OPA

The Department of the Interior favors enactment of legislation initiated by the Choctaw Indian Tribe of Oklahoma which provides for disposition of the Tribe’s lands and funds and for eventual termination of its special relations with the Federal Government, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

In reporting to Congress on H. R. 2722, Mr. Ernst emphasized that the bill was introduced in Congress at the request of tribal officials.

In the background of the present bill, Mr. Ernst said, is a 1906 law which was intended to provide for disposition of all lands of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma either by allotment to individual members or by sale, for the division of all tribal funds among the members, and for dissolution of the tribal governments. Enactment of H. R. 2722, he added, will make it possible to complete this program for the Choctaw Tribe, which is one of the Five Civilized Tribes.

The bill applies only to tribal assets and will have no effect on the allotted lands of individual Choctaw Indians which will continue to be governed by the provisions of existing law.

Three classes of land will be affected by the bill. One consists of 7,731 acres of unallotted tribal land in which the Choctaw Tribe has a three-fourths interest and the Chickasaw Tribe a one-fourth interest. A second includes 8,610 acres purchased by the Government and held in trust for the Choctaw Tribe under legislation of the 1930‘s. The third category would take in any submarginal lands bought for the use of the Tribe by the Government during the 1930’s.

So far the records of the Department have not disclosed any lands in this third category. However, since a search of the records is still continuing and might eventually turn up something, the Department favored retention of the third category in the bill.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today strongly urged the Army Corps of Engineers to take action "at the earliest possible date” to eliminate a flood threat to tribally developed pasturelands on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in Florida.

The problem, Mr. Emmons said, is caused by an unfinished Corps of Engineers anal, designated as L28, which pours water out onto an area of extremely flat ground where it meets the natural flow from the northwest across the reservation and piles up in and around 2,850 acres of improved pasture. If a strong southeast wind should occur when the water is flowing out of the canal, the improvements might well be totally destroyed.

In a letter to Major General E. C. Itschner, Chief of Engineers, Commissioner Emmons pointed out that the Seminole Tribe spent $69,982 on the pasture improvement work last year and has budgeted an additional $49,200 for the purpose in 1959.

Mr. Emmons also said it was his understanding the hazard could be eliminated merely by extending the canal a comparatively short distance to the south where the gravity flow of the discharged water would be away from the reservation.

“As trustee for the Indian lands,” Commissioner Emmons wrote, "this Bureau believes that any further prolonged delay in correcting the situation would be inexcusable. We strongly urge that action be taken at the earliest possible date to extend the Canal far enough to the south so that the Indian lands and development works will be fully protected against any further threat of damage or destruction."

Legislation that would facilitate the transfer of surplus Federal Indian school properties to local public school districts, has been recommended to Congress, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Such transfers are now possible under a law enacted in 1953 but are limited to 20 acres in anyone conveyance. Since this limitation has interfered with some contemplated transfers and has seemingly served no useful purpose, the Department is proposing that it be deleted.

Under provisions of the 1953 law, 43 school properties totaling about 450 acres have so far been transferred to local school districts. Eight of these are in Oklahoma, seven each in Minnesota and Montana, five in Kansas, four each in New Mexico and Washington, two each in Arizona and Wisconsin", and one each in Idaho, North Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming.

One of the basic educational aims of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is to provide for the enrollment of Indian children in public schools rather than Federal Indian schools wherever this can be accomplished. The transfers have been made in line with this objective.

Award of three contracts totaling $171,820.40 for road construction work in Indian areas of Oklahoma was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

All three projects involve a stabilized asphalt base and single bituminous surfacing on grade and drainage completed sometime ago. All of the roads run through heavily populated Indian areas and are school-bus and mail-service routes.

A contract of $87,255.80 for 9.363 miles on Ponca-Otoe Line in Noble County and a $41,504.60 contract for 4.456 miles on Spring Creek Road in Caddo County were awarded to W. E. Steelman of Oklahoma City.

The third contract, covering 4.95 miles on Seiling-Canton Road in Blaine County, was awarded to Elliott Brothers, Inc., Oklahoma City, on a bid of $43,060.

Nine higher bids were received on the Ponca-Otoe and Sailing-Canton contracts and ten higher on the Spring Creek project.

The Department of the Interior announced today that it has submitted to Congress a proposal for legislation exempting from Federal and State income tax the payments of more than $26,000,000 which the Government has made to four Pacific Northwest Indian tribes to compensate them for the loss of their fishing rights at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River.

The tribes involved are the Yakima of Washington, the Warm Springs and Umatilla of Oregon, and the Nez Perce of Idaho.

Construction of The Dalles Dam by the Corps of Engineers on the Columbia River resulted in flooding of the Celilo Falls where members of the four tribes have fished for many years. Their rights to fish there were embodied in a treaty consummated between the United States and the Indians over 100 years ago. Under legislation enacted in 1953, agreements were worked out with the four tribal groups and payments deposited to their credit in the United States Treasury.

On the basis of comparative populations, the Yakimas received $15,019,640.00, the Warm Springs tribes $4,451,784.26, the Umatilla $4,616,971.06, and the Nez Perce $2,500,000.

The tribes intend to divide these funds among their members and make them available for use in accordance with plans approved by the Department of the Interior. While the Internal Revenue Service has regarded the funds as nontaxable in the hands of the tribes, it has taken the position that they will be taxable as capital gains upon distribution to the individual members.

In submitting its proposal, the Department of the Interior pointed out that it has been the practice of Congress, when authorizing distributions of tribal funds, to make the individual shares tax-exempt. This has been particularly true, the Department added, when the funds represent, as they do here, the value of a capital asset taken from the tribe by Federal action.

The Department's proposal would make the Celilo Falls payments tax-exempt both when in the hands of the tribes and when divided among the individual members.

The Department of the Interior announced today it has submitted to Congress two legislative requests providing for distribution of judgment funds resulting from awards by the Indian Claims Commission to three Indian groups.

The groups affected are the Quapaws of Oklahoma with a fund of about $820,000; the Citizen Band of Potawatomis of Oklahoma with a fund of $168,735.40 plus accrued interest; and the Prairie Band of Potawatomie of Kansas with a fund of $79,624.86 plus accrued interest. The last two groups are covered by one proposal.

All of the funds were awarded to the Indians in satisfaction of claims against the United States which they prosecuted before the Indian Claims Commission. Most of the claims were based on land transactions that took place in the 19th century. All of the funds are now on deposit in the United States Treasury and drawing interest at four percent.

Award of a $67,275 contract for construction of three bridges on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, Dewey County, South Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract involves construction of concrete deck bridges over Beaver Creek, No Mouth Creek, and Swift Bird Creek on a road presently under construction from U. S. Highway 212 northwesterly to Promise to replace an existing road which will be flooded by the Oahe Reservoir. This replacement road on which the bridge construction will take place will directly serve 30 Indian families who have relocated from the Oahe reservoir area. It will also be used for school bus travel and by residents of the eastern part of the Cheyenne River Reservation for travel to Mobridge and other communities north of the reservation.

The successful bidder was Dahl and Hollaway Contractors of Brookings, South Dakota. Six other bids were received ranging from $69,000 to $99,000.

The Department of the Interior today announced two actions looking toward a greater equalization in the value of extremely valuable individual Indian land holdings on the Agua Caliente Reservation at Palm Springs, California.

One was the recent submission to Congress of a report favoring the enactment, with amendments, of H.R. 5557, a bill that deals with the equalization problem.

The second action taken was the adoption in final form of a set of administrative instructions for equalization. These were published as a proposal in the Federal Repository last January 23.

The widely varying values of the lands allotted to individual members of the Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians have been the subject of litigation extending back over a period of many years. Under a 1956 court order the Department is required to formulate and carry out a program of allotting additional lands from the common tribal holdings in a way that will equalize the value of the individual allotments to the fullest feasible extent. In view of the high values of the Indian lands within the city of Palm Springs, very substantial sums of money are involved.

H. R. 5557, the bill recommended by the Department for enactment, would confine the equalization to living members of the tribe and base it on 1957 and 1958 appraisals of the property valuations. The bill would remove the present legal limitation of 160 acres on allotments to individuals, would exclude certain specified tribal lands from the equalization process, and would require allotment of the remaining tribal lands so as to achieve the highest feasible level of equalization.

Under the bill the site of the Palm Springs Airport would be included in the allotment plan. The city, however, would be given a limited time in which to buy the site at its appraised value. If the city exercises this option, any Indians o have chosen allotments in the airport would receive proportionate shares of one price paid by the city instead of land.

The bill also permits the tribe to form a State corporation or other legal entity for holding the reserved tribal lands and requires the Department to transfer such property to this entity on the request of a majority of the adult members.

The Department recommended two amendments to H. R. 5557. One would reduce the tribal reserve containing the mineral spring from an area of about eight acres as described in the bill to a tract of less than three acres immediately surrounding the spring. The spring itself has been described by tribal members as religiously significant to them.

The second amendment would give the Department discretion in transferring reserved tribal properties to a new legal entity instead of requiring such transfer on the petition of a majority. The purpose would be to assure that the legal entity is fairly organized and does not discriminate against a minority of the tribal members.

While reporting favorably on H. R. 5557, the Department also took steps to proceed immediately with its own plan of equalization in view of the uncertainties of the legislative process. The regulations adopted today provide for (1) the preparation of a map showing the areas of tribal land available for allotment, (2) the compilation of a list of tribal members entitled to participate in equalization in the order of their entitlement, (3) selection of land parcels by the eligible individuals in their order of preference in each group, and (4) the filing applications for the selected parcels with the Sacramento Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"The process of making allotment selection on the basis of the present law will begin shortly," the Department pointed out, "but we shall not approve the actual allotment schedule before summer, and if the pending legislation should be enacted during the first session of the 86th Congress the allotment procedure can be modified to comply with the new law."

The Palm Springs Reservation was originally established for the Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians under a law enacted in 1891. Allotment of the land to individual members was begun in 1923. Because of various complications in legislation and litigation, however, the first allotment schedule was not formally approved by the Secretary of the Interior until 1949.

Under the allotment procedure used, each Band member has been entitled to 47 acres consisting of a two-acre town lot, five acres of irrigated land, and 40 acres of dry land. Although the allotments are thus all equal in acreage, they vary in appraised value today all the way from $74,500 to $629,000. So far 115 allotments have been made. This includes allotments to some members who have since died. Five of the recently born minors have not yet received allotments.

The present membership of the Band is 101 persons--33 adults and 68 minors. The remaining unallotted property, exclusive of the areas recommended for reserves, consists of 23,660 acres valued at approximately $12,800,000. On this basis it is estimated that an equalization value of about $350,000 can be achieved for approximately 80 persons now having the lower valued allotments.

Because H. R. 5557 would remove the 160-acres limitation on allotments, a greater degree of equalization will be possible under its provisions than can be accomplished administratively under existing law.

High bids totaling $866,695 have been received by the Uintah and Ouray Indian Tribe of Utah for oil and gas leases on 14 tracts of tribally owned land comprising nearly 31,000 acres, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The high bidder on all 14 of the tracts was Standard Oil Company of California.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has asked the Department's Geological Survey for technical recommendation prior to acceptance of the bids

Award of a contract for construction of two dormitories to house 512 Indian school children at Albuquerque, New Mexico was announced today by the Department of the Interior. The total cost or the structures will be $579,530.

The new one-story structures will be located on the grounds of the Albuquerque Indian School and will be ready for occupancy by the next school term. Each will contain over 31,000 square feet of floor space and will accommodate 256 pupils.

Some of these will attend the federally operated Albuquerque Indian School while others will probably be enrolled in the local public schools. All will be provided with food as well as lodging by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The successful bidder on the contract was Robert E. McKee, Inc., of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Seven higher bids were received ranging from $593,733 to $652,000.