The 1896 Agreement/ Article Five reserves reservation grazing tracts for the "exclusive use and occupancy" of Blackfeet cattle ranchers, "where their herds may feed, undisturbed." The goal of the Blackfeet Chiefs was to get rid of white cattlemen who came on the reservation by trespassing or by leasing tribal and allotted lands for ten cents an acre leaving the Indians broke and out of the cattle business. Chief White Calf told the Congress, "We wish you would give us a lock to keep out the whites who are always bothering us and driving their herds onto the reservation and ruining our hay lands." Curly Bear told the Congress, "The whites are envious and desire our grazing lands and will be the ruin of our successful cattle industry. Did you tell the agent he could graze his cows on our lands? He does not have any Indian blood in his veins! If he is allowed to graze his cows the other white men will claim the same rights and we will be overrun." It was clear the Blackfeet Chiefs did not want any white cattle on the reservation to compete with Blackfeet owned cattle for the precious grass and water for building a cattle industry, so they wrote the Article Five into the 1896 Agreement to keep the white man out of the Blackfeet Reservation. In 1934 the Blackfeet Chiefs were talked into accepting the Indian Reorganization Act which provided for the Blackfeet Constitution and Charter and it also provided for the tribal credit program to support ranchers with loans and cattle feed for their cattle herds and for subsistence until the ranchers were profitable. It worked! The Plan of Operations for the Blackfeet Credit Program and the Blackfeet ranchers is an excellent business plan and it should be followed by the BIA and tribal council to re-start the successful, self-reliant Blackfeet cattle industry. The 1896 Agreement and the Indian Reorganization Act are our guiding rules of law so far as the Blackfeet Tribe and United States Congress are concerned, but like so many good ideas, it has been the domain of tribal crooks and BIA operatives that steal hay, lease fees, and grazing tracts meant for Blackfeet ranchers. The "Inspector Incognito" sent to the reservation by Congress found white cattlemen trespassing and an "in-house Indian-ring" of tribal council ranchers hogging tribal grazing lands in conspiracy with white cattle companies to steal the grass and water holes of allotted landowners and collecting lease fees for tribal and allotted grazing lands. It is the same system in place that allowed Chairman Old Person and Vice-Chairman Archie St. Goddard to steal tribal leases and fees for their use of 35,000 acres of tribal grazing tracts. The tribal buffalo herd will be history soon if pilfering of tribal hay and feed is not stopped and the buffalo starve in winter.
TOO MANY CHIEFS AND NOT ENOUGH INDIANS: The people have suffered for 75 years under the tribal council, put in by the BIA to control the Indians, by allowing a few council members to rob the tribe and keep the people poor so BIA can keep their jobs and the Indians poor, forever, by the water compact. This is our last chance to get on our feet financially by using the $150,000,000 to be paid to the tribal council in the water compact. The trust landowners and cattle ranchers are not even mentioned in the water compact except as it ends all tribal and allotted land claims forever! Why is that? It is because Chairman Old Person was trying to sneak the money by the people to keep his personal $350,000 culture fund that paid for his concubines and whores in Washington D.C.
$150,000,000 TO BE PAID OUT IN THE WATER COMPACT:
The Bureau of Indian Affairs Report in 1980 said $50,000,000 is needed to pipeline water to dry trust land allotments so Indian landowners and ranchers can have water for stock, hay production and domestic uses, and another $50,000,000 is needed to make the Blackfeet cattle ranchers "whole" for their losses from BIA mismanagement of the reservation cattle industry and for destroying the self-reliant, successful Blackfeet cattle industry. The funds would be used to purchase cattle for Blackfeet ranchers, improve their property, and to secure markets for beef products. A tribal trust landowners and cattle ranchers cooperative will be formed to take over the water compact funding to be held in a tribal trust account under BIA supervision. The water compact funds will be managed by the Blackfeet landowners association and cattlemen's cooperative to "cut out the white men" from the reservation cattle industry as outlined in the Indian Reorganization Act Regulations and the 1896 Agreement/Article Five. The coop could build a beef processing plant to create jobs for tribal members and meat for the people! Chinese Government Purchasers were on the reservation requesting Blackfeet beef products to be shipped to China. They said a steak costs $100 in China.
I read the article on younger Blackfeet ranchers like Cowboy After Buffalo and others who want to ranch but find the doors closed to them despite Blackfeet ownership of 1.3 million acres of the best grazing lands in the nation. If the ranchers want to organize and take advantage of their special treaty rights and the Indian Reorganization Act, I will help them to research and file requests to Congress to make them "whole" for their losses in cattle ranching and to recognize special treaty rights to use tribal grazing tracts for their own cattle and to build their own cattle ranch. That is the law and treaty!
MY BUDGET FOR THE $150,000,000 WATER COMPACT MONEY:
$50,000,000 TO THE BLACKFEET CATTLE RANCHERS FOR CATTLE PURCHASE ETC.
$50,000,000 TO BLACKFEET TRUST LANDOWNERS FOR PROPERTY IMPROVMENTS
$50,000,000 TO BE PAID TO TRIBAL MEMBERS PER CAPITA PAYMENTS
TRIBAL COUNCIL TO BE PAID-$00,000,000 TO DO THEIR JOBS IN SERVING THE PEOPLE
Bob Juneau Sr. phone me @ 406-493-0894.
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