OPA

American Indians, widely considered a vanishing race in the early years of the present century, are now increasing at a faster rate than the whole United States population, the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior reported today.

The annual growth rate for the Nation's Indian population during the decade of the 1950's was about 2.5 percent as compared with 1.7 percent for the entire country.

Despite recent advances, however, the Indians between the Canadian and Mexican borders have quite a way to go before they reach the numerical level of their ancestors at the time of Columbus, the Bureau emphasizes. The best available estimate of the indigenous population of what is now the United States, excluding Alaska, around the year 1500 is roughly 846,000. The 1960 Census showed 509,147 Indians living in the same area.

The explanation of this seeming paradox lies in the fact that the indigenous population between the Canadian and Mexican borders went into a long decline following the original intrusions from western Europe--a decline that lasted nearly 400 years. Wars and campaigns of extermination were major factors. But the most important cause seems to have been the introduction of “new" diseases from across the Atlantic. Some of these, like smallpox and tuberculosis, had a literally devastating effect on tribal populations never previously exposed to them. The peoples of western Europe, by contrast, had built up some degree of immunity against their ravages over the course of centuries.

In the latter years of the 19th Century the number of Indians reached a low point of less than a quarter million. Then, for reasons not yet fully understood (possibly involving the gradual acquisition of disease immunities), it turned a corner and has been moving upward ever since.

Today's Indian population, however, differs from that of the Columbian period in that it contains a very large admixture of non-Indian blood, While full-blood Indians predominate on reservations in states like Arizona and New Mexico, they constitute a small minority even among the people counted as Indians on the Turtle Mountain Reservation of North Dakota, for example, and in areas that formerly comprised reservations in Oklahoma.

Congress has provided the Bureau of Indian Affairs with no "all-purpose" definition of an Indian and the blood quantum requirements vary for different purposes. In North Carolina's Eastern Band of Cherokee only a thirty-second degree of Cherokee ancestry is required for membership.

The number of Indians now residing on reservations under Federal jurisdiction is approximately 285,000, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The native population of Alaska includes about 14,000 Indians and roughly 29,000 Eskimos and Aleuts.

Three major personnel changes in the Bureau of Indian Affairs involving the area offices at Muskogee, Okla., and Minneapolis, Minn., were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Paul L. Fickinger, area director at Muskogee since 1954, has been named special assistant to Deputy Commissioner John O. Crow and will be stationed at Albuquerque, N. Mex. His first major assignment will be to supervise a comprehensive survey of the adequacy of the Bureau's buildings and plants, consisting largely of school plants, located at its field installations throughout the country.

As area director at Muskogee, Fickinger will be replaced by Graham E. Holmes, the Departments assistant solicitor in charge of Indian legal activities and a former superintendent and assistant area director with the Indian Bureau.

At Minneapolis the new area director will be James E. Hawkins, former area director at Juneau, Alaska. He succeeds Robert D. Holtz who transferred to the area director's post at Portland, Oreg., last May. Thomas L. Carter, who has been serving as acting area director at Minneapolis since Holtz' transfer, will resume his regular duties as assistant area director.

Fickinger, a native of Maxwell, Iowa, and graduate of the University of New Mexico, .has been with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 30 years. Before coming to Muskogee in 1954, he was in charge of the office at Billings, Mont., for eight years and had 12 years of service in the Bureaus national headquarters at Washington, D. C., and Chicago, Ill.

Holmes was born at Whitefield, Okla., and holds a law degree from the University of Arkansas. He has been assistant solicitor for Indian legal activities for about a year and earlier served with the Bureau as assistant area director at Gallup, N. Mex., superintendent at Rosebud, S. Dak., area counsel at Aberdeen, S. Dak., and probate attorney at Wewoka, Okla.

Hawkins was born at Buenos Aires, Argentine, of North American parents and has both a bachelor's and a master's degree in education from Pennsylvania State University. He joined the Bureau in 1958 as area director at Juneau and earlier served as executive director of the Alaska Rural Development Board and as a superintendent and teacher in the Territorial schools.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall has sent a letter of congratulations to the Papago Candy Stripers, a group of 18 Arizona Indian girls who recently won first place honors from Parents' Magazine for youth group achievement in teenage public service.

On November 24 the Indian Hospital at Sells, Arizona, was the setting for a ceremony at which the Papago Candy Stripers were presented with the first place plaque and a cash prize of $500 for their outstanding volunteer work in the hospital.

The Secretary's letter, addressed to Miss Leona Thomas, President of the youth group at the time of the award nomination, read:

"Dear Miss Thomas:

"As president of the Papago Candy Stripers for the 1961-62 season, please convey to your fellow members and associates my warmest congratulations on taking the first prize in the Parents' Magazine Youth Group Achievement Awards for teen-age public service in 1961-1962.

"This, in itself, is an outstanding achievement well deserving commendation. In addition, as the first teen-agers to do volunteer work in any Indian hospital, you young ladies have set an example for other young Indian girls who may want to make a special contribution of services to their communities.

"All of us who have the privilege of working with the Papago people are tremendously proud of the Papago Candy Stripers and their record of helpful service to the patients and the staff of the hospital at Sells.”

The Papago Candy Stripers originated after several ninth-grade students of the Sells Consolidated School read a teen-age novel entitled "Candy Striper," by Lee Wyndham (Julian Messner, Inc., 1958).

Special permission had to be obtained from the United States Public Health Service to lower the customary minimum age requirement of 16 years for visitors or volunteers in PHS Indian hospitals. This done, the group formed in November 1961, and began actual work inside the Sells Indian Hospital, on the Papago Indian Reservation in Arizona, in January 1962. Membership has ranged in number from 10 to 22 girls, in the 13 to 17 year age groups, and a larger membership is possible when girls in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades in off-reservation schools return home.

Candy Stripers, both boys and girls, are approximately 150,000 strong at present, and active in an estimated one-third of the Nation's hospitals; but the Papago Candy Stripers are the first such group of teen-age hospital volunteers to be found in any Indian hospital in the United States. Since they began working in the Sells hospital, these girls have contributed more than 1500 hours of afterschool time and Saturdays toward helping their own people, patients in the hospital.

Although the traditional uniform of the Candy Stripers (from which the organization takes its name) is pink or red and white stripes, the Papago girls chose turquoise stripes for their pinafores because tU1~quoise is a "traditional" Indian stone and color.

Financial and technical advice and help have been given to the Papago Candy Stripers by a variety of groups and individuals, including Mrs. Lee Wyndham, Morristown, N. J., the writer whose book inspired the girls to undertake their volunteer service to the Sells Indian Hospital.

In addition to the plaque and cash award from Parents' Magazine, the Papago girls recently achieved further national recognition through an article about their organization which appeared in the October issue of "Today's Health," a publication of the American Medical Association.

Promotion of Robert E. Robinson to the post of superintendent of the Fort Apache Indian Agency, Whiteriver, Ariz., effective November 25, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Robinson has been land operations officer at the Fort Apache Agency since 1955. He succeeds Albert M. Hawley who is transferring to the staff of the Indian Bureau's area office at Phoenix as, projects development officer.

A native of Fort Towson, Okla., Robinson joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a soil conservationist at Idabel. Okla., in 1949. In October 1950 he left this position to enter military service in the Korean conflict and returned to duty in 1953 as soil conservationist at the Choctaw Agency, Philadelphia, Miss. Two years later he transferred to Fort Apache as land operations officer. Before coming with the Bureau, he was a fieldman with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration at Hugo, Okla., a laboratory technician at Stillwater, Okla., and Dallas, Tex., and a high school instructor at Idabel, Okla.

He is a graduate of Oklahoma A &M College in 1948 and had four years of service with the Navy in World War II.

Planned development of visitor attractions in Indian areas of the U.S. is proving to be one of the more effective economic rehabilitation programs designed to provide tribal members with self-sufficiency, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said yesterday (September 16) in the official opening of a new highway link on the Navajo Trail.

As part of the ceremonies, Secretary Udall dedicated a unique marker where the corners of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet.

Completion of the 160-mile link on Navajo Route One, the first all-weather paved road to cross the northern portion of the huge Navajo Reservation, provides an important east-west connecting link between Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. In addition, it provides new vistas, much of it through colorful Indian lands, for visitors en route to Bryce and Zion National Parks in Utah and a number of national monuments and other Southwest attractions.

In his dedication address, Secretary Udall said he was confident that the highway project, which he as a member of the House of Representatives joined with Senator Clinton Anderson as co-sponsor, would ultimately carry visitors to "our next new great national park--the Canyonlands in Utah. “

"This spot, where the four great States of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet, has been one of our last frontiers,” he said.

"The Navajo Indians, whose lands occupy three corners of this unique point, and the Mountain Utes, who own the fourth, have remained largely isolated because of the lack of passable roads. Too, this lack of roads has been one of the barriers between these four States.

“Now, with completion of this vital link, commerce and friendship should thrive to the benefit of all--the Navajos and the Utes, as well as their non- Indian brothers in these growing mountain States. This highway will open up a whole new field of opportunity for both of these Tribes, and they should take steps at once to preserve the recreational and other resource values. I urge the tribes now, before it is too late, to develop a program for the orderly development of facilities along the routes and the kinds of zoning that will preserve the beauty of mountains and canyons which lie everywhere at hand."

The Secretary informed the tribes that the Department would, in cooperation with the tribal councils, begin immediately such a study for development of a plan for tribal consideration.

Lands surrounding the Four Corners site are owned by the Navajo Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, both of which participated in the dedication ceremonies.

"America is on the move in more ways than economic -growth," Secretary Udall said. "Our National Parks--a good barometer of prosperity-...have just ended record seasons of attendance, and this trend will continue to accelerate."

In the many economic rehabilitation programs now being administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and in the 56 Reservation Development Area projects being activated under the Area Redevelopment Act, tourism is emerging as a vital factor on the road to self-sufficiency for Indians everywhere," Secretary Udall said.

Self-supporting projects to provide income-producing outdoor recreation facilities are now being planned in Indian areas in Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, 'Wyoming, Wisconsin, Colorado, Alaska, and elsewhere, the Interior Secretary said. The tribal-owned Fort Apache Reservation's White Mountain Enterprise in Arizona is currently expanding recreational development from strictly seasonal to year-round use, including construction of a year-round lodge and development of ski slopes.

Secretary Udall said the newly formed Bureau of Outdoor Recreation in the Interior Department was providing valuable trained counsel to Indian groups interested in developing a tourism industry.

"We look forward to a generation of All-American travelers discovering the unparalleled scenic beauties and colorful history of America's first settlers," Secretary Udall said.

The Department of the Interior today announced the adoption of regulations governing distribution of a judgment fund awarded to the Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma by the Indian Claims Commission.

Under legislation recently passed by Congress the persons eligible to share in the funds are those whose names appear on the final Cherokee roll of March 4, 1907, and their heirs or legatees as determined under the laws of succession and testacy of the State of residence of the decedent on the date of his death. No names will be added to the roll.

All claims to share in the fund are to be filed with the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Federal Bldg., Muskogee, Oklahoma, and must be received on or before October 9, 1965---three years from the date of the Act.

The amount originally awarded to the Cherokees by the Indian Claims Commission was $14,789,476.15. This, however, has already been reduced to $11,878,444,37 by setting aside funds to cover the payment of attorney’s fees and offsets to compensate the United States for program expenses. It will be brought down further by setting aside sufficient funds for payments to cover the attorneys' expenses and meet the costs of making the distribution.

Under the statute the Bureau of Indian Affairs will not distribute proportional shares of deceased heirs or legatees unless the shares are worth at least $10 or more nor pay an inherited share unless it amounts to $5 or more.

The regulations will be published in full shortly in the Federal Register.

Award of a contract totaling $3,195,062 for expansion of school facilities to accommodate 510 additional Indian students on the Navajo Reservation at Greasewood, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for construction of a 23-classroom school building, four dormitories with a capacity of 160 students each, a 660-pupil kitchen and dining hall, a fire station, employees' quarters and other related facilities. The classroom phase of the work will involve replacement of 150 existing seats at the Greasewood School and the addition of 510 new ones.

The successful bidder was Lembke Construction Co., Albuquerque, N. Mex. Twelve higher bids were also received.

Award of an $874,700 construction contract that will provide 150 additional classroom seats for Indian students in the White Shield School at Emmet, North Dakota, on the Fort Berthold Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for construction of about 22,000 square feet of new classroom space and the remodeling of the existing school building. Additional work to be done under the contract includes the construction of a 7-stall bus garage and 12 employees' quarters, the remodeling of the kitchen-dining room, paving of streets, and other site improvements.
When completed, the project will provide educational opportunity for 190 Indian children from the beginning grades through high school.

The successful bidder was Brezina Construction Co., Inc., of Minot, N.D. Seven higher bids, ranging from $896,920 to $987,000, were received.

The Department of the Interior today announced its support of legislation that would transfer to the Citizen and of Potawatomi Indians of Oklahoma about 58 acres of federally owned land near Shawnee, Oklahoma.

In a report on H. R. 7990, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst pointed out that the land was originally part of a large area ceded to the Federal Government in the 1890’s by the Citizen Potawatomi and the Absentee Shawnees. Subsequently it is used as the site for a Bureau of Indian Affairs school farm. It has not, however, been used for this purpose for many years.

The value of the tract is estimated at $250 to $275 per acre or $14,250 to $15,675. The Department recommended increasing the 57 acres provided in the bill to 58 acres, so as to give the Indians an adjoining strip.

The Indians propose to use the property as the site for a Potawatomi Community House which would be moved from other federally owned land. Part of the land would also be leased to provide income for improvement and maintenance of the community house.

The bill "provides that the community house would be available not only for the Citizen Band of Potawatomi but also for members of four other Oklahoma tribal groups--the Absentee Shawnee, the Sac and Fox, the Kickapoo, and the Iowa, In its report the Department expressed no opinion on whether the land should transferred to the tribal group in trust or unrestricted status.

Walwyn S. Watkins, superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school at Wrangell, Alaska, has been named the new superintendent of the Bureau’s Fort Belknap Agency at Harlem, Montana, effective May 28, the Department of the Interior announced today.

He succeeds Howard S. Dushane, who transferred last February as superintendent of the Cheyenne River Agency at Eagle Butte, S. Dak.

Mr. Watkins first joined the Bureau in 1940 as a teacher and department head of the Indian school at Carson City, Nevada. Two years later he enlisted in the Navy and served for three years during World War II. Returning to the Bureau in 1945, he had two years of service as principal and teacher in a day school on the Pima Reservation in Arizona. In 1947 he transferred to the post of principal of a day school on the Colorado River Reservation in Arizona and two years later was put in charge of all schools on that reservation. He moved to the Wrangell Institute as principal in 1951 and five years later was promoted to his present position as superintendent.

Born at Bayshore, Michigan, in 1903, Mr. Watkins is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and holds a masters degree from Colorado Teachers' College at Greeley. Before coming with the Bureau he had 12 years of experience in the public schools of Nebraska.