totaled $4,907,000. Other agricultural losses, principally land damage, were estimated at $433,000. Approximately 400 farms were affected by the flood Municipalities were affected indirectly, but the principal nonagricultural loss was damage to the State highways and county roads. The nonagricultural damage was $138,000. The total flood damage in the basin during 1951 was $5,478,000.

9. A summary of the flood damages during 1941 to 1951 is shown in the following tabulation:

The average annual damage during 1941 to 1951, inclusive, is $1,014,000. 10. Thousands of acres of bottom land have been made idle by the floods, which occur several times every year. The idle land could be made productive with the construction of flood control projects and the crop yields on the present farm land could be greatly increased.

Mr. JACKSON. Due to the limited time, we will not go into any considerable detail on these charts, but I have made a few short notes, which I will use in my discussion.

First, as to the location of this project: It is located in a valley in the west central part of the State of Missouri, right south of the main stem of the Missouri River. I am not an engineer, nor am I a speaker; I am just a layman, a landowner, who operates in this area, and I am familiar with the history of the main stem of the river and its tributaries. In this area during the last 11 years we have had seven major floods, some of them on the main stem, and some on the tributaries. Naturally I am interested in maintaining the stem as well as the tributaries, and on the main stem of the Missouri River, just across the river, is levee district No. 1, which contains around 6,000 acres, and in 1945 in this levee district, along the main stem of the river, we got backed right up to the river; and, out of some 7 years, 2 of them have been complete losses to the landowners.

The population in this area is 106,050, and there are some 8 streams. The drainage area in square miles is 2,877. The total acreage involved is 1,518,000, and the total acres subject to flooding is around 71,300.

The summary of the flood damage from 1941 to 1951 is shown in the tabulation of data, which has been made a part of the record. I will not take time to go into that now. The average yearly damage is over a million dollars, during that 11-year period-that is the yearly loss in this little basin. As a result, thousands of acres of bottom land have been made idle by the floods, which occur several times every year. The idle lands could be made productive in the construction of flood-control projects, and the crop yields on the present farmland could be greatly increased.

Now, how do the floods affect agriculture in this area? First, it cuts the production of the area; and, second, it causes landowners to abandon bottom land and to farm hillsides or hill land, which, due to erosion, is gradually filling up streams which, in turn, cause more lowland to be inundated during rainy seasons.

The survey of this river was started back in 1949, and the Government engineers at that time said that it would take $40,000 to make

this survey. That was, I think, before the high cost of materials. The committee here appropriated some $20,000, which has been spent on the survey. This past year we were allowed $15,000 more for survey of this area, and the engineers in Kansas City tell us that they will start again on this survey, and I am here asking for another, an additional $20,000 for the fiscal year 1954, so that this survey can be completed. Then we will be able to determine what we can do in this little valley, and when I say "we" I mean the people in this valley and the engineers.

During these lowering of prices of agricultural commodities, the people of this area cannot continue having these yearly losses, over $1 million. So, I urgently and respectfully request the committee to grant the $20,000 to complete this survey so that we can determine what we will be able to do in this little valley.

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before the committee, and anything you can do to help us out in this little valley will be greatly appreciated.

Mr. HAND. You have given us a very clear picture of the seriousness of the problem, and I can assure you your statement will receive the consideration of the committee.

Mr. JACKSON. Thank you.

Mr. HAND. Is there anything further you would like to add, Mr. Moulder?

Mr. MOULDER. I have nothing further to add, except to concur in the statement made by Mr. Jackson. The farmers and property owners in the Blackwater Lamine area are faced with a very deplorable condition as a result of the floods from the rivers and the resulting damages occurring each year which, as he indicated, exceed $1 million. May I inquire whether this item has been included in the budget? I have not had an opportunity to inquire on that.

Mr. HAND. There is no special item for the surveys.

Mr. MOULDER. It is included in the total amount for surveys? Mr. HAND. The engineers exercise their discretion as to which project has the highest priority in allocating funds from the survey funds.

Mr. MOULDER. And you indicate that in your report, as I recall. Mr. HAND. That could be done, but it has not been done ordinarily. Mr. MOULDER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. JACKSON. Thank you very much. We appreciate the privilege of appearing before your committee.

FISHING CLAIMS-COLUMBIA RIVER

Mr. DAVIS. I will insert into the record at this point a letter from Easley, Whipple & McCormick on the settlement of fishing claims in the Columbia River.

(The letter referred to follows:)

EASLEY, WHIPPLE & MCCORMICK, Portland 4, Oreg., May 11, 1953. Re proposed contracts with Warm Springs and Umatilla Tribes of Indians in settlement of fishing claims in the Columbia River.

Committee Members, House and Senate Appropriations Committees, Washington, D. C.

GENTLEMEN: We represent the Mid-Columbia River Tribe of Indians, which is composed of approximately 320 men, women, and children who reside at or near

Celilo, Oreg., and we submit the following memorandum on their behalf in opposition to the proposed contracts with the Warm Springs and Umatilla Tribes:

PART I. INTRODUCTION

In 1950, by Public Law 516, the Congress authorized construction of the Dalles Dam across the Columbia River, which dam when completed will inundate the ancient Indian fishing grounds in the Columbia River, particularly those at Celilo, Oreg. The Army engineers who bear the responsibility for the construction of the dam and the settlement of Indian fishing claims, estimate that the water will first be raised in October 1955, and that it will be fully raised, utterly destroying the fishing grounds in April 1956.

The Army engineers have been negotiating with various groups of Indians in the Northwest, and their representatives, for settlement of Indian claims to fishing rights in the Columbia River. The total value of Indian fishing claims to be compensated is said to be $23 million, which figure the Army engineers have arrived at based upon an estimate of the Oregon Fish Commission that the total annual value of Indian fish catch is $700,000. These figures do not includethe depreciation in the total annual catch which has already been caused by the construction of the Bonneville Dam at Bonneville, Oreg., so that, using the present basis, the total value of Indian fishing claims is conservatively estimated.

The Army engineers have attempted settlement of the Indian claims solely upon a division of the estimated $23 million among the Yakima, Warm Springs, Umatilla, and Nez Perce Tribes of Indians, together with a few unaffiliated Indians who live in the vicinity of Celilo, Oreg., in the proportion that the number of men, women, and children in each group bears to the total number of persons in all these groups. In other words, the proposed contracts with the Warm Springs and Umatilla Tribes of Indians authorize payment to the tribes in the sum of approximately $3,600 times the number of persons in each of those tribes. The same sum, when multiplied by the number of persons in other groups and added to the proposed Warm Springs and Umatilla settlements, totals $23 million. Settlement on this basis is urged by the Army engineers as a matter of expediency. Settlement on this basis certainly cannot be justified as a matter of legal right or fair play. It fails to take into account the ages of the persons in the tribes, their probable life expectancy, the value of the fish annualy taken by each group, the number of persons who actually fish at Celilo, and the damage or loss to each individual as a result of the construction of the dam. An individual who has never fished at Celilo nor received any benefit from fishing, theoretically shares equally with the individual to whom fishing is his sole means of livelihood.

Our main opposition to the proposed contracts is based, however, upon a more serious objection to them than the measure of damages used by the engineers, and rather than make an extended analysis of our objections, we shall merely outline the points which we believe should receive the most consideration. It should first be noted that all these Indian fishing claims are based upon original Indian title, recognized and secured to the Indians by various treaties with the United States. Legally and technically no rights to fishing were acquired by the Indians through these treaties: the treaties merely recognized rights which the Indians already possessed. There are four treaties which recognize the right, each executed in 1855, and copies of the treaties are attached as exhibits. Exhibit A is the treaty with the tribes and bands nominated the Yakima Tribe; exhibit B, the Warm Springs; exhibit C, the Nez Perce; and exhibit D, the Umatilla.

PART III. OUTLINE OF POINTS IN OPPOSITION OF PROPOSED CONTRACTS

A. Proposed contracts with the Warm Springs Tribe of Indians:

1. The Warm Springs Tribe of Indians has no legal right to compensation because it released all right to fishing in the Columbia River by treaty of 1865, a copy of which is attached hereto as exhibit E. This treaty remains in full force and effect and has never been repudiated by the United States.

2. The Warm Springs Tribe has affirmed the treaty of 1865 by bringing suit against the United States to recover damages for an alleged unconscionable consideration paid under this treaty. This suit is now pending in the Court of Claims. The Warm Springs Tribe should not be allowed to claim settlement for fishing rights sold in 1865 and at the same time to maintain suit for recovery of additional consideration for the sale. It is seeking to have its cake and to eat it too. The Warm Springs Tribe should be left to its legal remedy...

B. Proposed contract with the Umatilla Tribe of Indians:

1. The Umatilla Tribe of Indians has no legal right to compensation because it has been and is located outside the area ceded to the United States in 1855, which is now to be inundated. The Columbia River did not and does not border on its reservation. An early map of the general area is attached and marked "Exhibit F."

2. The Umatilla Tribe has no legal right to compensation because none of the members in that tribe fished in the area to be inundated in 1855 or prior to that time. None have fished in that area until comparatively recently when modern means of transportation became available, and few fish there today. Reference is made to the Journals of Lewis and Clark and to Ross Journal of Early Travels..

PART III. OTHER INDIAN CLAIMS TO FISHING RIGHTS

Although no formal contract has yet been executed, the engineers propose settlement with the Nez Perce Tribe on the identical basis as the proposed contracts with the Warm Springs and Umatilla Tribes. The Nez Perce Tribe, like the Umatilla, has no legal right to compensation because it has been and is located outside the ceded area in question. The Columbia River did not and does not border on its reservation. None of the Nez Perce Tribe fished in the area in 1855. or prior to that time, and few, if any, fish there today. Reference is made to the same source of material cited for the Umatillas. It should be particularly noted that the Journals of Lewis and Clark speak of the Nez Perce Tribe as acting as their guides to the headwaters of the Columbia River. According to Lewis and Clark, the Nez Perce quides were afraid to venture further down the Columbia because of the warlike tribes in the vicinity of Celilo and The Dalles.. The Indians who have the only legal right to compensation are those Indians who fished at Celilo in 1855 and prior thereto and to whom that area was a "usual and accustomed fishing station." This includes those tribes, bands, and groups of Indians who lived along the banks of the Columbia River on both the north and south shores at the time of the treaties and who earned their livelihood through fishing. The descendants of those Indians still live there today and. they make up the bulk of Indian fishermen whose rights will be destroyed by the dam and who now fish at Celilo.

The Yakima Tribe of Indians has a legal right to compensation because it is composed, in part, of Indians descendant from the tribes, bands, and groups of river fishermen on the north shore of the Columbia. The remaining Indians who have a legal right to compensation are loosely called the Mid-Columbia River Tribe of Indians. They are descendants of the tribes, bands, and groups of fishermen on both the north and south shores of the Columbia. They were parties to the treaty of 1855 with the tribes of middle Oregon, exhibit B, and the principal band of this group is called the Wy-am or Wy-um Tribe. It should' be noted that these Indians, unlike the other tribes of middle Oregon, did not sell their fishing rights and were not parties to the treaty of 1865, exhibit E. Stocket-Ly and Iso, chiefs of the river Indians, did not participate in the 1865. treaty.

The peculiar status of the Mid-Columbia River Tribe of Indians has raised special problems in connection with the settlement of Indian fishing claims and the following is a brief summary of some of the problems.

PART IV. THE MID-COLUMBIA RIVER TRIBE OF INDIANS

The Mid-Columbia River Tribe is composed of approximately 320 men, women, and children, about one-half of whom are unenrolled in any organized Indian tribe, and all of whom live off the reservations. The large majority of those Indians who are enrolled are members of the Yakima Tribe. For one reason or another, the enrolled Indians distrust their tribal councils and representatives and have chosen to seek compensation for loss of their fishing rights through the Mid-Columbia River Tribe. All of these Indians have a common bond historically and culturally for they are all descendants of Indian bands who lived along the river and supported themselves by fishing. Distrust of the organized tribal councils stems mainly from past discriminations against them as nonreservation Indians, and they are particularly apprehensive because of section 601, et seq., title 25, United States Code Annotated, which gives the Yakima tribal council wide discretion in controlling membership in the tribe and precludes nonreservation Indians from their otherwise lawful inheritances.

The Army engineers have refused to negotiate with the Mid-Columbia River Tribe because some of its members were enrolled elsewhere and because the Mid-Columbia River Tribe is not officially recognized as such by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The engineers have shown a willingness to settle with the unenrolled members of this tribe on the same basis as the proposed contracts—that is, payment to each unenrolled Indian in the sum of approximately $3,600. The mechanics for accomplishing the settlement is vague, but the engineers have talked about these Indians becoming members of one of the organized tribes and payment to the organized tribes to include the Mid-Columbia River Indians. In other words, payment to the Mid-Columbia River Tribe would be administered by the very tribal councils which these Indians distrust and because of which these Indians are seeking compensation without the organized tribes.

The problem arises out of the inability of the engineers to look beyond the artificiality of enrollment. We perceive no practical difficulty in separating these nonreservation enrollees from the Yakima Tribe and treating them as members of the Mid-Columbia River Tribe of Indians. Indeed, they consider themselves members, and are members, of the Mid-Columbia River Tribe in all other respects. Their plight is distinguishable from the reservation Indians in that the members of Mid-Columbia River Tribe make their homes on the shores of the Columbia River and depend upon fishing almost exclusively for their livelihood, whereas the vast majority of reservation Indians never fish in the Columbia River and have never been, and are not now, dependent upon fishing as a source of livelihood. Moreover, most of those reservation Indians who do fish do so merely to supplement their income from their reservations and other employment. The Mid-Columbia River Tribe of Indians has executed attorneys' claim contracts, which have been submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for approval. To date the Bureau has neither approved nor disapproved the contracts. Approval would in effect be recognition by the Bureau of the existence and separate interests of these Indians, and it is hoped that the engineers would then negotiate with the Mid-Columbia River Tribe as a separate group. However, the Indians have now done all that is possible to gain recognition and the next move is up to the Bureau. Of course, the Indians' situation will be stymied if approval is not forthcoming.

In addition, nine test cases of individual Indians of the Mid-Columbia River Tribe have been brought against the United States to recover compensation for loss of fishing rights through the construction of the dam. The United States District Court for the District of Oregon dismissed these suits as having been prematurely brought and appeal is now pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. If the district court is upheld, the Mid-Columbia River Tribe will be forced to wait until the water is fully raised before its legal rights can be tested and ascertained in the courts and before compensation can be recovered by it.

Previous petitions to the Congress by these Indians have failed to win their separate recognition. At the suggestion of the Honorable Guy C. Cordon, Senator from Oregon, a proviso was submitted to be incorporated in the present appropriations bill which would allow the engineers to deal separately with the MidColumbia River Tribe of Indians. A copy of that proviso is attached hereto as exhibit G. We are unaware whether the proviso has been considered by the Congress.

Another special problem arises out of the fact that the Mid-Columbia River Tribe of Indians, by and large, are those Indians who actually reside at Celilo, Oreg. They are the Indians who have the most to lose as a result of the construction of the dam. They do not have allotments elsewhere, and they are living in crude shelters, some of which were provided by the Army engineers on public-domain lands. These Indians stand to lose not only their fishing rights, but also their homes, and some provision should be made for their rehabilitation. The Army engineers have communicated to the Indians or their representatives no offers or suggestions as to the rehabilitation of the Indian families who will be flooded out. Furthermore, some of the Indians of the Mid-Columbia River Tribe lost their homes when the water was raised behind the Bonneville Dam, and, despite assurances on the part of the engineers, these families have never received any assistance or compensation for the loss of their homes.

CONCLUSION

The Mid-Columbia River Tribe of Indians oppose the proposed contracts with the Warm Springs and Umatilla Tribes and oppose settlement with the Nez Perce.