2d Session No. 1934 TO RESERVE CERTAIN LANDS IN ARIZONA FOR PAPAGO INDIANS JUNE 16, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. O'CONNOR of Oklahoma, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 2231] The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill S. 2231) to reserve certain lands on the public domain in Arizona for the use and benefit of the Papago Indians, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendment: Page 2, line 10, after the colon insert "Provided further, That lands acquired hereunder shall remain tribal lands and shall not be subject to allotment to individual Indians under the general allotment act:". This bill has the approval of the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs as is evidenced by the following letters which go into greater detail regarding the merits of the bill. Hon. LYNN J. FRAZIER, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Further reference is made to your request of December 5, 1929, for a report on S. 2231, to reserve certain lands on the public domain in Árizona for the use and benefit of the Papago Indians. I transmit herewith a memorandum from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. review of the proposed measure, I agree with Commissioner Rhoads. After a Very truly yours, RAY LYMAN WILBUR, Secretary. January 25, 1930. Memorandum for the Secretary. This is in reference to S. 2231, a bill to reserve certain lands on the public domain in Arizona for the use and benefit of the Papago Indians, and for other purposes. The Papagoes are nontreaty Indians, consisting of 3,990 adults and 1,300 children, making a total of 5,290 Indians, who depend entirely upon cattle raising for their occupation and means of obtaining a livelihood. Originally, their reservation was established by Executive order of January 14, 1916. However, it was found that a strip about 6 miles wide running generally east and west through the entire reservation thus created, had been applied for by the State of Arizona under its school land grants prior to the creation of the reservation; also a number of white people had initiated valid rights to certain tracts within the strip under the public land laws. Consequently, by Executive order of February 1, 1917, the above referred to Executive order was revoked and the then existing reservation was revised so that the "6-mile strip" was eliminated therefrom, leaving a reservation for the Indians consisting of 3 separate tracts, 2 large and 1 small, which are inadequate for the needs of the Indians in connection with ranging their cattle. The two large tracts are separated from each other by the above referred to "6-mile strip" and the small tract is separated by the privately owned Santa Rosa Ranch and some public land. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to return to the Indians such portions of the "strip" as may be possible, through relinquishment by the State of its holdings; the acquisition of the remaining public land in the strip, and adjacent to the Santa Rosa Ranch, and the purchase of certain privately owned land located within the strip. It is also proposed to acquire the privately owned land adjacent to the reservation on the east, known as the Santa Rosa Ranch, in order to round out the reservation. The Papago Indians have, since the creation of the present reservation in 1917, been insistent that the so-called 6-mile strip be closed up and made a part of the reservation, and have also manifested a strong desire to have the privately owned Santa Rosa Ranch acquired as part of the reservation, together with the adjoining public land. The attached map shows how the three tracts composing the present reservation are related to each other with respect to distance and location. During the past few years negotiations were entered into tentatively by the superintendent with several of the private landowners whereby their lands, buildings, and other improvements and equipment were valued and appraised at a total figure of $165,000, representing the value of the privately owned property actually needed to help place the Indian land holdings contiguously. Section 1 of the bill contemplates reserving all the vacant, unreserved, and undisposed-of public lands within the "strip" and in certain townships adjacent to the reservation and the Santa Rosa Ranch on the east for the use and occupancy of the Papago Indians, and will, in effect, constitute an addition to the present reservation. However, according to correspondence received from the superintendent, the vacant public lands in township 15 south, range 4 west are not wanted, but the vacant undisposed of lands in certain other townships described below are desired by the Indians. Therefore, section 1 of the bill should be amended to meet the desires of the Indians as follows: Strike out, on page 1, line 9, the words "townships 14 and", and on page 2, line 1, strike out "15 south, range 4 west", and substitute therefor "township 14 south, range 4 west," and add immediately thereafter the following: "townships 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 south, range 7 east, townships 14, 15, and 16 south, range 6 east, and townships 14 and 15 south, range 8 east". It is further suggested that the word "public" be inserted on page 1, line 3, immediately after the word "of". Section 2 of the bill contemplates an appropriation of $165,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in the purchase and acquisition of title to certain lands, improvements, and equipment now owned or held by certain specified individuals and other persons located adjacent to the present reservation. The lands and improvements involved are within the "6-mile strip," and also include the so-called Santa Rosa ranch. The effect of this proposed appropriation and the acquisition of the privately owned lands within the strip and also the Santa Rosa ranch will tend to coordinate the three tracts composing the reservation and will work to the benefit of the Indians, in that they will be enabled to range their stock over the entire reservation without trespassing upon privately owned lands, and will operate to put an end to the encroachment by the white cattle owners on Indian reservation land. Section 2 also contemplates that the State of Arizona will relinquish its holdings within the "6-mile strip" in favor of the Indians and select in lieu thereof other tracts of public land. However, no provision has been made in the bill to allow the State to make the required relinquishments and lieu selections. In connection with the sum of money required for the purchase of the privately owned lands, as referred to in section 2 of the bill, it is believed that instead of specifying any specific property to be purchased, the appropriation should be of a general nature to be expended in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior. It is also believed that section 2 of the bill should be further revised to the extent of providing authority for the State to relinquish its holdings within the "6-mile strip" and at the same time grant the State authority to select other land in lieu thereof. It is therefore recommended that section 2 be entirely eliminated and rewritten, as follows: "SEC. 2. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, from any funds in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $165,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in his discretion in the purchase and acquiring of title to certain privately owned lands, improvements, and equipment located adjacent to the present Papago Reservation: Provided, That in the event title to any privately owned land is acquired by purchase, the land so purchased shall become part of the Pagapo Indian Reservation: And provided further, That the State of Arizona may relinquish such tracts within the townships referred to in section 1 of this act, as it may see fit, in favor of the Papago Indians, and shall have the right to select other unreserved and nonmineral public lands within the State of Arizona equal in area to that relinquished, said lieu selections to be made in the same manner as is provided for in the enabling act of June 20, 1910." (36 Stat. L. 557.) I therefore recommend that the bill be revised as suggested and enacted into law, as obviously it will be greatly beneficial to the Papago Indians. C. J. RHOADS, Commissioner. APRIL 24, 1930. Hon. CARL HAYDEN, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR HAYDEN: This is in reference to your letter dated April 18, 1930, addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs relative to S. 2231, a bill "to reserve certain lands on the public domain in Arizona, for the use and benefit of the Papago Indians, and for other purposes.' The excerpt taken from the letter which you recently received from Mr. John H. Page of Phoenix, Ariz., as quoted in your letter has been carefully considered and in view thereof this department would not object to amending the bill so as to protect the equities of the private land owners within the area involved in section 1 of the bill. It is, therefore, recommended that the bill be further amended as follows: After the word "Arizona", line 5, page 2, change the colon to a comma and insert: "whenever all privately owned lands within said addition have been purchased and acquired as hereinafter authorized". Very truly yours, AUTHORIZING THE PILLAGER BANDS OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS TO SUBMIT CLAIMS TO COURT OF CLAIMS JUNE 16, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. KNUTSON, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 40511 The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 4051) authorizing the Pillager Bands of Chippewa Indians, residing in the State of Minnesota, to submit claims to the Court of Claims, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendment: Page 4, line 4, strike out "10" and insert in lieu thereof "5". The United States, on August 21, 1847, made a so-called peace and friendship treaty with the Pillager Bands of Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, in which the Indians ceded to the United States more than 700,000 acres of valuable land commonly known as the Long Prairie Country. The cession was not absolute; it in effect was in trust. Article 3 of the treaty provided: It is stipulated that the country hereby ceded shall be held by the United States as Indian land, until otherwise ordered by the President. This peculiar provision resulted from the purpose for which the cession was made by the Indians and the actual consideration promised by the United States. The Chippewa and the Sioux in Minnesota had long been at war. Both had suffered from the ravages of many bloody conflicts. The Long Prairie Country lay along the boundary between the two tribes, so it was proposed to establish a buffer State between them by locating the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin, friends of both the Chippewas and Sioux, on the lands ceded. The consideration as recited in article 4 of the treaty provided for furnishing the Indians, over a period of five years, certain blankets, cloth, twine, etc., the total value of which has been estimated at approximately $15,000, or 2 cents per acre for the land. Unques |