Show indians have mixed feelings about U boom on reservations reservation S once more the white man Is using the indian to good advantage this thi time in the uranium mines 0 of arizona and new M mexico c me 0 and for their work the indiana indians arc are getting a good share of the profits fits feelings among the navajo indians are mixed some feel they a are re being exploited by the white man but most of the hem m like the uranium boom and the money mone Y it has brought to them mining companies P ables employing the cavajos in exploration mining end milling work praise them highly but members of the navajo tribal council have let it be known they are not pleased with the way may the uranium rush Is s affecting their reservation alobou although h th the e atomic energy comm commission sao n S has a s re requested quested the nav agoes not to disclose the amount of revenue received from uranium work round estimates given by the navajos cavajos indicate an annual income of about to the navajos cavajos and the three new mexico pueblo areas of zuni canoncito and laguna it Is i simple to calculate that since the indians received a 10 per cent royalty on uranium ore uranium production from the districts would have a value of approximately a year the says the average uranium oxide content 1 Is 33 per cent therefore the table of payment published by the would indicate a production tion of about tons rh that tull amount of ore would have an annual production of pounds of figuring 66 pounds to the t ton 0 n that does seem like a lot of potential A bomb material it Is and still production is increasing according to the fiscal report of the united pueblo agency for the period coding ending lat lait june the laguna a zuel and canoncito leases lesses ear brought tibt in from uranium ai at window hock rock arizona maurice mccabe navajo tribal secretary says the tribe is getting around a month mouth in royalties not the real figure but its somewhere around it mccabe is not permitted to give out exact figures because of a council edict declaring the figures to be classified the atomic energy commission has classified such information as deals with production figures as relating to uranium oxide and concentrates cen anything to do with mith the ore testing pilot plants on the grand junction compound ore treatment and the workings of the various mills these are general headings under which several sub categories appear the be steves that should actual revenue to be the indian tribes and agencies be released publicly it would be a simple matter to calculate actual production therefore the edict against such publication in the colorado plateau area of eastern arizona and western new mexico are several uranium companies and it la Is their policy generally to employ the indians from whom they have leased land the contracts provide for the use of indians on any jobs where it is possible to use them and they have proved to be excellent workmen F S cook assistant to the manager of anacondas big mill mir at grants N M described them as very very good workers equipment operators engineers helpers prospectors miners and laborers he added they arc are some of the best people to work with ive ever encountered cook said the same applied to the indians being used at anacondas Jack pile mine the indians indian s are grateful for the work too sc according to dewey dismuke real property officer tor for the united pueblos he related they are working themselves up from common labor jobs to skilled work with uranium equipment in the fiscal year ending last june some 50 pueblo indians were working on uranium projects and they drew a monthly payroll of about for an average of per month that is a lot of money 0 n ey for a people who until rhems the uranium r aniam boom were limited to working as section laborers or common laborers on railroads or as agricultural field workers since june of last year many more have gone to work in uranium but just bow many is not known the navajos cavajos have considered the uranium rush as a mixed blessing most of them are pleased with the extra employment and the money the boom has brought to them however mccabe the sec see detary treasurer of the council relates there is resentment beaus the reservation is being overrun with a lot of small mining companies many of them fly by night speculators he describes them as not a very desirable element so far as actually getting mining operations started we are beginning a have a lot of different small operators who come out here and find it is not what they expected so they pull out without pay paying their debts that leaves eaves bad aele feelings digs according to mccabe who also is a navajo much pioneering has been done on the navajo reservation during the present uranium boom we feel that the experience w we X have ve gained will be valuable to other r tribes and we will welcome their questions CORTEZ assessed valuation of cortez property real and personal in 1954 was and the rate of taxation was 14 mills twelve mills was for city opera uon tion and two mills for the sanitation district schools levy lery was not included in the totals uranium production has become a million U S Indus industry say says jesse johnson John soo head bead of the me raw materials division |