The "Organic Act" passed by Congress in 1864 created Montana territory which would proceed to statehood in 1889 authorized by the Constitution in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2. The 1864 Organic Act organized Montana as a territorial government Provided: "That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said territory so long as such rights remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to include any territory which, by treaty with Indian tribes, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any state or territory; but all such territory shall be excepted out of the boundaries and constitute no part of the state or territory." In 1889 the Montana Constitution declared that "The people inhabiting said proposed state do agree, and declare that they FOREVER disclaim all right and title to all lands owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribe; and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States Congress, the same shall be, and remain subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the ABSOLUTE JURISDICTION AND CONTROL of the Congress of the United States." The state of Montana adopted Ordinance No. 1 that disclaimed "any right or title to Indian lands which is irrevocable without the consent of the Indians and the prior approval of Congress; or to include any territory, which by treaty with any Indian tribes, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any state, but all [Indian] territory shall be excepted out of said territory [Montana], or to affect the authority of the government of the United States to make any regulations respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been competent for the [federal] government to make if this act had never been passed." It is obvious that the state of Montana has been in an illegal trespass upon the Blackfeet Indian Reservation for over a century, and that the Blackfeet Indians have suffered massive land frauds, property loss, and usurpation of their treaty rights by Glacier and Pondera Counties, and thefts of 529,000 acres of allotted Blackfeet lands, a billion dollars worth of oil, and a trillion dollars worth of water rights. The state and county operate under usurpation of Blackfeet Sovereignty, while border-whites own void patent-in-fee lands which are the stolen allotted lands of the Blackfeet Original Allottees, which produce $85 million in sales of cattle, and crops and $9 million in federal agriculture dept. subsidies on Blackfeet allotments in an underground reservation economy of exclusive white-apartheid territory on the reservation. I have brought the claims to Congress since 1980 and my ancestors brought the claims to Congress in 1922 and there is no momentum in Congress to settle the pre-1966 Indian Money Damage Claims. What will it take to move Congress to do their treaty obligations to restore 100 million acres of stolen Indian lands on Indian reservations across the United States? We have exhausted the justice system of the United States Government. I talked with an Assistant U.S. Attorney who told me there is no chance of pursuing our claims, no plans to restore stolen Indian lands. Any ideas out there? Help!
Bob Juneau Sr.
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