location.

The revision would also realign the material in the code into a more logical sequence and would delete material which is advisory rather than regulatory in nature.

Finally, the revision would set forth additional material to present a more complete description of the authorities of law which apply to this section of the regulations.

A notice of intention to adopt the amended regulations was published in the "Federal Register" on April 4, 1967. Suggested changes and comments should be forwarded to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20242, within thirty days of that date.

Sixty-seven Indian children found adoptive homes in 1966 through the Indian Adoption Project of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Child Welfare League of America. It was a record year for the project, which is conducted by the two agencies in cooperation with State and local welfare services and voluntary agencies.

Temporarily, because of increased interest, there are more prospective parents than there are Indian children referred to the project for adoption. However, a recent survey of 90 registered placement agencies revealed that more than 400 children were in need of adoption, according to the Child Welfare League.

Since the Indian Adoption Project began in 1958, there have been 276 Indian children placed, the great majority in non-Indian homes. The children have ranged, in age from birth to 11 years, with about half of them being under a year old. Seventeen of the adoptive homes took more than one child from a family.

South Dakota and Arizona rank highest among 15 States in placing Indian children for adoption in non-Indian homes. Other States from which the Indian Adoption Project has drawn are Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Mississippi, Washington, New Mexico (Navajo only), California, Wyoming, Alaska, Colorado and South Carolina.

The adoptive parents who found children through the Indian Adoption Project represent a cross-section of eastern, midwestern and southern States, with more than half residing in the East.