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Show REPORT OF THE SECBETmY OF THE INTERIOR 23 employment. Negotiations are pending for the purchase of a small tract containing about five acres on the Fort Independence Reserva-tion, Inyo County, Calif., to provide home sites for three Indian families. Up to the present time approximately $203,000 has been expended for the purchase of about 9,350 acres for homeless Indians in California. CHOCTAW INDIANS OF MISSISSIPPI Three separate purchases have been made, covering a total of 170 acres, which have been resold to four Choctaws of the full blood under the reimbursable plan for a total consideratiod of $2,950. These tracts will &ord home sites for about 20 persons. h e purchase is pending for a tract of 40 acres at a cost of $500 for the benefit of a family of five persons. To this time $38,412 has been expendedfor the purchase of lands in Mississippi covering a total of 1,323 acres for resale to 44 Mississippi Choctaws of the full blood under the reimbursable plan. ADDITIONAL LANDS FOR INDIAN USE During the first session of the Seventieth Congress legislation was enacted providing for withdrawal from entry or other disposition under the public land laws of approximately 91,000 acres of public land for the use of Indians in several States, including about 14,000 acres for the Acoma Pueblo Indians in New Mexico, about 69,000 for the Walker River Indians in Nevada, and about 7,000 acres for the Umatilla Indians in Oregon. ADDITIONAL LANDS FOR NAVAJO INDIANS Pursuant to authority contained in the second deficiency act for 1928, approved May 29, 1928, $200,000 was made available for expenditure during the fiscal years 1928 and 1929, for the purchase of land and water rights for Navajo Indians residing on the public domain in Arizona and New Mexico. The item provides for a total expendi-ture of not to exceed $1,200,000 from funds belonging to the Navajo Tribe representing proceeds from the leasi~igo f tribal oil lands. The total income from this source for the fiscal year 1927 was approxi-mately $346,000, and for the first quarter of 1928 it was approxi-mately $52,000. The estimated income for the fiscal year 1929 ie $260,000. The tribal representatives have expressed themselves as in favo~ of the use of tribal funds in the purchase of additional land for those members of the tribe living on the public domain and numbering about 6,000. The livelihood of the Navajo Indian is largely depend-ent upon the raising of sheep and cattle. It is therefore necessary 23792-28-4 |