State of Montana in Wrongful Possession of Blackfeet Indian Allotments and Tribal Assetts on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation for the past 100 years working against the interests of the BlackfeetTribe and Blackfeet Indians.
By Bob Juneau and Robert C. Juneau, September, 2010
The land base of the Blackfeet Reservation in 1912 was 1,440,000 acres of allotted Blackfeet lands-By 1980 the reservation land base was diminished to 946,000 acres; leaving approximately 500,000 acres of former Blackfeet allotments in possession of white ranchers. The consequences of state encroachment on the Blackfeet Reservation are the Pre-1966 Indian claims.
“A great majority of the thousands of Indian claimants are heirs of deceased Blackfeet allottees or trust patentees. We are unable to locate many of them:”
Bureau of Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Forest Gerard testified on Monday, December 17, 1979 concerning the Pre-1966 Claims of the Indians before the U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Indian Affairs. The Purpose of the Hearing is: To determine the status of the work of the Department of the Interior and Department of Justice in identifying and processing claims of the Indians that arose before 1966.
Forest Gerard, BIA Assistant Secretary confessed to “complicity” [partnership in crime] in the Blackfeet land frauds in a hearing on March 13, 1979 on the issuance of patents in fee and other encumbrances of the Indians property by the Interior Department.
BIA officials told committee members “you hear stories that there are thousands upon thousands of claims out in the misty mountains”, and “BIA Records are stored all over creation.” BIA officials also told Congress they felt the claims had “grown stale.” Mice turds were found in the BIA files.
BIA protects white invaders
The BIA was concerned “the claims program will affect a significant number of [white] citizens in this country because, in many cases, we are looking at the prospects of regaining title to [Indian] property, and many of these [white] individuals through no fault of their own, are holding void titles. We appreciate the claims program has, or will affect a significant number of [white] citizens in this country because in many cases, we are looking at the prospects of regaining [Indian] title to property, and many of these individuals [whites]-the defendants-through no fault of their own, are holding void titles.”
BIA “loses” thousands of Blackfeet Indians
The BIA aired the issue of heirship problems and the thousands of Indian descendants yet unidentified. The BIA revealed “that these Indians are potential claimants too, and our [federal trust] responsibility to them is legal and must be met. This is the heirship problem. As you know, on many of the allotments, if the original [Indian] allottee has died, the ownership has descended into literally hundreds of individuals. These are potential claimants too. We have difficulty locating these individuals, but our responsibility to them is legal and must be met.”
The BIA officials testified that if the claims did not survive the statute of limitations, there would be a “suit against the U.S. Government as trustee for failure to carry out a fiduciary obligation; a breach of the trust obligation to bring an action on their [Indians] behalf.”
The BIA “loses” the Blackfeet Reservation Water Holes
The BIA Agency Officials admit their entire agency administrative organization has lost jurisdiction and control over the most potent natural factor in the control of the use of the reservation range as a result of the loss of Patent in Fee lands and the subsequent loss of control of water holes on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. There is not enough Indian grazing land left in blocks big enough to administer, and the fragments are leased by white ranchers, leaving the Indian landowners with minimal payments.
The BIA is managing air. The alienated lands [Patent in Fee] to an extent far out of proportion to the allotted acreage control the watering places for stock. In the livestock wars of the early west, the control of watering places was the principle point at issue and it is this control of water holes today that is just as important and as essential to the efficient utilization of [reservation] range lands.
Loss of allotments an obstacle to proper management of range
The highly decentralized ownership of allotted lands is the “obstacle against which any but the most elastic and readily adaptable plan of grazing will shatter itself and become ineffective.” BIA grazing management plans are “obscured by the very pressing problem of the unified administration of a block of land divided by ownership into thousands of separate parcels.”
Loss of patent in fee lands an obstacle to tribal ranchers
The expression “Grazing Management” used in an industrial sense, presupposes the existence of a relatively large tract of land to which supervision can be given toward obtaining continued production and utilization of forage crops. The Patent in Fee lands [stolen Blackfeet Indian Allotments] are scattered over the entire reservation, every township having two or more Patent in Fee allotments.
The land status maps also indicate a pronounced tendency for the more valuable areas, particularly along water courses, to pass into a Patent in Fee status [white ranchers ownership] ahead of the less desirable, drier areas[Indian allotments]. This indicates a desire on the part of the white stock owner to acquire title to the watering places to be used in connection with the leasing of adjoining [Blackfeet allotted] range lands.
As is indicated by a study of the location of the Patent in Fee lands in relation to the areas under grazing leases, the owners of alienated lands [white ranchers] are in a position to greatly influence and in some cases to absolutely control the use of adjoining Blackfeet allotted range lands.
White ranchers own and control reservation livestock economy
The white ranchers and farmers lands, on account of the Patent in Fees, and the available range lands of the Indians, is distinctly a range livestock county within reservation boundaries and as such may be considered a distinct economic territory.
The livestock figures show that the livestock industry of the white ranchers on the Blackfeet Reservation annually produce three and one half times the income of their nearest county competitor because of the Patent in Fee lands and monopoly of adjacent Blackfeet allotted Indian range lands.
The Blackfeet claims issues are regaining Blackfeet title to Blackfeet Indian property, and removal of white ranchers and farmers from the alienated lands [patent in fee].
The jurisdiction of Glacier and Pondera Counties, as well as the State of Montana will recede to the exterior borders of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The tribal agricultural sector flows will increase to tribal ranchers and farmers and landowners. This will complete the treaty goals of the United States of America and the Blackfeet Nation in the 1896 Agreement/Article Five.
Self-Sufficient Blackfeet cattle ranchers now economically dependent
The formerly independent self-supporting Blackfeet cattle ranchers and the tribal cattle industry have been destroyed by the political and economic power of the white ranchers and farmers working in concert with corrupt BIA officials on the reservation.
There is no longer any treaty talk of bringing the Indians to self-support or to build the Blackfeet nation as a whole economy within the reservation borders because the reserved Indian grazing lands have been stolen by the patent in fee’s and white land grafters.
The political power of tribal treaty rights contained in the 1896 Agreement/Article Five have been diminished by encroaching jurisdiction of the state and county within the Blackfeet Indian Reservation boundaries in violation of the treaty, state constitution, organic act and Congress’ intent.
Blackfeet history must be re-written to change it
The history of the Blackfeet Indians is not the history of the Indian ranchers, and Indian cattle industry, but is the history of the looting, raping, murder and robbery of the Indians by Montana border-whites. The history of the Territory and State of Montana is the history of the border-whites despoiling the territory of the Blackfeet Indians.
This horrific history of exploitation can only be challenged by putting an end to the colonization of the reservation by white ranchers and farmers. We must de-colonize our selves [win tribal and allotted claims] in order to bring economic life back to the Blackfeet people and to restore political power to the Blackfeet Nation. De-colonization of the Indians reminds the border-whites “The last shall be first” as quoted in the Bible.
Note from Bob Juneau: I understand the tribal attorney is working to renew her contract with the tribal council at present. We will progress on the tribal resolution requesting a Congressional response to the Blackfeet Pre-1966 Indian land claims when we get the tribal attorney’s legal assistance in doing the tribal council resolution to Congress. This is the tribal gossip; I don’t know what the truth might be in this case. Let me know!
By Bob Juneau and Robert C. Juneau, September, 2010
The land base of the Blackfeet Reservation in 1912 was 1,440,000 acres of allotted Blackfeet lands-By 1980 the reservation land base was diminished to 946,000 acres; leaving approximately 500,000 acres of former Blackfeet allotments in possession of white ranchers. The consequences of state encroachment on the Blackfeet Reservation are the Pre-1966 Indian claims.
“A great majority of the thousands of Indian claimants are heirs of deceased Blackfeet allottees or trust patentees. We are unable to locate many of them:”
Bureau of Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Forest Gerard testified on Monday, December 17, 1979 concerning the Pre-1966 Claims of the Indians before the U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Indian Affairs. The Purpose of the Hearing is: To determine the status of the work of the Department of the Interior and Department of Justice in identifying and processing claims of the Indians that arose before 1966.
Forest Gerard, BIA Assistant Secretary confessed to “complicity” [partnership in crime] in the Blackfeet land frauds in a hearing on March 13, 1979 on the issuance of patents in fee and other encumbrances of the Indians property by the Interior Department.
BIA officials told committee members “you hear stories that there are thousands upon thousands of claims out in the misty mountains”, and “BIA Records are stored all over creation.” BIA officials also told Congress they felt the claims had “grown stale.” Mice turds were found in the BIA files.
BIA protects white invaders
The BIA was concerned “the claims program will affect a significant number of [white] citizens in this country because, in many cases, we are looking at the prospects of regaining title to [Indian] property, and many of these [white] individuals through no fault of their own, are holding void titles. We appreciate the claims program has, or will affect a significant number of [white] citizens in this country because in many cases, we are looking at the prospects of regaining [Indian] title to property, and many of these individuals [whites]-the defendants-through no fault of their own, are holding void titles.”
BIA “loses” thousands of Blackfeet Indians
The BIA aired the issue of heirship problems and the thousands of Indian descendants yet unidentified. The BIA revealed “that these Indians are potential claimants too, and our [federal trust] responsibility to them is legal and must be met. This is the heirship problem. As you know, on many of the allotments, if the original [Indian] allottee has died, the ownership has descended into literally hundreds of individuals. These are potential claimants too. We have difficulty locating these individuals, but our responsibility to them is legal and must be met.”
The BIA officials testified that if the claims did not survive the statute of limitations, there would be a “suit against the U.S. Government as trustee for failure to carry out a fiduciary obligation; a breach of the trust obligation to bring an action on their [Indians] behalf.”
The BIA “loses” the Blackfeet Reservation Water Holes
The BIA Agency Officials admit their entire agency administrative organization has lost jurisdiction and control over the most potent natural factor in the control of the use of the reservation range as a result of the loss of Patent in Fee lands and the subsequent loss of control of water holes on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. There is not enough Indian grazing land left in blocks big enough to administer, and the fragments are leased by white ranchers, leaving the Indian landowners with minimal payments.
The BIA is managing air. The alienated lands [Patent in Fee] to an extent far out of proportion to the allotted acreage control the watering places for stock. In the livestock wars of the early west, the control of watering places was the principle point at issue and it is this control of water holes today that is just as important and as essential to the efficient utilization of [reservation] range lands.
Loss of allotments an obstacle to proper management of range
The highly decentralized ownership of allotted lands is the “obstacle against which any but the most elastic and readily adaptable plan of grazing will shatter itself and become ineffective.” BIA grazing management plans are “obscured by the very pressing problem of the unified administration of a block of land divided by ownership into thousands of separate parcels.”
Loss of patent in fee lands an obstacle to tribal ranchers
The expression “Grazing Management” used in an industrial sense, presupposes the existence of a relatively large tract of land to which supervision can be given toward obtaining continued production and utilization of forage crops. The Patent in Fee lands [stolen Blackfeet Indian Allotments] are scattered over the entire reservation, every township having two or more Patent in Fee allotments.
The land status maps also indicate a pronounced tendency for the more valuable areas, particularly along water courses, to pass into a Patent in Fee status [white ranchers ownership] ahead of the less desirable, drier areas[Indian allotments]. This indicates a desire on the part of the white stock owner to acquire title to the watering places to be used in connection with the leasing of adjoining [Blackfeet allotted] range lands.
As is indicated by a study of the location of the Patent in Fee lands in relation to the areas under grazing leases, the owners of alienated lands [white ranchers] are in a position to greatly influence and in some cases to absolutely control the use of adjoining Blackfeet allotted range lands.
White ranchers own and control reservation livestock economy
The white ranchers and farmers lands, on account of the Patent in Fees, and the available range lands of the Indians, is distinctly a range livestock county within reservation boundaries and as such may be considered a distinct economic territory.
The livestock figures show that the livestock industry of the white ranchers on the Blackfeet Reservation annually produce three and one half times the income of their nearest county competitor because of the Patent in Fee lands and monopoly of adjacent Blackfeet allotted Indian range lands.
The Blackfeet claims issues are regaining Blackfeet title to Blackfeet Indian property, and removal of white ranchers and farmers from the alienated lands [patent in fee].
The jurisdiction of Glacier and Pondera Counties, as well as the State of Montana will recede to the exterior borders of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The tribal agricultural sector flows will increase to tribal ranchers and farmers and landowners. This will complete the treaty goals of the United States of America and the Blackfeet Nation in the 1896 Agreement/Article Five.
Self-Sufficient Blackfeet cattle ranchers now economically dependent
The formerly independent self-supporting Blackfeet cattle ranchers and the tribal cattle industry have been destroyed by the political and economic power of the white ranchers and farmers working in concert with corrupt BIA officials on the reservation.
There is no longer any treaty talk of bringing the Indians to self-support or to build the Blackfeet nation as a whole economy within the reservation borders because the reserved Indian grazing lands have been stolen by the patent in fee’s and white land grafters.
The political power of tribal treaty rights contained in the 1896 Agreement/Article Five have been diminished by encroaching jurisdiction of the state and county within the Blackfeet Indian Reservation boundaries in violation of the treaty, state constitution, organic act and Congress’ intent.
Blackfeet history must be re-written to change it
The history of the Blackfeet Indians is not the history of the Indian ranchers, and Indian cattle industry, but is the history of the looting, raping, murder and robbery of the Indians by Montana border-whites. The history of the Territory and State of Montana is the history of the border-whites despoiling the territory of the Blackfeet Indians.
This horrific history of exploitation can only be challenged by putting an end to the colonization of the reservation by white ranchers and farmers. We must de-colonize our selves [win tribal and allotted claims] in order to bring economic life back to the Blackfeet people and to restore political power to the Blackfeet Nation. De-colonization of the Indians reminds the border-whites “The last shall be first” as quoted in the Bible.
Note from Bob Juneau: I understand the tribal attorney is working to renew her contract with the tribal council at present. We will progress on the tribal resolution requesting a Congressional response to the Blackfeet Pre-1966 Indian land claims when we get the tribal attorney’s legal assistance in doing the tribal council resolution to Congress. This is the tribal gossip; I don’t know what the truth might be in this case. Let me know!
No comments:
Post a Comment