Washington : Government Printing Office
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VOLUME 2—1937 | 595 |
Whereas, section 25 of the Act of April 21, 1904 (33 Stats. 224), as amended by section 3 of the Act of March 3, 1911 (36 Stats. 1063), provided for the reclamation and disposal of lands in the Colorado River Reservation, California and Arizona, and
Whereas, it apparently was intended that after reclamation a portion of such lands should become a pact of the public domain and made available for settlement under the public land laws, and
Whereas, no reclamation project was undertaken on the Colorado River Reservation under the reclamation Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), authorized by section 25 of the Act of April 21, 1904, supra, and no part of the lands of said reservation (except a small area in the townsite of Parker), has been opened to settlement and sale or other form of disposition under any of the public land laws of the United States, and such lands have always been regarded as constituting a part of the Colorado River Reservation, and
Whereas, the Indians of the Colorado River Reservation, the Superintendent in charge of that jurisdiction, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs have recommended that the status of the unallotted or surplus lands of the reservation, including vacant townsite areas, be definitely restored as a part of the tribal holdings of the Indians of the Colorado River Reservation.
Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in the Secretary of the Interior by sections 3 and 7 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stats. 984), I hereby find that restoration to undoubted tribal ownership of all undisposed of lands within the Colorado River Indian Reservation, including any vacant townsite lots within said reservation, will be in the public interest, and the said lands are hereby restored to such tribal ownership and are added to and made a part of the existing Colorado River Indian Reservation, subject to any valid existing rights, for the use and benefit of the Indians of that reservation and such other Indians as may be entitled to rights thereon.
HAROLD L. ICKES,
Secretary of the Interior.