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Show C . C . C L E M E N T S / A T T O R N E Y AT L A W I COLOMADO BUILOIMO WASHINGTON. D. C. / \ ^ f' b January 18, 1923. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 5s •'•'ashington, D. C. ^ Sir: ncr- <g y & In re S. 2482 providing for the relief of the White" River, Uintah, Uncompahgre, and Southern Ute Tribes or Bands of Ute Indians in Utah, Colorado, and Rev/ Mexico, now before you for report, your attention is respectfully called to a report, copy herewith, from a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on S.77,38, 62d Congress, 3d Session, which provided for a modified agreement with the Confederated Bands of Uts Indians of Colorado. The report of the subcommittee contains the following statement: F "It appears from the records of the Geological xyf Survey that of this remaining 7,000,000 acres cs (of unsold lands) there have been classified as coal lands about 700,000 acres, of the average appraised value of a70. an acre, amounting jy° 3 150,000,000. for the coal lands alone". eg Under the cession agreement between the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians and the Government, the unallotted lands were to be sold for the benefit of the Indians; but, contrary to the agreement, Congress withdrew the lands from sale, by the so-called leasing Act of February, 1920, and the Act of withdrawal included the 700,000 acres of coal lands. It is quite probable that some of the Indians named in tha bill, S. 2482, have a just claim against the Government for the value of the unsold lands because of their withdrawal from sale, and therefore that S. 2482 provides for the adjudication of claims in excess of ^50,000,000. In my opinion an Indian bill of such magnitude cannot be passed in the near future, if at all; furthermore, It is quits certain that a favorable Departmental report thereon would jeopardize the passage of a pending bill, S. 709, for the relief of the Uintah and White River Indians. I note in this connection that through the united efforts oF myself and my associates, a bill similar to S. 709 would have become a law during the 69th Congress, but for a single objec- |
