OPA

Properties of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon, including the 694,000-acre tribal forest, have been appraised at a "realization value" of $121,659,618, Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson said today.

In a letter to Thomas B. Watters of Klamath Falls, management specialist supervising the Klamath termination program under the act of August 13, 1954, Under Secretary Chilson authorized Mr. Watters to proceed immediately with arrangements for a tribal election as provided in the termination statute.

In this election adult members of the tribe will decide for themselves and their minor dependents whether to remain in the tribal organization and participate in a plan of management of their share of the tribal assets or to withdraw and receive cash payment for their proportionate share of the tribal assets. The law provides for sale of a sufficient portion of the tribal property to pay off the withdrawing members.

In the letter to Mr. Watters, Under Secretary Chilson accepted the management plan for the residual tribal estate submitted by Mr. Watters, and this plan will be submitted to the members of the tribe for their consideration in determining their election to withdraw or to remain in the tribe. The plan provides for a private management trust of the tribal properties remaining after the "withdrawal" lands have been sold and the Federal trusteeship has been terminated.

The "realization value" given in the appraisal is defined as the price the tribal properties might be expected to bring if sold over a two-year period starting next August or September, as required by the law in its present form. It is also based on the assumption that approximately 70 percent of the tribal members will elect to withdraw, as indicated by a survey of tribal members made by Stanford Research Institute about two years ago.

Thus the “realization value”, Under Secretary Chilson explained, represents merely a reasonable expectation of the amount that may be realized if the law remains unchanged and approximately 70 percent of the members elect to withdraw.

As provided in the Klamath Termination Law, arrangements for the appraisal were made by the management specialists. Western Timber Services, Arcata, California, was the prime contractor.

The appraisal covered all tribal properties embraced within the 862,657-acre Klamath Reservation which was originally established under a treaty of 1864. This included 693,997 acres of forest land (predominantly ponderosa pine), 127,938 acres of rangeland, 23,421 acres of marshland, and farm, brush and wastelands as well as buildings, lookout towers and personal property belonging to the tribe.

In the appraisal the forest lands were divided into 96 logging units of varying size ranging all the way from 20 acres up to 91,000. Under the present law the forest property would have to be sold in such units as established by the management specialist.

The Department of the Interior today announced it intends to issue regulations governing removal of trust restrictions from lands belonging to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of eastern Oklahoma, without application by the owner.

The proposed regulations are in line with a 1955 congressional law which authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Interior to remove such restrictions in cases where he believes the Indian owner can manage his own affairs "with such reasonable degree of prudence and wisdom as will be apt to prevent him from losing his property or the benefits thereof.”

The Department intends to delegate authority to make these determinations to the Indian Bureau's Area Director for eastern Oklahoma with headquarters at Muskogee.

Under the proposed regulations, the Area Director would be called upon to consider a wide range of factors in making such determinations. These include the extent of the Indian owner's education, training and experience; his record in making an adequate living for himself and his family; the extent of his assets not covered by trust restrictions; his record in using assets or funds coming into his possession; and ether similar factors.

In all cases where the Area Director decided that the trust restrictions should be removed, the Indian owner would be given 60 days’ advance notice before actual issuance of the removal order and opportunity to present reasons why the order should not be issued. If the Area Director accepted these reasons, the order would net be issued. However, if he still felt the order should be issued, he would notify the Indian owner to that effect and the owner would be given another 30 days in which to appeal, through the Area Director, to the Secretary.

All removal orders would become effective six months after the date of issuance. During this period the Indian owner would have the additional right under the 1955 law to appeal to the county court in his county of residence to set aside the order. Boards of county commissioners also would have a right of appeal to the county courts for cancellation of the restriction removal orders.

The principal effects of an order removing restrictions would be to give the Indian full ownership and control of his property; to eliminate Federal and county controls over its lease, mortgage or sale; to make it taxable in most instances; and to terminate the Indian's eligibility for special services provided to him by the Federal Government because of his status as an Indian.

About 12,000 members of the Five Civilized Tribes--Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Creek-- now own property subject to trust restrictions. Nearly all are over 50 years of age.

The proposed regulations deal only with removal of trust restrictions in the absence of an application from the Indian owner. Orders removing restrictions upon applications of the owner have been issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for many years past.

A $51,306.45 contract for road construction on the Big Pine Reservation at Big Pine, Inyo County, California, has been awarded.to J. T. Smith Company, San Fernando, California, the Department of the Interior announced today.

It was the lowest of the fourteen bids received.

The construction of the 2.66 miles of road will give access to existing residential areas and other areas within the reservation.

The work is part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs program for improving Indian roads to standards acceptable for incorporation in county road systems. Upon completion, these roads are to become Inyo County roads.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today called attention to the proposed roll of the Ottawa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma which was published in the Federal Register March 21, 1958.

The roll, comprising 549 names, was compiled under the Ottawa Termination Act of 1956 by the Indian Bureau's area office at Muskogee, Okla. Appeals contesting the inclusion or omission of any name on or from the roll may be filed with the Secretary within 60 days of the date of publication. Only those people on the final roll after disposition of all appeals are entitled under the Termination Act to share in the benefits of tribal property.

Award of an $112,758 contract for grading, draining, and crushed gravel surfacing of 12.983 miles of road on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, from U. S. Highway 212 north to the Thunder Butte Indian settlement along the Moreau River, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bid, by E. Stoltenberg &Son of Naper, Nebraska, was the lowest of' 19 received. Higher bids ranged from $119,065.71 to $162,760.61.

When completed the road will provide an all-weather route from Thunder Butte to Dupree, Faith, Eagle Butte and other communities on and adjacent to the Cheyenne River Reservation. The construction is being undertaken as a part of the Indian Bureau’s broad program of bringing reservation roads up to standard so that they can be transferred to the county highway systems.

The work under this contract includes 304,842 cubic yards of unclassified excavation, 25,296 cubic yards of crushed gravel surface course, 3,696 linear feet of culvert pipe, and 94,942 feet of right-of-way fencing.

A $39,548 contract for construction of 14 earth-filled flood control structures in the Baboquivari district of the Papago Indian Reservation in Arizona has been awarded to M. A. Dunlap of Phoenix, the Department of the Interior announced today.

When completed, the structures will minimize flood damage to Indian homes, roads and lands on the reservation. They will also provide water for livestock and wildlife.

The project will involve the movement of 300,000 cubic yards of earth fill and placement of 1,370 feet of corrugated metal pipe in 12-inch, 18-inch, and 24-inch diameters. The structures will vary in length from 300 to 1,250 feet and in fill heights up to 40 feet.

Seven other bids besides Dunlap's were received. They ranged from $42,685 , to $66,186.50.

Award of contracts totaling about $217,000 for remodeling kitchens and dining facilities at Indian schools at Pierre and Flandreau, South Dakota, and Wahpeton, North Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

E. J. Pfeiffer Construction Company of Aberdeen, South Dakota, was awarded the job at Pierre on its bid of $63,798. The successful bidder on the work at Flandreau was H. L. Grohne Company, Decatur, Illinois, with a bid of $89,000. The $63,880 contract at Wahpeton was awarded to Comstock Construction Company, Wahpeton, North Dakota.

The work includes remodeling and redecorating of kitchen and dining facilities, installation of new kitchen equipment, and other work. The facilities are to be completed and ready for use prior to the beginning of the 1958 school term.

The schools are operated by the Indian Bureau. The one at Pierre is an elementary boarding school with an enrollment of 348 students. The vocational high school at Flandreau has an enrollment of 545 in grades 9 through 12. Approximately 365 pupils are enrolled in the elementary boarding school at Wahpeton.

Award of a $162,934.45 contract for the improvement of about six miles of road on the Navajo Indian Reservation at Ganado, Ariz., was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project will provide the last link of bituminous surfacing on the eastern half of Navajo Route 3 which runs across the big reservation connecting U. S. Highway 666 on the east with U. S. Highway 89 on the west. It will also connect with a recently completed concrete bridge across Ganado Wash.

The work involves regrading of roadways to a standard comparable with Navajo Route 3 in general and 5.959 miles of base course and bituminous surfacing.

The successful bidder was Flagstaff Paving and Equipment Company, Flagstaff, Ariz. Thirteen other bids were received ranging from $167,227.18 to $256,682.30.

Appointment of Dinsmore Taylor, an Olympia, Wash., attorney and former member of the Washington Tax Commission, as a management specialist to administer the program for termination of Federal trusteeship over the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

Mr. Taylor joins Thomas B. Watters of Klamath Falls, Oreg., who has been serving as Klamath management specialist since January 1955. The two other Oregonians named as management specialists at that time, William L. Phillips of Salem and Eugene Favell of Lakeview, have since resigned.

Born at Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1903, Mr. Taylor grew up in the State of Washington and attended both Washington State College and the University of Washington. After receiving a law degree from the latter institution in 1926, he served for 17 years as a member of the legal staff of the Puget Sound Title Insurance Company of Seattle.

In 1943 he was appointed manager of the Seattle District Office of the Washington Tax Commission and seven years later was named by Governor Arthur B. Langlie as a member of the three-man Commission. He served in this capacity until the expiration of his term in January 1957, and then was retained for another six months as an administrative consultant to the Commission.

As required by the Klamath Termination Act of 1954, Mr. Taylor's appointment was discussed with the Klamath tribal members in general meeting on the reservation March 22.

Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced that he has issued a notice to Colorado River Enterprises, Inc., successful bidder last August on an Indian reservation development lease in western Arizona, that the corporation has until May 7 to show cause why the lease should not be canceled.

The action was prompted by the corporation's failure to post a $5,000,000 performance bond as required by the terms of the lease contract.

The lease, covering some 67,000 acres on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in western Arizona, near Parker, was signed last August 13 under authority of the Colorado River Leasing Act of 1955 and provides for the development and irrigation of the Indian lands.

At the time of signing Stanford W. Barton, president of the corporation, gave the Department a check for $40,000 covering one year's advance rental on the lands. This check was not honored by the bank on which it was drawn. On September 26, however, Barton furnished the Department with cashiers’ checks in the required amount of $40,000.