OPA

A $125,049 contract for grading and surfacing roads on the Uintah and Ouray I Reservation in Utah was announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Improvements will include a five-mile stretch of Route 7 which provides access to picturesque Uintah Canyon and a seven-mile section of Route 17, from Neola toward Big Springs.

Better roads will open an exceptionally scenic area for which the Uintah and Ouray Tribe has recreational development plans.

The spectacular Indian lands are not far from Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge and other locales with 'proven tourist appeal. There are 110 miles of trout streams, four sizable lakes, excellent hunting and many developed camping areas on the reservation. The tribe is considering the addition of a motel, an Indian cultural park with model village, gift shop and other attractions.

Successful bidder for the road contract was Whiting and Haymond Construction Company of Springville, Utah. The only competitive bid was $183,999.

A $261,176 contract has been awarded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a road improvement project on the Fort Hall Reservation in southeastern Idaho. The reservation is the home of about 1,770 Shoshone and Bannock Indians.

Contract specifications call for crushed rock base and bituminous plant-mix surfacing of slightly over 12 miles of the Ross Fork and Lone Pine roads, located one mile east of the Fort Hall Indian Agency.

This project is part of the Bureau’s long- term program to improve transportation on Indian reservations through better roads.

Bannock Paving Company of Pocatello, Idaho was the successful bidder. The six bids received ranged to a high of $363,370.

The Department of the Interior today announced a proposal to adopt new regulations governing the use of Indian government-owned fishing grounds by the Yakima, Umatilla, and Warm Springs Tribes and by other Columbia River Indians in the Pacific Northwest.

The lands affected are in Washington and Oregon, are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, and were made available to the Indians in lieu of fishing grounds flooded or destroyed when Bonneville Dam was constructed during the 1930's.

Need for rules to clarify use of the four replacement sites has become obvious in view of health, safety, and sanitation hazards which have developed without regulations, the Department said. The proposed regulations, about which interested persons are invited to submit written comments within 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, provide that:

Fishing from the sites on the Columbia River is restricted to enrolled members of the Yakima, Umatilla, and Warm Springs Tribes and other Columbia River Indians having treaty fishing rights at locations destroyed by construction of Bonneville Darn. The same restriction applies to the use of camping areas at the sites.

Identification cards, to be issued by the Tribes or by the Portland Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, are to be carried and exhibited by those entitled to use the fishing grounds.

Indians using a site must comply with tribal laws and regulations and with fishing regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. They must also observe Federal laws and applicable State laws and local ordinances which do not interfere with treaty fishing rights. Violators shall be subject to the suspension or withdrawal of use and access privileges.

The BIA Area Director's prior approval is required before trailers, boats, vehicles, or other personal property can be left at the fishing grounds. Approval is also required to build structures or fishing platforms on the sites. Such structures or platforms will be used at the owner's risk; the United States recognizes no responsibility in this regard.

Damage to Government-owned property on the fishing sites is subject to prosecution under Federal or State laws. Gambling at the sites will not be allowed. Firearms and explosives are prohibited, except those in the possession of authorized law-enforcement personnel.

Commercial purchase of fish at the sites is prohibited, except by express authorization of the BIA Area Director.

The Director will post rules governing the use of camping sites at the fishing grounds. No fee for use or access may be charged to Indians entitled to use the grounds or to members of their families.

“Indians of Arizona," latest in a current series of publications from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, turns the spotlight on the State with the largest Indian population.

Names that ring through the history of the American Southwest crowd the 24 pages of this profusely illustrated booklet. Here are the Apaches, whose very name once brought terror to westward bound settlers; the peaceful Hopis of the sky-reaching mesa villages; the Navajos, now the largest Indian tribe; the desert-dwelling Papagos; the agrarian Pimas; and the canyon-dwelling Havasupais and Hualapais.

Arizona Indian tribes are grouped according to the four major cultures they represent: Athapaskan, Pueblo, Desert Rancheria, and Plateau Rancheria peoples. The booklet contains an historical sketch of each tribe, a section on contemporary social and economic conditions among the Arizona Indians, and a list of places of interest for visitors.

"Indians of Arizona” and other publications in the new series are available at 15 cents a copy from the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. A 25 percent discount is allowed on quantity orders of 100 or more, if mailed to one address.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, has announced transfers of four men which will affect two field offices and two Central Office posts.

William T. Schlick of Iowa has been promoted to a newly established position of Assistant to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C. He will be staff assistant for liaison and program coordination with other Federal agencies, including the Office of Economic Opportunity. Since January, 1965, Schlick has been the Bureau's Job Corps Conservation Center Officer.

A native of Ames, Iowa, he holds a bachelor of science degree in forestry from Iowa State University. In October, 1950, he was named forester at the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Colville Agency in the State of Washington. He since has served in progressively responsible assignments in the field and Central Office.

He will be succeeded as Job Corps Conservation Center Officer by his deputy, Harry A. Rainbolt. Rainbolt, a Pima Indian, was born on the Fort Apache Reservation, White River, Ariz. He is a career employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and received an award for sustained superior performance in 1962. He was assigned to work on the Job Corps Center program in February, 1965.

Paul A. Krause of Montana, superintendent of the Chinle Agency on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona since 1962, has been transferred to the Minneapolis, Minn., area office as superintendent for the Bemidji Agency.

Krause has been employed by the Bureau since 1941. His assignments have involved range and forest surveys on Indian lands in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona and service at the Uintah and Ouray Agency, Ft. Duchesne, Utah.

Krause was born in Kalispell, Mont., and received his bachelor of science degree from Montana State University in 1939.

John J. Weber of Illinois has been named superintendent of the Cheyenne River Agency, S. D. (Sioux) to succeed Howard S. Dushane, who was transferred to the Albuquerque, N. M., area office as credit officer. Weber moved from the Northern Idaho Agency, Lapwai, Idaho, where he was assistant superintendent.

A native of Nauvoo, Ill., Weber began his Federal career in 1949 with the Department of Agriculture as a soil conservationist. He joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the Northern Idaho Agency in 1957. That same year he was transferred to the Colville, Wash., Agency as range conservationist and land operations officer and remained there until 1962, when he returned to Lapwai as assistant superintendent.

Weber holds a bachelor of science degree in forestry from Montana State University.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the award of two road construction contracts on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota and the Colville Indian Reservation in eastern Washington.

The $243,123 Rosebud contract calls for grading and draining approximately 7 miles of road along the Little White River. This road is the main school bus and farm-to-market route for Indian families living in the area. It also serves a well-traveled tourist route into the Little White River Valley recreational area, location of popular Ghost Hawk Park. The Park is a tribal enterprise of the Rosebud Sioux and serves thousands of campers and other vacationers every year.

Successful bidder was Brezina Construction Co., Inc., Rapid City, S. D. Seven bids were received, ranging to a high of $496,664.

A second contract of $105,680 was awarded for a road project on the Colville Indian Reservation. A crushed aggregate base and bituminous surfacing will be applied on approximately 6 miles of the Bridge Creek road, about 15 miles west of Inchelium, Wash.

Successful bidder for the Colville road project was Materne Brothers Co., Spokane, Wash. Three bids were received, ranging to a high of $197,585.

The projects are part of the Bureau's overall road construction and maintenance program on Indian reservations to aid reservation economies by providing better routes for school buses, speedier transport of Indian farm, ranch and mine products, and easier access for industrial development, including tourism.

BIA SCHOOL OFFICIAL NAMED TO INTER-STATE BOARD--Dr. William J. Benham, Jr., Director of Schools for the Navajo Area of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' school system recently was appointed to the board of directors of the Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory. Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico are represented on the 16-member panel.

The laboratory was established under a provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-10~ Title IV) to provide research, surveys and studies for the advancement of education in the region. Particular research needs are recognized in the multicultural four-State area which has many Indian and Spanish-American residents.

SEMINOLES RENAME RESERVATION--The Seminole Indians of the 480-acre reservation adjacent to Hollywood, Florida, have passed a resolution to name their reservation Hollywood. The tribal land had informally been known as the Dania Reservation.

The new name for the reservation was chosen to demonstrate the close cooperation and neighborly relationship of the Indian and non-Indian communities. The city of Hollywood provides many services to the Indians of the adjacent reservation including schooling, fire and police protection, and water and sewage disposal.

PRIVATE CAPITAL BACKS INDIAN BUSINESSES--Indian enterprises prove increasingly attractive to private investors, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In 1951, when BIA began assembling data, a total of approximately $20 million in private and non-Bureau Government capital was loaned to individual Indians and tribal groups for various enterprises. In the 1965 calendar year more than $173 million from private and non-Bureau Government lending institutions went to Indian businesses. This is an increase of more than 850 percent in the 14-year period.

PROJECT FOR RETARDED CHILDREN--A special pilot project for teaching retarded youngsters ended this spring at Teecnospos, a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. The results are now being studied and evaluated.

Mrs. Frances Bentzen, of the BIA Education staff in Washington, D.C., developed the project, which involved a pilot group of 47 Indian youngsters aged 8-16. All were having difficulty with classwork and were becoming frustrated and indifferent.

The group was initially tested by research psychologists and divided among four highly qualified teachers. Small classrooms were used and teachers were permitted wide range in selecting work, materials for highly individualized instruction.

Last April, the group was again tested. When the program continues next fall, teaching methods will be adjusted on the basis of results.

HARRY WINSTON, INC. TRAINING INDIANS--Harry Winston, Inc. of Chandler, Ariz. has renewed a $78,000 contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide initial on-the-job training or continued training for 60 area Indians. The company is one of the world's largest and best known diamond mining and processing firms.

In May, 1962 the Chandler processing plant was established near the Gila River Reservation, south or Phoenix, Ariz. From its opening, the company has successfully employed Pima and Maricopa Indians from the neighboring Gila River and Salt River Reservations in diamond polishing and processing operations. Of the 73 employees comprising the current work force, 66 are, Indians.

In times of national emergency, the skills involved in diamond processing are considered crucial and an available pool of trained Indian employees would be invaluable.

ON-THE-JOB-TRAINING CONTRACT NEGOTIATED WITH PLASTICS PLANT--Dimensions, Inc. of Waubun, Minn. will train 15 Chippewas from White Earth Reservation in skills needed for fabricating plastic parts. The company recently negotiated a $1,725 contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

OREGON INDIAN GIRL HONORED--Myrtle Adams, a member of the Wasco Indian Tribe, Warm Springs, Ore., attended the National Youth Conference on Natural Beauty and Conservation in Washington, D. C. June 26-29. She represented the Camp Fire Girls of Oklahoma. Miss Adams attends the Fort Sill Indian School in Lawton, Oklahoma, and will be a senior next fall. This summer she plans to participate in the work-study program for students who plan to attend Oklahoma State University.

JOB CORPS CENTERS ON RESERVATIONS--The Poston, Ariz., Job Corps Center, dedicated June 5 on the Colorado River Reservation, is the eighth such installation to operate in an Indian area. Job Corps Conservation Centers, established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, provide basic and general education, vocational skill training, and a change of environment for disadvantaged youths. While in training on the reservations, the young men work on useful and productive resource conservation projects. The recently opened Fort Simcoe Center on the Yakima Reservation in Washington began to receive its first corpsmen on May 2. Already in operation were other centers at Winslow, Ariz., Mexican Springs, on the Navajo Reservation; on the San Carlos Reservation, Ariz., Mescalero Apache, N. Mex.; Flathead, Mont., and Makah Reservation, Wash.

BUREAU ANNOUNCES CONTRACTS FOR JOB CORPS PROJECTS--A number of contracts have been awarded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in recent weeks for construction projects in Job Corps Conservation Camps on Indian reservations:

A $97,768 contract to Building Mart, Inc., of El Paso, Tex., for construction of two prefabricated metal buildings at 8-canyon Job Corps Conservation Center on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in Arizona. One building will be used for recreation and the other will serve as a combined workshop-vocational training/warehouse building. Four bids ranged to a high of $118,908.

An $81,055 contract to Flynn Steel Buildings, Phoenix, Ariz., for construction of a metal, rigid frame workshop/vocational training building; a warehouse/storage building; and completion of a recreation building on the San Carlos Reservation. Two other bids were received, the highest $110,000.

A $39,580 contract to Flynn Steel Buildings of Phoenix, Ariz., for construction of a metal, rigid frame building to serve as a combined workshop, vocational training center and warehouse at the Poston Job Corps Center on the Colorado River Reservation in Arizona. Six bids were received ranging to a high of $72,800.

A $36,746 contract to the Banes Company Inc. of Albuquerque, N. Mex., for construction of a prefabricated metal workshop/vocational training and warehouse building on the Navajo Reservation at Mexican Springs, N. Mex. Six bids ranged to a high of $48,988.

A $124,500 contract to Pacific Ventures Inc. of Seattle, Wash., for construction of a recreation building, a combined workshop-vocational training and warehouse structure and a vehicle storage building at Fort Simcoe Center. Seven bids were received, ranging to a high of $380,000. The Center is on the Yakima Indian Reservation.

A $112,687 contract to Building Mart, Inc. of El Paso, Texas, for construction of three prefabricated metal buildings at the Winslow, Ariz. Center. The buildings will house a vocational training workshop, recreation facilities and a laundry. Five bids were received, ranging to a high of $150,200.

INTERIOR FAVORS EXTENSION FOR CLAIMS COMMISSION--The Department of the Interior has recommended that Congress pass a bill to extend the life of the Indian Claims Commission from April 10, 1967 to April 10, 1972. The recommendation was based on the fact that an estimated 500 claims of Indian groups now pending against the United States cannot be disposed of by the 1967 termination date.

FUNDS APPROPRIATED TO COVER FIVE AWARDS--The second Supplemental Appropriation Bill, 1966, provided $7,872,114 to cover five awards granted by the Indian Claims Commission and the Court of Claims. Signed by the President May 13, 1966, the bill includes funds to pay:

An award of $4,479,498 to the Confederated Utes in Court of Claims Case No. 47567, a petition by the tribe for a general accounting.

$2,450,000 awarded to the Umatillas in Dockets No. 264, 264-A, 264-B for lands and for the loss of fish and eel runs on the Umatilla River.

$876,477 to the Wea (Peoria) Indians in Docket No. 314, as additional payment for lands ceded under a Treaty of October 2, 1818.

$63,680 to the Seminoles of Oklahoma in Docket No. 248, as compensation for income from oil and gas leases on the Mekasuky Mission School Tract.

$2,458 to the Poncas of Oklahoma in Docket No. 324 in response to a petition for a general accounting.

Two contracts totaling $367,043 have been awarded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs for road construction projects on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, S. D. and the Yakima Reservation in Washington.

A $247, 885 contract for crushed rock and bituminous mat surfacing of approximately 15.5 miles of the Signal Peak road on the Yakima Reservation was awarded to Bohannon Asphalt Paving, Inc.; of Yakima, Wash. Five bids were received, ranging to a high of $298,520.

A $119,158 contract for grading drainage and crushed aggregate surfacing of nearly 5 miles of road on the Pine Ridge Reservation went to J.F. Bailey Construction Co. of Bonesteel, S. D. Five bids were received, ranging to $160,061.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, will be honored as “Indian of the Year" during special ceremonies July 16 at the annual Indian Exposition at Anadarko, Okla.

The first Indian to head the Bureau in 97 years, Bennett is a member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin. He was a career employee of the Bureau, with 29 years of service, before being appointed Commissioner by President Johnson on March 18, 1966.

The Indian Exposition is sponsored by 15 tribes in Western Oklahoma--the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Delaware, Caddo-Wichita, Pawnee, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Sac &Fox, Kaw, Tonkawa, Otoe &Missouri, and Osage.

For the past 15 years the celebration has been climaxed by the presentation of the “Indian of the Year" scroll. The first award in 1951 went to Jim Thorpe, the All-America athlete. Last year's recipient was Mrs. LaDonna Harris, wife of U. S. Senator Fred R. Harris, (D. Okla.).

Bennett, 53, is a 1931 graduate of Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kans., and holds a law degree from Southwestern University, Washington, D. C. He joined the Bureau in 1933 as a junior clerk in Utah.

A Marine Corps veteran of World War II, Bennett has Seen Bureau service in Western Indian agencies, in Alaska and in Washington, D. C. In 1962 he won the Indian Achievement Award of the Indian Council Fire, a national organization with headquarters in Chicago.

Federal supervision has been terminated for three more rancherias in California the Department of the Interior announced. The affected Indian lands are Elk Valley in Del Norte County; Rohnerville in Humboldt County; and El Dorado in El Dorado County.

Under a Congressional Act of August 18, 1958, naming 41 rancherias, and a 1964 amendment to include the remaining 74 California rancherias or reservations, Indians may distribute lands and other rancheria assets among themselves. A distribution plan generally calls for surveys and appraisals of the lands. In some cases, completion of certain land improvements is required before title is given to individual Indians.

The termination action means that the Indians are no longer eligible for special Federal services simply because they are Indians. They now have the same status as other California citizens. To date a total of 29 rancherias have been terminated under the Act.

The three rancherias currently affected contain nearly 200 acres and belong to 77 Indians of the Crescent City and Bear River tribes.

The action becomes effective upon publication in the Federal Register of a notice signed by the Secretary of the Interior.