fluenced the judgment of the Commissioners, that the compact should not be silent, but should make an explicit statement recognizing the existing state of affairs and the physical condition in appropriate legal language.

The compacting party, Colorado and Kansas, could not, under the terms of the act of Congress, have New Mexico join in the interstate compact.

Nonetheless, I felt it was appropriate to give recognition to that little area in the headwaters in explicit terms in the compact, and it was my intent and likewise it was expressed by all the Commissioners who testified that that assertion in the compact fully protects New Mexico and is not intended to give Colorado and Kansas under this compact any right to that water that belongs to New Mexico. whatever those rights may be.

The term "if any" to my mind refers to the fact that those rights may or may not now be determined. They may remain to be determined. I am not so sure there are any legal filings up there in those headwaters. Whatever those rights. may be under the laws of New Mexico, they are respected by this compact

The compact specifically states that it does not establish any general principle or precedent with respect to any other interstate stream. H. R. 4151 has been amended by the committee to correct certain typographical errors.

This bill has the approval of Members of Congress from Colorado and Kansas, and the Department of the Interior. Pertinent comments from the Department's report are set forth below and further explain the purpose of H. R. 4151:

We recommend enactment of the proposed legislation.

The waters of the Arkansas River Basin have been a prolific source of litigation for many years, beginning in 1901 and ending in 1943, when the Supreme Court dismissed the last suit between Colorado and Kansas with an admonition that the litigants compose their differences by compact. Consent of the Congress to negotiations between the States of Colorado and Kansas was granted by the act approved April 19, 1945.

The United States representative on the compact Commission has been diligent in the determination of the interests of the United States in that part of the Arkansas River Basin under consideration. He has consulted from time to time with the several agencies of the Department of the Interior. Representatives of this Department appeared before the Commission during its deliberations.

While many of the agencies of this Department have interests in the basin, the compact is of especial interest to the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation to the former in connection with the investigation and measurement of water resources; to the latter in connection with the utilization of water. Both agencies are specifically requested by the compact to collaborate with the administrative body therein authorized, and with appropriate State officials in, among other things, the systematic determination and correlation of data which may be necessary for the proper administration of the compact. This is proper and desirable; and I assure your Committee of our continued cooperation and collaboration with State officials in the Arkansas River Basin. The Bureau of Reclamation has no constructed projects in the area covered by the compact, but is engaged in a basin-wide investigation of the opportunities for supplementing existing irrigation enterprises and in developing remaining land and water resources. Bureau of Reclamation also has under study plans to import water from the Colorado River Basin to enlarge the possibilities for such assistance and develop

ment.

The

It will not

The John Martin Reservoir, constructed by the United States, provides regulatory capacity for use downstream in Irrigation District No. 67 in Colorado, and on Kansas lands. The compact provides for the division of this water just as though it were direct flow. This disposition, which will eliminate debits, credits, and other storage bookkeeping, is fair and logical in the circumstances. be disadvantageous to junior appropriators in favor of senior appropriators, as unregulated floodwaters, regulated by the reservoir, are too infrequent to support further direct flow rights. Administration of water apportioned to each State will be by that State's regular officials, supervision by the compact's administrative body being restricted to compact matters. We have no objection to the division agreed upon or to the method of administration provided.

Representatives of this Department discussed at considerable length with the United States Representative the provisions of Article V, paragraph H, which

would seem to prohibit transfers of priority rights now decreed for ditches in Colorado Water District 67 to other water districts in Colorado or points of diversion upstream from John Martin Dam, without a finding of fact by the administrative body that the usable quantity and availability for use of the waters of the Arkansas River to water users in Colorado District 67 and Kansas will not be thereby materially depleted or adversely affected. In view of the ultimate possibility of a transfer or exchange, whereby water imported from the Colorado River might be exchanged for Arkansas River water in Colorado Water District 67, in order that the Arkansas River water released might be used on land situated upstream or in tributary basins, not readily reached otherwise, this Department would have preferred somewhat more liberal provisions based upon depletion or adverse effect, without reference to source of supply.

Prompt enactment of this bill is unanimously recommended by the Committee on Public Lands.

PROVIDING FOR THE RATIFICATION BY CONGRESS OF A CONTRACT FOR THE PURCHASE OF CERTAIN INDIAN LANDS BY THE UNITED STATES FROM THE THREE AFFILIATED TRIBES OF FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK.

MAY 9, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. LEMKE, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. J. Res. 33)

The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. J. Res. 33) providing for the ratification by Congress of a contract for the purchase of certain Indian lands by the United States from the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Reservation, N. Dak., and for other related purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the joint resolution as amended do pass.

The amendments are as follows:

Page 20, line 18, strike out the first "East" and insert in lieu thereof "West".

Page 69, line 11, capitalize the word “land”.

Page 69, line 12, strike out the words "Commissioner of Indian Affairs" and insert in lieu thereof the words "Secretary of the Interior, or his duly authorized representative".

Page 69, line 16, delete the second "d" from the word "period". Page 70, line 4, strike out the words "Commissioner of Indian Affairs" and insert in lieu thereof the words "Secretary of the Interior, or his duly authorized representative".

Page 70, lines 12 to 14, strike out the following sentence:

Preference shall be given to the original allottee in the purchase of or exchange for lands acquired by the tribes under this section.

Page 70, line 25, strike out the word "all" and insert in lieu thereof the words "any and all claims which they may have for".

Page 71, line 2, insert before the semicolon the words "by reason of the construction and operation of Garrison Dam and Reservoir project, North Dakota".

Page 71, line 2, insert after the word "the" the words "disregard or". Page 72, line 2, strike out the words "Commissioner of Indian Affairs" and insert in lieu thereof the words "Secretary of the Interior, or his duly authorized representative".

Page 72, line 3 to 23, strike out all of section 5 and insert in lieu thereof the following:

SEC. 5. When electric power is available from the Garrison Dam, there is hereby reserved and set aside a block of power of 20,000 kilowatts for sale and distribution by the Three Affiliated Tribes for use of such power on the residual Fort Berthold Reservation as it may be extended. This block of power shall be delivered at such point or points on the reservation and at such voltage as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior. Payment shall be made for the power actually used at the lowest wholesale rate or rates, applicable to the same class of service, made available to other customers receiving electric power from the Garrison Dam power plant. The transmission and distribution system necessary for the delivery of such block of power to the customers of the said Three Affiliated Tribes shall be constructed from time to time as needed by the said Tribes, with funds made available therefor by the United States without cost to the said Tribes, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated from time to time such sums as may be required for the construction of the said distribution system to make available to the customers of the said Three Affiliated Tribes the block of power herein reserved to them. The rates for the sale of the power by the Three Affiliated Tribes shall be subject to approval by the Secretary of the Interior. Until such time as the said Three Affiliated Tribes shall require all of the electric power reserved to them, any amount in excess of that actually required by the said Three Affiliated Tribes shall be available to the Secretary of the Interior for sale or disposition off the Fort Berthold reservation as extended. Page 73, lines 1 to 8, strike out the following:

within the residual areas of the Fort Berthold Reservation and there shall be constructed, maintained, and operated irrigation works on the lands within the residual area upon the findings of feasibility of providing such irrigation facilities. The provisions for such investigations and irrigation works shall extend to any Indian individual or tribal trust lands acquired in the future.

Insert in lieu thereof the following:

for any Indian individual or tribal trust lands within the residual Fort Berthold Reservation as it may be extended, including any such lands acquired in the future. Any irrigation works and related facilities which, on the basis of such investigations, the Secretary of the Interior determines to be feasible are hereby authorized to be constructed, maintained, and operated under his direction.

Page 73, lines 22 to 23, strike out the date "July 31, 1947" and insert in lieu thereof "May 20, 1948".

Page 74, lines 7 to 12, strike out the colon and remainder of the section and insert a period after the word "Tribes".

Page 74, line 15, after the word "when" insert the words "accepted by the Tribal Business Council of the Three Affiliated Tribes and". Page 74, line 20, change the period to a colon and insert the following:

Provided, That no funds authorized in this Act shall be made available to the Three Affiliated Tribes or their members until the Secretary of the Interior has received an appropriate resolution adopted by the Tribal Council and approved by a majority of the adult members of said tribes as accepting payment authorized by this Act as "full, complete and final settlement of all rights, interest, and claims whatsoever of the Three Affiliated Tribes and the members thereof against the United States by reason of the construction of Garrison Dam and Reservoir Project, North Dakota."

Page 75, add the following new section:

SEC. 12. Lands or interests in lands acquired pursuant to article VII or article VIII of the contract set forth in section 1 of this joint resolution may be sold to or

exchanged with the Three Affiliated Tribes or members thereof, or may be exchanged with other persons, in the manner now or hereafter authorized by law for the sale or exchange of lands owned by such Tribes or members thereof.

EXPLANATION OF THE BILL

The purpose of this proposed legislation is to reimburse the Indians of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota for lands taken by the United States for the Garrison Dam and Reservoir project. House Joint Resolution 33 is endorsed by the Department of the Interior, the majority of the members of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, and the Members of Congress from North Dakota.

Garrison Dam is a multiple-purpose dam in connection with the Missouri River Valley project. It is an important link in the development of the Missouri River Basin and will be of primary benefit to flood control and navigation. Its site was chosen because of the great stretch of bottom land beginning 20 miles downstream from the Fort Berthold Reservation line and extending upstream to Williston, N. Dak. Into this basin will flow all the water of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. Although navigation and flood control are the primary purposes of Garrison Dam, hydroelectric power and irrigation will, in the long run, pay for the dam and all damages occasioned to individuals.

The Garrison project is deemed necessary by the Government, but its construction will result in the flooding of a quarter million acres of rich bottom land. The Fort Berthold Indians will be forced to vacate 155,000 acres of their land-land located in the heart of the reservation, and land on which the Indians have lived for 100 years. The so-called Three Affiliated Tribes-the Arikara, Gros Ventre, and Mandan Indians of the Fort Berthold Reservation have built for themselves a strong and growing cattle industry and steadily expanding agricultural program. At this time, they are in sight of complete economic independence. Now, through no action of the Indians, they must give up their homeland. Their homes will be lost, their cattle industry will be ruined, their churches and their schools, and their social life will be completely disrupted. The residue of their lands will be reduced to a small fraction of the present value.

The only hope that these Indians, 2,215 in number, can possibly have is that the Federal Government will compensate them in money and in addition furnish such services as are necessary to obtain a sufficient degree of reconstruction. Thus they will be enabled to make a new start in life and once again begin the hard climb to reach the point of development which they, themselves, at this time have achieved. The enactment of House Joint Resolution 33 will help accomplish that purpose.

House Joint Resolution 33 calls for an appropriation of $14,605,625. That includes the original appropriation of $5,105,625 granted in the War Department Civil Functions Appropriation Act of July 31, 1947. Another $3,000,000 is allowed as a land-readjustment fund and the sum of $6,500,000 is granted as additional indemnifying compensation. The Committee on Public Lands feels that $14,605,625 is small compensation for the disruption forced upon the 2,215 Indians. A conservative estimate of the basic value of the lands and their annual