OPA

A change in Federal regulations that will permit the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make loans to withdrawing members of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon regardless of their degree of Indian blood was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Under the former rules, loans could not be made to individuals of less than a quarter degree Indian blood.

The amendment of the regulation was made possible as a result of legislation recommended by the Department and recently enacted by Congress (Public Law 86-40).

The Bureau has been making loans to withdrawing Klamath members of one-fourth or more Indian blood since last December. The loans have been made without interest and have been set off against funds payable to the borrowers under the Klamath Termination Act. Sales of tribal forest lands to compensate the withdrawing members are being made over a two-year period which began last April.

Of the 1,659 withdrawing members of the Klamath Tribe, 253 or about 15 percent are of less than one-fourth Indian blood and in position to benefit from the rules change.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of three contracts totaling $887,704 for road and bridge construction on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico.

The largest contract, for $366,431, involves the grading, drainage and bituminous surfacing of 4.1 miles of Navajo Route 1 running west from the Arizona-New Mexico State line.

This section is immediately south of the famous Four Corners oil field development and is at the extreme eastern end of the unimproved portion of Navajo Route 1. A 22-mile connecting section of the road in New Mexico was previously graded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and surfaced by the State.

The road is important as a link from southwestern Colorado through the Navajo country to the Grand Canyon and west. A growing volume of traffic is expected to use it as the Four Corners oil field is further developed and moves into northern Arizona.

Longenbaugh and Coe, Inc., of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was the .successful bidder. Four other bids were received ranging from $393,669 to $494,499.

A second contract, in the amount of $348,301, is for widening and surfacing 9.6 miles of Navajo Route 3 running west from the New Mexico State line near Window Rock, Arizona, the location of the Tribal and Federal Government offices for the Navajo Reservation.

The two improvements on Navajo Routes 1 and 3 were made possible through special legislation enacted by Congress in 1958.

James Hamilton Construction Company of Grants, New Mexico, was the successful bidder on the Route 3 contract. Four other bids were submitted ranging from $398,942 to $445,703.

The third contract, for $172,972, covers the construction of a 434-foot, 9-span steel and concrete bridge across the San Juan River at Farmington, New Mexico.

This structure replaces an obsolete steel truss bridge which now spans the San Juan River at Farmington but will carry only the lightest loads. Traffic bound for the Bisti oil field, lying south of the river, has for some time avoided using the present bridge. Completion of the new structure will provide the first link in the construction of a highway from Farmington through Bisti to a connection with New Mexico 56 at Crownpoint. This routing will also service Chaco National Monument.

Award of the contract represents the culmination of negotiations carried on over a period of several months. As a result of these negotiations, the Navajo Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs entered into an agreement with several oil companies, San Juan County, and the city of Farmington under which these latter parties pledged to furnish about half the funds that were expected to be needed for financing the structure, including the connecting approach with the city of Farmington. The State Highway Department and the El Paso Natural Gas Company will participate jointly in building a road from the bridge’s south approach to the Bisti field.

The low bid was submitted by M. C. Jacobs Construction Company of Denver, Colorado. Six other bids were received ranging from $177,837 to $228,295.

A $178,907.28 contract for construction of two bridges on Navajo Route 1 in New Mexico was awarded today by the Department of the Interior.

These bridges in San Juan County will replace two timber structures that no longer will carry the heavy traffic which the oil and mining operations in northern Arizona and southeastern Utah have generated.

One 2-span pre-stressed concrete box-girder bridge will be constructed across Rattlesnake Wash west of Shiprock, New Mexico, and one 6-spansteel-girder bridge with a concrete deck will cross the Red Rock Wash.

Funds will be provided from money appropriated for the improvement of Navajo-Hopi Routes 1 and 3.

These structures will carry the heavy traffic from State and Federal routes and traffic originating in the oil fields of Utah, as well as local and anticipated tourist traffic.

The Reeder Construction Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was the lowest of 8 bids received, the higher bids ranging from $179,294.47 to $238,409.59.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior announced today the third set of awards which are being made "in recognition of long and outstanding services in the preservation, encouragement and development of the arts and crafts of the American Indians."

These awards, consisting of certificates of appreciation, are being presented today in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Recipients, and the categories for which they on, include:

1. The Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, of Asheville, North Carolina-- Nonprofit organizations.
2. Mrs. Lottie Stamper, Cherokee, North Carolina--Indian craftsmen.
3. Allen H. Eaton, Crestwood, New York--Collectors or patrons of Indian Arts and Crafts.

Erich Kohlberg, a member of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, is making the presentation of awards today. The basis for selection of winners is the longstanding services over and above the normal activities of the recipients in each classification.

The Chairman of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board is Rene d’Harnoncourt, Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. Other members of the Board, all serving without compensation and under appointment by the Secretary of the Interior, are:

Frederick J. Dockstader, Assistant Director, Museum of the American Indian, New York City; Vincent Price, actor and collector of Indian art, Los Angeles; and Mr. Kohlberg, dealer in Indian crafts, Denver, Colorado.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst today announced the restoration of nearly 9,000 acres on two Indian reservations in South Dakota to tribal jurisdiction.

Thirteen tracts totaling over 3,000 acres of the restored land are on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. An additional 5,880 acres are on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.

All the lands being restored were set aside as school or administrative sites by Secretarial orders approximately 50 years ago. Since they are no longer needed for these purposes, they are being made available for use by the tribal organizations and their members.

The restorations were requested by the Indian tribal councils on both reservations.

Completion of the final membership roll of the Ottawa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, following the disposition of all appeals, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The preliminary membership roll, published in the Federal Register March 21, 1958, included 549 individuals. The net result of additions and subtractions made as a consequence of appeals to the Secretary of the Interior is a final roll of 630.

Under a 1956 Congressional law, Federal trusteeship of the Ottawa property is to be ended by next August 3.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today called attention to the results of the first sale of oil and gas leases held by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the basis of a fixed bonus of $500 per acre and competitive bidding on the royalty rates. The bids were opened at Window Rock, Arizona, July 28. The total bonus offered at $500 per acre was $1,245,500.

The land offered for lease comprises 3,291 acres in San Juan County, Utah, in the "four corners" area, and is the subject of litigation between the United States, as trustee for the Navajo Tribe, and the State of Utah. Bidders were warned in advance that the tracts were being offered "without any warranty or representation of good title and subject to acceptance by the duly authorized tribal representatives.”

Acceptable bids were received on 16 tracts totaling 2,491 acres. The highest per-acre royalty bid on one of the tracts was 77.19 percent. The average royalty bid per-acre was 48.3 percent and per-tract 46.99 percent.

Final action has not yet been taken on the bids received.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced the Department has submitted to Congress proposed legislation that would advance the date for Federal purchase of the 15,000-acre marsh on the Klamath Indian Reservation in Oregon.

Under existing law the marsh is scheduled to be purchased on April 1, 1961, and set aside as a National Wildlife Refuge. The Department's proposed legislation would provide for the purchase to take place on the earliest date after September 30, 1959, that duck stamp money is available to pay the purchase price.

The new date for the acquisition is being proposed so that the Government can pay immediately to the Indians the purchase price for land which the Government has already decided to buy, instead of lending them money to meet their current subsistence needs. The realization value of the Klamath Marsh, as established by a reappraisal completed last December is $474,841.

”The Indians who have elected to withdraw from the tribe," Acting Secretary Bennett pointed out, "will be without funds for subsistence until the purchase price from the sale of the marsh and the forest is available for distribution. These subsistence needs will, therefore, have to be met with loans from the Indian revolving loan fund. If the sale date for the marsh is changed as proposed, the need for additional loans from the revolving loan fund will be decreased. If the Federal Government is already committed to the purchase of the marsh, it seems unreasonable to make loans to the Indians rather than pay them the purchase price that is due. If the bill is enacted, funds will be available for the payment of the purchase price from the sale of stamps under the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act of March 16, 1934, as amended.”

The Department of the Interior has recommended the enactment of S. 2085, a bill authorizing the use of a judgment fund of approximately $1,860,000 awarded to the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indian Tribes of Oklahoma by the Indian Claims Commission, it was announced today.

The Department’s report, signed by Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst, says the basis for the judgment was an inadequate and unconscionable compensation for lands ceded to the United States by the Tribes under legislation enacted in 1900. In 1957 the Tribes were awarded a net judgment of $2,067,166. After deduction of attorney’s fees in the amount of $206,716.60, the balance of $1,860,449.40 was appropriated by Congress last May and is now on deposit in the U. S. Treasury bearing interest at four percent.

S. 2085 would make the money available for use as determined by the tribal governing body subject to approval of the Secretary of the Interior.

The population of the three tribes is estimated at around 8,000 including about 4,000 full-bloods.

The Department of the Interior has recommended changing the law under which adult Indians are being provided with vocational training at Federal expense to establish three priorities of eligibility among the Indian candidates, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

First priority would be given to Indians residing on trust or restricted lands r Federal lands under jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior.

Second priority would go to Indians who within the preceding three years have moved to urban communities from residences on or near Indian reservations under the Relocation Services Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Third priority would be given to Indians residing on or near reservations but not on trust, restricted, or Federal land.

The Department’s proposal for amending the 1956 Indian adult vocational training law is embodied in its report to Congress on S. 1565. In its present form the bill would require that the program be made available to Indians who live on or near an Indian reservation without regard to residence on trust property. The effect, Mr. Ernst pointed out, would be to nullify a Department regulation which now makes the program available “primarily” to Indians in the top priority category proposed. He recommended that the bill be enacted only if amended as proposed.

“We believe," Mr. Ernst wrote, "that there is general agreement that the Department's first responsibility is to provide special Federal services to Indians who reside on trust or restricted land. For many years appropriations have been justified and made on that basis. Both the Department and the Congress have consistently taken the position that the Federal Government1s responsibility for providing special services to Indians stems from the original concentration of the Indian population in reservation areas on tax exempt land. Indians who leave the reservation areas to settle in towns and cities throughout the country become parts of communities in which they settle and cease to be a special Federal responsibility. They take their places as citizens of the State where they live, entitled to participate in the normal State and Federal programs.

"It is also generally agreed that the Indian trust property will support only a fraction of the Indians who are now living there. The United States has a responsibility to help solve the excess population problem. The Vocational Training Program is a very effective tool for relieving the population pressure on the inadequate land base. From the standpoint of the most effective use of Federal appropriations, this group should have first priority.

"Second priority as long as funds are limited should go to Indians who have voluntarily relocated themselves in areas removed from the reservations under the Bureau's relocation services program. Experience has shown that some of these Indians lack employment skills that are needed for a successful adaption to employment conditions, and that timely vocational training assistance may prevent some o£ them from giving up and returning to the reservations…

“Third priority should go to the Indians who live on or near reservations, but not on trust land. Inasmuch as they are living on taxable land, and are a part of the States and county system to a greater degree than are the Indians who are living on trust land, they should have a lesser priority than the Indians in the other two categories."

Mr. Ernst also noted that S. 1565 would eliminate language in the 1956 law which now limits annual appropriations for the Indian Adult Vocational Training program to $3,500,000. This, he said, would be “a desirable change" and would make the amount of the annual appropriation subject to the normal budgetary process.

At the end of June there were 901 Indian men and women, principally between 18 and 35, receiving vocational training under auspices of the Indian Bureau program in more than 50 schools in 16 States. In addition, the Bureau had on hand over 700 applications for vocational training, or considerably more than it can handle with funds available for the program in the present fiscal year.