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Show I Reservation News - - - j About The X (J) UINTAH-OURAY INDIAN RESERVATION X SSSgXS5SXSSxS) Reduced Federal Participation In Indian Affairs Reported Reduced Federal participation participa-tion in Indian affairs was established es-tablished as the goal of national nation-al policy and progress toward this objective was achieved along many lines during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1953, according to annual report re-port of Secretary of the Interior Inter-ior Douglas McKay released recently. re-cently. Three Bureau hospitals were closed and another transferred to a local organization, bringing bring-ing the total number of Bureau hospitals on June 30, down to 59. Local public school authorities author-ities took over the responsibilities responsibil-ities for operating 16 of the Bureau's day schools and for the academic work at three of the boarding schools. Total enrollment en-rollment in the transferred schools was approximately 1,-100. 1,-100. Seventy-five miles of reservation reser-vation roads were transferred to county highway departments for maintenance and another 400 miles were undergoing improvements im-provements aimed at facilitating facilitat-ing similar transfer in the near future. Indian borrowing from non-Bureau sources amounted to an estimated $22,000,000 in comparison with only $2,463,-835 $2,463,-835 of additional loans made by the Bureau. Bureau responsibilities for management of Indian trust lands were reduced somewhat as a result of mounting Indian requests for fee patents or for disposition of their lands thru advertised sales. More than 2,500 tracts of Indian allotted land were removed in these and other ways from trust or restricted status. Income to' the Indians from mineral leases, principally oil and gas, on their lands increased from $18,600,-000 $18,600,-000 in fiscal 1952, to more than $23,000,000 in 1953. Greatest progress toward the complete termination of Bureau responsibilities for Indian affairs af-fairs was achieved in California where all Indian children are now attending the public school and full welfare services are provided to eligible Indians In-dians by state and local agencies. agen-cies. Under the long-range Navajo-Hopi Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation program, authorized by Congress in 1950, educational facilities for Navajo children were expanded in fiscal fis-cal 1953 through the completion of 'three school construction projects and the establishment of five new trailer schools. Combined enrollment of Navajo children in public schools, Indian In-dian Bureau schools, and mission mis-sion schools reached an all-time high of 14,106, an increase of almost 1,000 over the previous fiscal year. Road construction work advanced materially with the completion of 53.5 miles of grade construction, 37 miles of base or gravel surfacing, 15.6 miles of bituminous surfacing, and 433 linear feet of bridges. R-N SIGNS RESOLUTION Albert Harris, land field agent, ag-ent, announced this morning that the Ute Tribal Business Committee has passed and signed the resolution agreeing to an exchange of land with the Albert Smith Investment company com-pany involving approximately 15,000 acres. The exchange will enable the Ute Tribe to dispose of the number of scattered tracts and acquire certain lands within the grazing units. The exchange will also' enable the Tribe to consolidate and block units of land so that they may be utilized and administered on a sound economical basis. In the past, it has been the policy to lease these lands to non-Indian stockmen because they were unusable by the Indians. These exchanges are beneficial benefi-cial to both the Indian and non-Indian non-Indian and provide centralized units of grazing as well as de-minishing de-minishing the administrative problems. The majority of land involved in the exchange lies southeast of Duchesne, Utah. R-N CERAMIC CLASSES Ray Summers, directors of the Recreation Department, an nounces that ceramic classes will be held on Thursday evenings, eve-nings, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the old Agency building. This class is in addition to the day classes now being held. An enrollment en-rollment fee of $2.50 will be charged for those who are not members of the Ute Tribe. The classes will continue for a period per-iod of eight weeks. Persons in- CEREMIC CLASSES should contact Mr. Summrs in the old Agency office building. R-N COMES FOR CONFERENCE L. L. Nelson, assistant area director from the Phoenix Area office, arrived Tuesday afternoon after-noon for a conference with Agency Ag-ency and Tribal personnel regarding re-garding the Ute Long Range Program. Mr. Nelson also . attended at-tended the General Council held at Fort Duchesne on Wednesday. Wednes-day. He met with department heads and conferred with the superintendent, on the general reservation program. R-N Mr. and Mrs. Allen Massie returned Saturday night from a week in Elko', Nevada. They visited Mr. Massie's father and mother and their son, Allen, 1 Jr. MrJ Massie also assisted his parents in moving to their new home in Elko. R-N RETURN TO WASHINGTON Robert L. Bennett, a member of the Commissioner's Coordinating Coordin-ating staff, left by plane Wednesday Wed-nesday night to return to' his office in Washington, D. C. Mr. Bennett has ended an extensive field trip including the southern south-ern Ute jurisdiction as well as the Uintah and Ouray Agency. He has been assisting the Indian In-dian Tribes in presenting permanent per-manent programs to the Indian office and the Congress. He has participated in a number of community meetings as well as attending the General Counci on Wednesday. |