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Show Indians Have Mixed Feelings About U-Boom on Reservations Once more the htte man Ij using the Indian to good advantage this time In the uranium mines of Arizona and New Mexico. And for their work the Indians are getting a good share of the profits. Feelings among the Navajo Indians are mixed. Some feel they are being exploited by the hite man, but most of them like the uranium boom and the money it has brought to them, Mining companies employing the Navajos in exploration, mining and milling work praise them highly. But members of the Navajo Tribal Council have let it be known they are not pleased with the way the uranium rush i affecting their reservation. Although the Atomic Energy Commission has requested the Nav-ajoes not to disclose the amount of revenue received from uranium work, round estimates given by the Navajos indicate an annual income of about $710,000 to the Navajos and the three New Mexico Pueblo areas of Zunl, Canon-clto and Laguna. It Is 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 $7,100,000 a year. The AEC says the average uranium oxide content is .33 per cent, therefore the table of payment published by the AEC would Indicate a production of about 140,000 tons. That amount of ore would have an annual production of 924,000 pounds of U308, figuring 6.6 pounds to the ton. 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 ending last June, the Eeriod acuna, Zuni and Canoncito leases brought in $110,950.32 from uranium. At Window Rock, Arizona, Maurice McCabe, Navajo tribal secretary, says the tribe is "getting around $50,000 a month in royalties. That's not the real figure but it's 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; anything to do with 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 AEC be. lleves that should actual revenue to 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 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 Anaconda's big mill at Grants, N. M., described them as "very, very good workers, equipment operators, engineer's helpers, prospectors, miners and laborers. He added they are "some of the best people to work with I've ever encountered." Cook said the same applied to the Indians being used at Anaconda's Jackpile mine. The Indians are grateful for the work, too, according to Dewey Dis-muke, real property officer 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 $28,000, for an average of $560 per month. That is a lot of money for a people who, until the uranium 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 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 secretary-treasurer of the council, relates there is resentment bcaus 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 i what they expected. So they pull out without paying their debts. That leaves bad feelings." 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 we have gained will be valuable to other tribes, and we will welcome their questions." |
