OPA

Award of a $73,494.33 contract for construction of additional floor space in the dormitory facilities for Indian children at Snowflake, Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bidder is D. H. Walker Construction Co., Inc. of Phoenix. The only other bid was submitted by Bob Roberts & Associates in the amount of $87,430.

The dormitory is operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Navajo children attending the public school at Snowflake. Approximately 120 Indian students above grade 5 or 12 years of age are enrolled there.

Included in the project are additions to existing buildings, relocation of quarters trailers, construction of a storage building, and minor utilities.

DeGree Construction Co. of Bend, Oregon, will construct a $69,895 four classroom school building at Warm Springs, Oregon, under a contract awarded by the Indian Bureau, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Six other contractors submitted higher bids ranging from $77,500 to $94,937.

Approximately 230 pupils are now enrolled in the Warm Springs School which is operated by the Indian Bureau. New classrooms will relieve an overcrowded condition, and, in keeping with the Bureau's aim to provide adequate educational opportunities for Indians, the additional space will permit the school to meet standards set by the State of Oregon.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of legislation extending the life of the tribal government of Oklahoma’s Osage Indians until 1984, it was announced today.

The principal function of the Osage tribal government, which is scheduled to expire in 1959 under existing law is to participate with the Secretary of the Interior in the execution of leases for development and extraction of the minerals that were reserved to the Tribe in Osage County, Oklahoma, under 1906 legislation.

Although the original reservation of the minerals was for only 25 years, this has been extended by subsequent enactments to April 8, 1983. For this reason, the Department favors the enactment of S. 1417 which would extend the life of the tribal government for a similar period.

The tribal government consists of a principal chief, an assistant principal chief, and eight council members. All are chosen at a general election held at Pawhuska, Okla., every four years.

Sanders Construction Company, Ltd, of Farmington, New Mexico, has been awarded a $51,513 contract for construction of additional dormitory facilities at Aztec, New Mexico, the Department of Interior announced today.

Two higher bids for the work, ranging from $52,647 to $57,389 were received by the Indian Bureau.

The contract calls for construction of a metal kitchen and dining hall building and extensions of two metal dormitory buildings.

Over 120 Navajo children enrolled in the public schools of Aztec are quartered in the dormitories which are operated by the Bureau as a part of its program aimed at making available educational opportunities for all Indian children. In keeping with the Bureau's policy of encouraging younger children to remain with their parents, only students above the fifth grade or age 12 are permitted to stay in the dormitories.

Award of a $136,837.21 contract for grading, draining, and crushed-gravel surfacing of 11.6 miles of road on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota, to Roy Kindt of Winner, South Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Roy Kindt was the low bidder. Five other bids were received, ranging from $140,927.37 to $161,914.18.

This project will complete the improvement of 38.4 miles of road from U. S. Highway 18 north to Wounded Knee, Porcupine, Sharps, and Rockyford on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The road when completed will provide all-weather transportation for 200 Indian families residing in the central section of the reservation.

The principal items of work under this contract are 350,000 cubic yards of unclassified excavation, 25,000 cubic yards of crushed-gravel surface course, and 4,300 linear feet of various sizes of culvert pipe.

Award of a $163,641.18 contract to Roy Kindt of Winner, South Dakota, for 7.2 miles of grading, drainage and crushed gravel base construction on the road from Rosebud to U. S. Highway 18 on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, S. Dak., was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Roy Kindt was the low bidder. Three other higher bids were received ranging from $172,744.84 to $175,142.18.

Asphalt paving is proposed next year to complete the improvement of this road and provide for all-weather travel to and from the community and Indian Agency located at Rosebud in Todd County, South Dakota.

The principle work under this contract is 258,000 cubic yards of excavation, 28,000 tons of crushed-gravel base, 3,000 linear feet of culvert pipe and 70,000 gallons of asphaltic material for bituminous treatment of base course.

The work is being undertaken as a part of the Indian Bureau's broad program of bringing reservation roads up to approved standards so that they can be transferred to county highway systems.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced the Bureau of Indian Affairs has awarded contracts totaling $51,582 to furnish transformers, substation equipment and steel framework for a substation at the Portneuf pumping station of the Michaud Irrigation Division near Pocatello, Idaho.

The contracts were for $31,187 to the R. E. Uptegraff Manufacturing Company, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and for $20,395 to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Portland, Oregon.

The Uptegraff and Westinghouse combination bid compares with the next lower acceptable bid of $60,300.

The $5,500,000, Michaud Division is located on the Fort Hall Indian reservation and when constructed will be a unit of the Fort Hall Irrigation project. It adjoins the Michaud Flats project of the Bureau of Reclamation. The Michaud Division of the Indian irrigation project was originally authorized by Congress in 1931 and reauthorized in 1954.

When completed the project will irrigate 21,000 acres of which 17,443 acres are in Indian ownership. The project facilities include the Portneuf pumping station with a 3,200-foot discharge pipe, 31.8 miles of open main canals and approximately 75 miles of concrete pipe laterals. Three secondary pumping stations will be located in the distribution system.

To enable the Navajo Tribe to expand its industrial development program, Under Secretary Hatfield Chilson has signed an order transferring 75 acres of the Coconino National Forest, near Flagstaff, Arizona, to the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The withdrawal was arranged by the Department's Bureau of Land Management.

From its income from oil and gas leases the Navajo Tribe has appropriated $600,000 for industrial development to provide additional employment opportunities for its members. Under this program Lear, Inc., of Santa Monica, California, recently established an electronics assembly plant at Flagstaff. This plant, already in operation, is known as Lear-Navajo and employs Indians in all but supervisory and technical positions. In its agreement with Lear, Inc., the Navajo Tribe is furnishing a building rent free for an initial period, with a stipulation that a new building will be erected according to the needs of Lear-Navajo under a long-term rental arrangement.

The tract acquired lies close to the city of Flagstaff and adjacent to the Santa Fe railroad's main line. It thus provides a splendid site for industrial development either by Lear, Inc., or by other concerns, according to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons, and should materially increase full-time employment for Navajo people living on or near their reservation.

The Secretary of the Interior's approval of the original request by Paul Jones, Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council, makes the land available to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which, in turn, through its area office in Gallup, New Mexico, will make the tract available to the Navajo for development as an industrial site. The exclusion will affect only slightly the area of the Coconino National Forest which consists of 1,802,990 acres.

Two Indian Bureau personnel changes involving positions in North Dakota were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Harold W. Schunk, superintendent of the Turtle Mountain Agency at Belcourt, N. Dak. for the past three years, was transferred June 30 to the comparable position at Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, N. Dak. He succeeds Joseph W. Wellington whose transfer to the superintendency of the Wahpeton School, Wahpeton, N. Dak., was previously announced.

At Turtle Mountain Mr. Schunk will be replaced July 8 by Herman P. Mittelholtz, now realty officer for the Bureau at Bemidji, Minn.

Mr. Schunk has been with the Bureau since 1933 when he was appointed camp manager at Rosebud, S. Dak. His duties with the Bureau have included a principal ship at the Cherry Creek, S. Dak., Cheyenne Agency, agricultural instruction, and education specialization. In November 1954 he was promoted to the position of superintendent and assigned to Turtle Mountain. He was born July 25, 1907 at Philip, S. Dak., and is a graduate of Southern State Teachers College, Springfield, S. Dak., where he received his B. S. degree in 1931.

Mr. Mittelholtz has been with the Bureau since 1941 when he was appointed teacher at the Fort Berthold Agency Community School at Elbowoods, N. Dak. Since that time he has served in various capacities with the Bureau ranging from a principal ship of the Jicarilla Apache Agency School to realty work with the Great Lakes Consolidated Agency. He has been realty officer at Bemidji, Minn., since February 1956.

He was born in 1909 at Munich, N. Dak., and is a graduate of Bemidji State Teachers College, Bemidji, Minn.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced awarding of a $70,395 contract for base course road surfacing on the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, to Allison &Haney, Inc., of Albuquerque.

The project begins at the junction of New Mexico Highways 32 and 53 south of Gallup and runs 9.833 miles westward along Route 53 to the Zuni Pueblo. Allison & Haney, Inc. was the low bidder. Higher bids ranged from $74,520.94 to $95,153.

The job is part of the Indian Bureau's broad program of bringing reservation roads up to acceptable standards so they can be transferred to county highway systems. When completed, the road will be transferred to the New Mexico State Highway Department for further improvement and maintenance.

The principal work under this contract will involve 23,857 tons of select borrow base and 28,536 tons of crushed gravel. The highway department has agreed to place a bituminous surface.

The completion of this section will provide a bituminous surfaced highway all the way from the Zuni Pueblo to Gallup. Improvement was made necessary by the increased volume of traffic which rendered the old gravel surface almost nonexistent.