Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs: Pit River Indians: Correspondence, Injunction, Background, 1969-1970

George F. Duke, director of the California Indian Legal Services, writes to Congressman John N. Happy Camp to urge him to reject an amendment proposed by the Department of the Interior. The amendment would designate the XL Ranch Home and Agricultural Cooperative Association as the sole beneficiary of the XL Ranch Indian Reservation, instead of the Pit River Indian Tribe. Duke argues that the Pit River Indians have not been given a fair chance to be heard in the matter, and that the proposed amendment would deprive them of their rights.

The undersigned Pit River Indians petition Congress for fair treatment regarding their claim to the XL Ranch Indian Reservation. They explain their position in the attached document Background of the Dispute Concerning the XL Ranch Indian Reservation and urge Congress not to take any action which would prejudice the rights of the Pit River people to their homeland. Therefore, H.R. 13930 should be adopted only to add land to the Reservation to be held in trust for such bands of Pit River Indians in the State of California as the Secretary of the Interior shall designate in accordance with the Indian Reorganization Act, as the Reservation is now held. No bill should be adopted which would designate beneficiaries. Such a designation should be made only after all concerned Indians have had a chance to be heard.

The text describes a lawsuit filed by the Pit River Indian Tribe against the Secretary of the Interior, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the Sacramento Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Tribe alleges that these officials have failed to comply with the Fifth Amendment and Federal law in the designation of beneficiaries, assignment of beneficial use, distribution of assets, or termination of the XL Ranch Indian Reservation in Modoc County, California. The Tribe alleges that the officials have instead favored a small group of families who reside on the reservation and have excluded the majority of the Tribe's members from the decision-making process.

The court orders that the defendants must give the plaintiffs 90 days' notice before taking any action that would terminate the XL Ranch Indian Reservation or related property, or affect the legal status or rights of the plaintiffs as American Indians. The plaintiffs are not required to post bond or security.

The text describes the controversy surrounding the proposed designation of the Pit River Home and Agricultural Cooperative Association as the sole beneficiary of the XL Ranch. The author, George F. Duke, expresses regret at the way the matter has been handled by the government, and urges Representative Johnson to consider the matter carefully. He encloses a copy of the lawsuit filed on behalf of the Pit River Tribe, as well as a copy of the complaint and findings of fact from that case.

The XL Ranch Indian Reservation was created in 1938 in response to the illegal takeover of the Pit River Indians' traditional homeland. The reservation has been held in trust by the United States government for the benefit of the Pit River Indian bands, but no formal designation of trust beneficiaries has ever been made. Recently, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has recommended that the reservation be given to the Pit River Home and Agricultural Cooperative Association, a group of eleven families (some of whom are not even Pit River Indians), to the exclusion of the 500 other Pit River Indians. This recommendation has caused bitterness among the remaining Pit River Indians.