OPA

The Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced the award of a $3,178,412 contract for construction of new boarding school facilities for more than 600 additional Indian children in the elementary grades at Leupp, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.

The new plant will have a capacity of 672 pupils. It will replace a 67-pupil school now operated by the Bureau at Leupp. Upon completion of the new facilities, the present school will be abandoned.

Construction of the new school is part of the Indian Bureau's long-range program to provide educational opportunities for all Indian children. Since the program was initiated on the Navajo Reservation five years ago, enrollment of Navajo children in schools of all types has increased from about 14,000 to over 28,000 in the school year that ended last spring.

Included in the Leupp construction contract are a 25-classroom and multipurpose building, four dormitories with a capacity of 168 pupils each, a kitchen and dining hall, an office building, a bus garage, a maintenance shop, a firehouse and warehouse, concrete sidewalks and play areas, paved streets and parking areas, utility systems, and quarters for 82 employees.

The successful bidder is Craftsman Construction Company, Denver, Colo. Their bid includes $7,000 for providing the streets with bituminous surfacing rather than gravel as called for in the Bureau’s basic invitation. Even with this addition, the bid was the lowest of 19 received. The others ranged from $3,205,700 to $3,710,000.

Award of a $43,000 bridge construction project on the Wind River Reservation, Fremont County, Wyoming, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project, on the Fort Washakie-Arapahoe Road, involves the construction of a three-span steel H-beam bridge with concrete deck, making use of the existing abutments and piers, widening the roadway and increasing the loading design.

The road is a school bus route and services a large number of Indian families in an irrigated district and completes a through route between Fort Washakie and Riverton, Wyoming.

The construction work is a part of a Bureau of Indian Affairs program for the improvement of Indian roads to standards acceptable for incorporation into Fremont County highway system. Upon completion of construction of this bridge, the structure will become a Fremont County bridge. It will be constructed over the Little Wind River about It miles south and 14 miles east of the town site of Fort Washakie.

The successful bidder was Vern H. Miller of Lander, Wyoming. Eight other bids were received ranging from $48,250.70 to $69,834

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton and Acting Secretary of Agriculture D. Morse today announced the signing of an agreement with the Department of Agriculture for the free distribution of feed grains to Navajo Indians in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, for the maintenance of subsistence livestock.

The program is being initiated, Secretary Seaton said, because of the acute economic distress produced among Navajo tribal members as a result of drought conditions in previous years.

President Eisenhower has already designated the entire Navajo Reservation as an "acute distress area" for purposes of the program.

To be eligible, a Navajo Indian must own not more than 20 "animal units” of livestock maintained primarily for subsistence purposes and must be found by the tribe to be in need of such assistance. An "animal unit" is defined as one cow, one bull or steer, two heifers, three calves, five sheep or goats, or seven lambs or kids.

The grains will be made available from stocks of the Commodity Credit Corporation and will be delivered in carload lots at one or more central locations in response to orders placed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Navajo Tribe will take over responsibility for storing and handling the grains at the delivery points and for distributing them to the eligible Indians.

Distribution will be limited to not more than four pounds of feed per animal unit each day.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced the details of a proposed $10,000 program under the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1954 to improve and maintain roads on Indian reservations in 24 states.

To carry out the program, the Department is asking Congress for a supplemental appropriation of $3,900,000 in addition to the amounts of $2,897,000 for Indian road construction and $2,043,000 for Indian road maintenance already appropriated for the fiscal year 1955. Contract authority in the amount of $1,160,000, provided by the Federal Aid Highway Act, would be used to round out the $10,000,000 program.

A substantial portion of these funds will be used to meet payments for contracts to be awarded to private contracting firms under competitive bidding.

The proposed program provides for grading and draining 463.8 miles of reservation roads, surfacing 436 miles, and constructing 2,594 running feet of bridges. Most of the work will be on reservations in the western states. Projects are included, however, for the Seminole reservation in Florida, the Choctaw reservation in Mississippi, the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina, and the Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Menominee reservations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

One of the major objectives of the program will be to bring reservation roads up to acceptable standards so that they can be turned over to the counties for maintenance. Federal responsibility for constructing Indian roads is based primarily on the tax-exempt status of Indian trust lands. However, since most of the county road maintenance funds are derived from gasoline taxes and motor vehicle license fees, which Indians pay the same as other citizens, the counties are generally willing to assume maintenance of these roads after they have been improved by the Federal Government. More than 1,000 miles of reservation roads have been transferred to the counties for maintenance in the past few years.

Another important aim of the program is to promote more widespread economic and social progress and greater self-sufficiency among the Indian people. Construction of all-weather roads on the reservations will help in the marketing of Indian agricultural and livestock products, in the protection of Indian forests and the harvesting of timber, and in the development of mineral resources such as coal, uranium, fertilizer, and oil. In some areas, such as the Southwest, improvement of reservation roads will also play an important part in the Indian Bureau’s intensive drive to provide schooling for all Indian children at the earliest possible date.

To make all roads and trails improvements needed on Indian reservations, the Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates that $134,000,000 will be required. The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1954 authorized $10,000,000 for Indian road construction and maintenance for the 1955 fiscal year and a like amount for the fiscal years 1956 and 1957. This is a considerable increase in the Bureau’s road program which has ranged from $3,000,000 to $6,000,000 in the postwar years.

The Bureau is currently responsible for maintaining about 15,000 miles of primary and secondary roads and approximately 4,000 miles of truck trails serving reservations or other Indian areas.

Following are the allocations of funds proposed for each of the Bureau’s administrative areas together with the more important projects contemplated under the 1955 fiscal program.

The Aberdeen Area, which covers North and South Dakota and Nebraska, will be allocated $900,000 for rad improvements. Among the more important improvements are the Shelby Bus road and the Harrison Creek road on the Crow Creek reservation in South Dakota - $91,700. On the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota improvements will be made to the American Horse Creek road, Agency streets, the Porcupine-Wounded Knee road, the Porcupine-Sharps Store road, and the Eagle Nest-Wanblee Kyle Road in the amount of $311,600. The St. Francis Spring Creek road on the Rosebud reservation is being allocated $115,800. Improvements to the Veblen South road on the Sisseton reservation will cost $71,100. The Grand River road on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota will be allocated $119,100. On the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota $55,500 will be allocated to the improvement of the Gordon Lake road and the Belcourt South road. The Santee-Howe Creek road on the Santee reservation in Nebraska will be allocated $30,500; and the Cherry Creek road on the Cheyenne River reservation in South Dakota will be allocated $104,900.

An allocation of $400,000 is being made for road construction work on the reservations in New Mexico and Colorado under jurisdiction of the former Albuquerque Area Office. Project allocations include $59,300 for the road and the Strain road on the Consolidated Ute reservation in Colorado, and in New Mexico $62,000 for the Las Norias road on the Jicarilla reservation, $64,000 for improvements on the Elk Silver road on the Mescalero reservation, $100,400 for road improvements on the San Felipe, Teseque, and Taos Pueblos, and $100,000 for the Zuni West road on the Zuni reservation.

The Anadarko Area, covering reservations in Western Oklahoma, will be allocated $195,605. This will cover improvements on the Calumet road, Canton road, the Fort Cobb River road, Spring Creek road, and the Watchhorn road. These improvements are on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Kiowa, and Pawnee Indian reservations.

An allocation of $450,000 is being made to the Billings Area which covers reservations in Montana and Wyoming. Among the projects are the Heart Butte Short Cut road on the Blackfeet reservation - $62,500; Little Horn Feeler roads on the Crow reservation - $68,500; the Agency Hays Road on the Fort Belknap reservation - $66,500; the Laredo road on the Rocky Boy’s reservation - $26,000; the Wiota School roads and Box Elder-Fort Kipp road on the Fort Peck reservation - $93,800; and the Fort Washakie-Arapaho road on the Wind River reservation in Wyoming - $68,600.

An allocation of $400,000 is being made to the Minneapolis Area which covers reservations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina. Among the projects are the Old South Brench and Old Stockbridge roads on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin - $78,450; the Redby Ponensh road on the Red Lake reservation in Minnesota - $64,000; the Big Cove and Bunchess Creek roads on the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina - $67,000; the Mineral Center-Grand Portage road on the Grand Portage reservation in Minnesota - $34,000; the Mission road and Shady Rest road on the Leech Lake reservation in Minnesota - $36,000; the Reserve-Hayward road on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation in Wisconsin - $36,250; the Wilson-Hannaville road in Upper Michigan - $32,000; the Herman road on the L’Anse reservation in Michigan - $20,540.

An allocation of $300,000 will be made to the Muskogee Area, covering eastern Oklahoma, Mississippi and Florida. Project allocations include $109,00 to the Choctaw agency for improvements to the Pearl River-Necie and Community Loop roads in Mississippi; $151,000 to the Five Tribes agency in Eastern Oklahoma for improvements to the Milan, Dry Creek, Chewey-Chance, and Marble City roads; $47,000 to the Seminole agency in Florida for improvements on the Devils Garden road on the Big Cypress reservation, the Indian Prairie bridge on the Brighton reservation, and the Agency Reserve road on the Dania reservation.

An allocation of $999,395 will made to the Phoenix Area which covers reservations, not including Navajo, in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Among the projects are the Valley Farm roads on the Colorado River reservation - $191,000; the Supai Canyon road on the Hualapai reservation - $35,000; the Cibeque White River on the Fort Apache reservation - $60,000; the Wadsworth-Nixon road on the Pyramid Lake reservation in Nevada - $97,500; the Covered Wells-Chuichu road on the Papago reservation in Arizona - $206,700; the Maricopa Colony and Post roads on the Gila River reservation in Arizona - $90,700; the San Carlos-Peridot road on the San Carlos reservation in Arizona - $49,000; and the White Rocks road on the Uintah and Ouray reservation in Utah - $83,000.

An allocation of $850,000 will be made to the Portland Area, covering reservations in the States of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Among the projects to be built are the Joe Moses Creek, Park City, and Silver Creek roads on the Colville reservation in Washington - $118,215; the Ford-Willpint road on the Spokane reservation in Washington - $100,000; the Shoeship-Curl-Kanine roads on the Umatilla reservation in Oregon - $40,000; the Worley-State Line road on the Coeur D’Alene reservation in Idaho - $50,000; the Sheepskin-Niwo-Lodge-Poog-Pauguitch-Silver roads on the Fort Hall reservation in Idaho - $81,625; the Lam-Codowa-Yellow Jack Spring Creek roads on the Klamath reservation in Oregon - $80,000; the Clallam Bay-Neah Bay road on the Makah reservation in Washington - $33,00; the Tahola Village Streets on the Quinault reservation in Washington - $203,000; and the Agency and Simnasho-He He roads on the Warm Springs reservation in Oregon - $101,610.

An allocation of $600,000 will be made to the Sacramento Area, covering reservations and rancherias in the State of California. Agreements have already been concluded between California counties and the Indian Bureau to take over all roads which the Indian Bureau improves. The projects include the improvement of 5.6 miles on Indian roads in Mendocino County - $75,900; Indian roads in Placer county, .8 miles - $12,000; Del Norte County Indian roads, 4.3 miles - $72,900; Indian roads in Humboldt County, which includes the Hoopa Valley reservation, 13.35 miles - $153,000; Indian roads in Inyo County, 5.0 miles -$98,800; Riverside County Indian roads, 4.0 miles - $58,300; and Sonoma County Indian roads, 1.8 miles - $38,800.

An allocation of $2,065,000 will be made to the Gallup Area to complete roads on the Navajo reservation under the long range rehabilitation program. Projects include the St. Michaels-Sawmill Junction road, 6.6 miles - $278,000; St. Michaels bridge - $15,000; the Ganado Wash bridge - $33,000; road to Ganado, 1.3 miles - $45,000; the Holbrook Junction-Keams Canyon road, 12.8 miles - $485,000; the Dinnebito Wash Bridge - $129,000; the Hamblin Wash bridge - $108,000; the Tuba City to U.S. Highway 89 road, 11 miles - $387,000; the Tuba City airstrip - $15,000; the Kayenta airstrip - $15,000; the Shiprock-Mexican Water road, 10 miles -$270,000; the Shiprock Wash bridge - $185,000; surveys and plans - $100,000.

An allocation of $535,000 is being made to the Phoenix Area for the following projects on the Hopi reservation: The Old Oraibi to Bacabi road, 3.1 miles - $199,000; the Bacabi to Dinnebito Wash road, 5.2 miles - $176,000; the Polacca Wash Bridge - $125,000; surveys and plans - $36,000.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons will be in a Portland March 4 and 5 for a meeting arranged by an unofficial committee of the American Bankers Association with trust officers of several banks in the Pacific Northwest region, the Department of the Interior announced today. The meeting will be concerned with problems involved in protecting the assets of Klamath Indians who are minors or otherwise not capable of managing their affairs after the termination of Federal trusteeship which is provided for in Public Law 587.

The committee which arranged the meeting consists of three members who will themselves be in attendance. It was appointed by the President of the American Bankers Association at the 1954 annual Trust Conference in New York the request of Commissioner Emmons, to advise and assist the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Indian trust problems.

Chairman of the committee is Edwin P. Neilan, President of the Equitable Security Trust Co., Washington, Del. The other members are John W. Remington, President of the Lincoln Rochester Trust Co., Rochester, N.Y., and Richard G. Stockton, chairman of the executive committee, Wachovia Bank and Trust Co., Winston-Salem, No. Car.

The major topic for discussion centers around Section 15 of the Klamath Termination Act of 1954 which provides that “prior to the transfer of title to, or the removal of restrictions from, property in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Secretary shall protect the rights of the members of the tribe who are minors, non compos mentis, or in the opinion of the Secretary in need of assistance in conduction their affairs, by causing the appointment of guardians for such members in courts of competent jurisdiction, or by such other means as he may deem adequate.”

The discussions will be concerned chiefly with the practicability and desirability of establishing private trust arrangements as one means of safeguarding the property of Klamath tribal members in the categories mentioned.

Commissioner Emmons will be accompanied by the Indian Bureau’s Legislative Associate Commissioner, H. Rex. Lee, and by Assistant Commissioner Thomas M. Reid.

Awarding of a $40,880 contract to Erhardt Dahl Andersen of Pocatello, Idaho, for preliminary construction work on the Michaud Unit of the Fort Hall (Idaho) Indian Irrigation Project was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract covers construction of a concrete block warehouse, approximately 40 by 80 feet, and the drilling and installation of a domestic well at the Portneuf River Pumping Station about eight miles northwest of Pocatello. The warehouse will be used to house equipment and personnel during the construction phase of the project and will be available, after construction, for operation and maintenance purposes.

The Michaud Unit, designed to provide irrigation for about 21,000 acres on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, was first authorized by Congress in 1931 and reauthorized in 1954. Funds were provided in 1956 for beginning construction work in the present fiscal year. Estimated cost of the total project is $5,500,000 to be spent over a period of five years.

Seven bids were received for the warehouse construction and well drilling contract ranging from the Andersen bid of $40,880 to a high of $56,671.54.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today made a public statement on the current status of a claim against the United States filed with the Indian Claims commission in 1948 by the Creek Indian Tribe.

The claim involves compensation for about nine million acres in Georgia and Alabama, ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Fort Jackson in 1814.

Commissioner Emmons’ statement was prompted by the large volume of correspondence the Department of the Interior has received from people in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, who feel they are entitled to share in the claim. Many of these people, he said, apparently have been misinformed concerning the status of the claim and the steps that will be necessary for them to establish any rights they may have.

The Indian Claims Commission is an independent Federal agency and not a part of the Department of the Interior. The text of Commissioner Emmons’ statement follows:

“The claim of the Creek Indians against the Government has not yet been determined finally. The case is still pending before the Indian Claims Commission. If the final judgment is favorable to the claimants, it would be necessary for the Congress to appropriate such amount as may be due the Indians, and these funds would then be placed in the Treasury of the United states to the credit of the Creek Indians.

“In these circumstances it would be necessary for Congress by separate legislation to authorize the distribution of this money and either specify in such law, in general terms, the qualifications of those who would be entitled to share in the distribution consistent with the findings of the Indian Claims Commission or authorize the Secretary of the Interior to do this by regulation.

"Application blanks, for which there would be no charge, would be made available by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and information given as to where they may be obtained and when, with whom, and by what date they should be filed. Information would also be given as to the information or facts which must be furnished in support of such application.

“At that time a deadline would be established for filing the application. Thereafter the Commissioner of Indian Affairs would proceed to examine each application and determine the eligibility of the applicant. When this work has completed, a roll would be prepared of those entitled to share and on the basis of the number of persons on such roll and the amount of funds available for distribution, the per capita share of each enrolled person would be fixed.

“The employment of a genealogist or other person to trace the ancestry of an applicant is not a requirement of the Government but a matter for each individual to determine for himself. The Government does not require the payment of a fee for filing applications.”

In line with a commitment made three years ago by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons, Clinton O. Talley, superintendent of the Fort Peck Indian Agency at Poplar, Montana, will transfer March 10 to the comparable position at Mescalero, New Mexico, the Department of the Interior announced today.

In 1954 Mr. Talley undertook the Fort Peck assignment with some reluctance, because of difficulties which earlier superintendents had experienced there, and was assured by Commissioner Emmons that he would be called upon to serve in the post for only two years. His transfer to Mescalero at this time is in fulfillment of this earlier understanding.

In shifting to the superintendency at Mescalero, Mr. Talley will succeed Walter O. Olson, who moved into the Bureau's area office at Gallup, N. Mex., as assistant director for administration January 27 e At Fort Peck, Talley will be replaced on March 10 by David Paul Weston, who is now in charge of land operations in the area office at Muskogee, Okla.

Before going to Fort Peck in 1954, Mr. Talley served for six years in the Muskogee area office, first as land officer and later as assistant area director. He is a veteran of more than 30 years l service with the Bureau and saw duty at several field installations as chief clerk, subagent, principal-teacher, and education field agent before becoming district agent of the old Five Tribes Agency at Durant, Okla., in 1938. After nine years in this assignment, he left the Bureau for one year and returned as land officer at Muskogee in 1948. He was born in Murray, Okla., in 1904, graduated from high school at Nucla, Colo., and attended Adams State College, Colo., and the State College at Flagstaff, Ariz.

As preparation for the Fort Peck assignment, Mr. Weston has about 11 years of experience with the Bureau, mainly in soil conservation work. Before entering his present job in 1953, he was soil conservationist for two years at Pine Ridge Agency, S. Dak., four years at Winnebago Agency, Nebr., and several months at Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency Okla. During World War II he served with the Army for five years and emerged with the rank of captain. He was born in Macomb, Okla., in 1919 and is a graduate of Oklahoma A. and M. College.

Mr. Olson joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in June 1940, as a trainee in the Southwest field training program under a Rockefeller Foundation grant, National Institute of Public Affairs. In 1941, he was named assistant superintendent, United Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque, N. Mex. In 1946 he was named superintendent of the Zuni Agency in New Mexico and in 1948 became associate area director, Navajo-Hopi jurisdiction, Window Rock, Ariz. In 1952 he transferred to the Technical Cooperation Administration as deputy assistant administrator for Near East and Africa. Two years later he returned to the Bureau as superintendent at Mescalero.

He was born in St. Anthony, Idaho, in 1914 and attended the University of Idaho, and was graduated in 1940. He took leave of absence from the Bureau in 1947 to get a master's degree at the University of Idaho.

Award of a $216,700 contract to Fairbanks Morse and Company of Portland, Oregon, for irrigation pumps for the Michaud Unit of the Fort Hall, (Idaho) Indian Irrigation Project was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

The project is planned for completion in 1962 at an estimated total cost of $5,500,000.

The contract covers the furnishing of three vertical shaft centrifugal volute pumps of 110 cubic feet per second capacity at normal head of 92.4 feet to be delivered at Pocatello, Idaho, and installed in the proposed Portneuf Pumping Station about eight miles northwest of Pocatello.

The pumps are to be directly connected to 1,500 horsepower motors and will include the necessary control equipment. They will be used to lift water from the Portneuf River into the gravity system which will supply the 21,000 acre Michaud Unit of the Fort Hall, Project.

Four bids were received for this contract ranging from the low of $216,700 to $313,727.

Design work on the pumping station and appurtenant works is now in progress. It is anticipated that invitations for bids for their construction will be issued within the next few months. The contract for furnishing the pumps precedes the contract for construction of the pumping station due to the long delivery period incident to manufacture of large pumps.

Significant advances in Indian education and a broadening of economic opportunities for tribal members were achieved in the fiscal year which ended last June 30, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons reported to Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton. The report is included in the Department's annual report for Fiscal 1956 released today.

In education Commissioner Emmons reported a seven percent increase in Navajo school enrollment bringing the total up to a record level of 25,287 students as contrasted with about 14,000 in 1953. In five other tribal areas a “pilot” program of adult education was launched to provide the people with literacy in English and other basic training.

On the economic front good progress was achieved in further development of reservation resources, attraction of new industry to the periphery of reservations, and provision of relocation services to Indian workers and families seeking job opportunities in metropolitan areas.

Resource development was pushed through continued extension of Indian irrigation projects, additional expansion of soil and moisture conservation work, and other similar activities. Sales and local sawmill use of Indian timber were sharply stepped up in the calendar year 1955 bringing in a total income of nearly $12,000,000 for the Indian owners or nearly a third higher than in 1954. Combined Indian income from oil and gas reached an all-time high of more than $41,000,000.

A program to foster the establishment of manufacturing or processing plants on the periphery of reservations was set up under an Assistant to the Commissioner and numerous contacts were made with industrial firms throughout the country. By June 30, plants of this type were either operating or definitely in process at Kingman, Ariz., near the Hualapai Reservation; Cherokee, N. C., near the Cherokee Reservation; and Gallup, N. Mex., near the Navajo Reservation.

The number of individuals who applied for and received relocation assistance increased to 5,316 as compared with 3,461 the preceding year. The 1956 total included 1,051 family groups, 732 unattached men and 373 unattached women.