OCR Text |
Show UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR WASHINGTON 00T Memorandum for the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: Further study has been given to the organization of the Colorado Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Reservation under a proposed constitution and bylaws with speoial reference to the possibility of settling other Indians upon said reservation pursuant to the act of March 3, 1865 (13 Stat. 559). The attached memoranda from the Land and Fiscal Divisions of your Office were solicited by me with a view to determining whether there had been any continuing administrative aotion by the Department in carrying out the placing of other Indians on the reservation in addition to the Mohave and Chemehuevi Tribes, or whether the administrative action in placing these tribes on the reservation constitutes a final determination of the Indians entitled to reside thereon* The two memoranda do not, I believe, indicate any continuous course of action by the Indian Office or by this Department involving the placing of other Indians on the Colorado River Reservation. The matter has apparently been revived only in the last few years. The memorandum from the Land Division indicates, moreover, that the original plan was to plaoe only the Mohave and Chemehuevi Tribes, and Indiana friendly to them, on the reservation. This being so, there appears to be no reason for altering my memorandum of September 15* The proposed letter suggesting correction in the tentative oon-stitution and bylaws of the Colorado River Indian Tribes should, therefore, be revised by eliminating the last paragraph on pages 5 and 6 thereof. As a matter of law, the constitution may guarantee to the present occupants oomplete and exclusive control even as to future membership, and this in no way oonfliots with the act of March 3, 1865 (13 Stat. 559). The Seoretary of the Interior has no right to looate other Indians on this reservation without the consent of the tribes having jurisdiction over the reservation, and the Indians have a dear legal right to withhold their consent. If, as an administrative matter, it is felt to be essential to provide that other Indians be placed on the reservation, either to |
Source |
Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |