DICTATORIAL POWERS OF THE INDIAN BUREAU

DICTATORIAL POWERS OF THE INDIAN BUREAU

MORE BLACKFEET LAND AND OIL FRAUDS: Blackfeet Tribal Business Council Chairman John Sharp wrote the Hon. James F. O’Connor, House of Representatives, Washington D.C. on September 25, 1944: “Dear Sir: We, your subcommittee on Indian Affairs from the Blackfeet Indians, in a Special General Council meeting held at Browning, July 4, 1944 for the purpose of answering the 10 questions submitted by the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, on recommendations for better administration and development of our Blackfeet Indian resources and economic welfare, beg leave to report the following: A thorough analysis of the situation points to the dictatorial powers of the Indian Bureau which does not work for the Indians, but for outside interests. Any member of the tribe who, recognizing these corrupt and nefarious activities, attempts to expose such conditions to the tribe and tries to correct them are persecuted by these Indian Bureau officials, denied many privileges granted in the Wheeler-Howard Act, such as loans, leases, issuance of cattle, rehabilitation benefits, and employment. Good government in any country which administers for the benefit of the greatest number of people makes a prosperous and a good country to inhabit and live in. Corrupt practices in the tribal council elections has dissipated the morale of the Indian populace, resulting in the election of a majority of the members of our tribal council who are dominated wholly by outside oil operators who bribe voters and candidates for office with money and whiskey and in turn are compensated by oil leases favorable to the operators and against the Indian’s beneficial interests. Affidavits in support of the above statements were sent to the Secretary of the Interior, [Montana] Senators Wheeler, and Murray, and the Office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The so-called preference right of an Indian [tribal council members] in obtaining an oil and gas lease from the tribe has been abused by outside white men by their financial assistance to the Indian to carry out the terms of his lease. Replying to paragraph seven, it was unanimously agreed to hold the lands in trust indefinitely for the following reasons: Prior to the Wheeler-Howard Act, patents-in-fee were issued to Indians as early as 1918, in many cases the Indian not knowing of the issuance of the patent-in-fee of his allotment. Some refused to accept the patent, knowing they would be unable to pay the taxes assessed against the land. They were advised that they must accept the patent in fee from the office of the Indian agent, and whether or not they accepted the patent, the land would be assessed and taxed, and the taxes must be paid. This procedure was promoted by white Indian traders who were trying to get old accounts paid, and also to put the Indian landless. Under these conditions many Indians, both full and mixed-bloods, lost their lands through taxes, loans, mortgages, and transfer sales, not knowing the value of their lands so eagerly sought by the avaricious white post rrader, white men, real-estate sharks, and professional traders flocked upon the reservation making land deals by way of a small loan, receiving as low as $250 for 320 acres of land. About one-third of the Indians have become landless.”

THE HILL HOTELS: Louis Hill and his father James J. Hill had robbed their way across the Blackfeet Reservation, taking Blackfeet land and resources without compensation, reducing the Indians to dancing for Glacier Park tourists for food scraps and passing the hat for their pay. The tourists were brought to the reservation on Hill’s railway, staying at Hill’s hotels on the reservation, built near the eastern entrance to Glacier Park at St. Mary Village. The Hill’s tourist hotels were built on tax free trust land allotments owned by the Monroe children, but assessed by the Glacier County Attorney for tax liens after “Competency Commission Chairman” Joe Sherburne, issued a “Competency Certificate” for the Monroe Children’s “competency.” Their land was purchased by agency trader Joe Sherburne for the $150 tax deed and he gave the Hill’s a right-of-way on the Monroe sisters land allotment from the Blackfeet Highway, paid for with tribal funds, to the eastern entrance of Glacier Park; so the Indians would not be paid for the right-of-way, or have no jurisdiction over the Hill’s tourism operations on the reservation. Louis Hill commissioned an artist to paint portraits of the Blackfeet Indians to advertise his hotels on his railroad trains and to decorate post cards used for sales and advertising, and he christened the dancing Blackfeet Indians as “Glacier Park” Indians.

LOUIS HILL’S OIL LEASE: In 1944 Louis Hill was still be-deviling the Blackfeet Indians as the railroad had changed its engines from coal fired engines to diesel or gasoline engines; therefore was conspiring with the agency ring, a criminal conspiracy to rob Blackfeet oil fields. Chairman Sharp reported to the Hon. James F. O’Connor, House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, “Many of these lands are valuable oil lands, one tract in particular, consisting of 280 acres produced $3,000,000 in oil in the past 10 years. This allotment was mortgaged by the Indian for $2,000 and lost by reason of foreclosure. This has been the basis for many lawsuits, making burdens to taxpayers of the county, besides robbing the Indians of their inherent rights. We have known of the Milk River Anticline and conceded by Government geologists as one of the most promising oil structures on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. You will note by looking on the plats of the reservation that nearly all the lands lying therein are patented. Louis Hill of the Great Northern Railway, who was at that time one of the major lessees through his lobbyists in Washington, was able to get that area of land patented in fee. The result was that these lands were lost through delinquent taxes and tax deeds from Glacier County alienated the lands from the Indians. If the Indian Bureau is allowed to continue to issue fee patents, it will completely alienate all of the original half section allotments on the reservation. We can go on indefinitely citing numerous cases of wrongdoing to the Indian by the Indian Bureau, Glacier County, and white men which has retarded the progress of our Indians. We feel that we are not asking too much when we ask that our lands be held in trust and non-assessable, and be given the opportunity to govern ourselves. After all we are citizens of the United States by a congressional act and we are protecting our home front with our boys who are fighting for our country, so when they return they may enjoy the heritage of land from their ancestors. All we ever want is a fair, just, equal, and unbiased deal for each and every Indian of the Blackfeet Tribe. We note by the talks of the Allies that they are going to grant the small nations their form of self-government, and give them a voice in the peace that is to be formulated, and due to the foregoing, we do not feel that we are asking too much when we ask our Government to assist us in giving us a form of self-government holding our lands in trust indefinitely and non- assessable.” Respectfully submitted; John Sharp. Louis Hill got his oil leases approved in Washington D.C. by the Indian Bureau, and it was revealed that the Indians would get nothing for their oil; as the Blackfeet would stand the total cost of putting down the well, and there would be nothing left for the Indians in the end. Area Director Zimmerman of the Indian Bureau wrote his bosses in Washington D.C. “A long distance sniff of oil matters on the Blackfeet Reservation indicates they are going from bad to worse. The U.S.G.S. tried to lay a Blackfeet rotten egg in my lap, which I refused to accept.”