Searching for salvation and sovereignty: Blackfeet oil leasing and the reconstruction of the tribe

Native Pathways: American Indian Culture and Economic Development in the Twentieth Century

Volumn , Issue , 2004, Pages 27-51

  Rosier, Paul C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84898516016     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: None     Document Type: Chapter

References (102)

1. "Minutes of the Plains Congress, Rapid City Indian School, Rapid City, South Dakota, March 2-5, 1934", 2.
2. Stephen Cornell and Joseph P. Kalt, "Culture and Institutions as Public Goods: American Indian Economic Development as a Problem of Collective Action", in Property Rights and Indian Economics, ed. Terry Anderson (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1992), 246.
3. Terry L. Anderson, Sovereign Nations or Reservations: An Economic History of American Indians (San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, 1995);
4. Duane Champagne, "Economic Culture, Institutional Order, and Sustained Market Enterprise: Comparisons of Historical and Contemporary American Indian Cases", in Property Rights and Indian Economics, ed. Terry Anderson (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1992), 195-213;
5. Joseph G. Jorgensen, "A Century of Political Economic Effects on American Indian Society, 1880-1990", Journal of Ethnic Studies 6(Fall 1978):1-82.
6. Stephen Cornell and Joseph P. Kalt, "Where's the Glue? Institutional Bases of American Indian Economic Development", Journal of Socio-Economics (December 2000): 443-447.
7. Kathleen Pickering and David Mushinski, "Making the Case for Culture in Economic Development: A Cross Section Analysis of Western Tribes", American Indian Culture and Research Journal 25, 1(2001):46.
8. Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality (New York: Basic, 1983), 11.
9. Interview with author, Princeton, NJ, December 4, 1998.
10. Cornell and Kalt, "Culture and Institutions as Public Goods", 246.
11. "Table of Resident Blackfeet Indian Net Income, 1943." NA RG 75 Central Classified File (CCF)-2 File 7056-1944-BF-071 [hereafter BF].
12. Freal McBride, "Ten-Year Program for the Blackfeet Reservation, Montana": Population and Trend, 3. NA RG 75 CCF-2 File 7056-1944-BF-071;
13. E. B. Linnen and F. S. Cook, "Report of Investigation of Affairs on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana." NA RG 75 CCF File 30650-1915-BF 150.
14. Robert Hamilton to Francis K. Lane, May 29, 1916. NA RG 75 CCF File 61576-1916-BF-054.
15. Hamilton to Indian Office, May 29, 1916;
16. Meritt to Hamilton, May 31, 1916. NA RG 75 CCF File 63114-1916-BF-322.
17. "Memorial and Petition to the Honorable Senate of the United States in Congress", in "Minutes of a Meeting of the Business Council of the Blackfeet Tribe Held at the Blackfeet Agency, Browning, Montana, on May 20, 1916." 61576-1916-BF-054.
18. Statutes at Large of the United States, vol. 41:3, 17.
19. Cato Sells to Charles M. Roblin and Louis S. Irvin, Special Allotting Agents, July 29, 1919. NA RG 75 CCF File 1630-1943-BF-175.2.
20. Paul C. Rosier, Rebirth of the Blackfeet Nation, 1912-1954 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), ch. 1.
21. Don Douma, "The History of Oil and Gas in Montana", in A History of Montana, ed. Merrill G. Burlingame and K. Ross Toole (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1957);
22. J. H. Ashford and K. M. Raymond, "Management of Oil and Gas Resources on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation: 1873-1946" (Washington, DC: Indian Claims Commission, Docket Number 279-D, 1975).
23. Minutes of a Blackfeet Tribal Council meeting, January 8, 1921. NA RG 75 CCF File 3434-1921-BF-322.
24. Terry P. Wilson, The Underground Reservation: Osage Oil (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985).
25. Minutes of a Blackfeet Tribal Council meeting, January 8, 1921.
26. Minutes of a Blackfeet Tribal Council meeting, January 10, 1921
27. Sells to Wilson, January 12, 1921.
28. "History of Oil Leasing on Blackfeet Reservation, 1921-1926 Inclusive", NA RG 75, CCF-1, File 35135-1926-BF-324, sheet 1 and sheet 2.
29. Dogears to CIA, January 4, 1922. NA RG 75 CCF File 84814-1921-BF-322.
30. "Blackfeet Tribal Council Proceedings", February 24, 1927.
31. Galbraith to Campbell, February 18, 1927.
32. George Arnoux, William Brown et al., to Campbell, August 4, 1927.
33. Wright to Campbell, September 24, 1927.
34. Minutes of the Blackfeet Business Council, April 30, 1929.
35. BTBC telegram to President of the United States, April 30, 1929.
36. Linnen and Cook, "Report of Investigation of Affairs on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana"
37. "Minutes of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council", July 16, 1929.
38. "Blackfeet Members Cut 'Melon, '" Cut Bank Pioneer Press, February 23, 1933.
39. "Was Joyful Week for the Blackfeet", Cut Bank Pioneer Press, December 23, 1932.
40. "First Reservation Producer", Cut Bank Pioneer Press, April 28, 1933.
41. Lewis Merriam et al., The Problem of Indian Administration (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1928).
42. "Minutes of the Plains Congress, Rapid City Indian School, Rapid City, South Dakota, March 2-5, 1934." RCWHA, Box 3, pt. 2-AA, File 4894-1934-066. Seventeen Blackfeet delegates attended.
43. "Minutes of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council", February 5, 1934, 5.
44. "Minutes of the Meeting of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council", March 31, 1934, 2.
45. Stone to Indian Office, October 28 telegram.
46. Statutes at Large of the United States, 48 Stat. 984 (1934).
47. "O'Hara to Commissioner of Indian Affairs", November 14, 1935.
48. "Results of Charter Election August 15, 1936." GRCIO File 9522B-1936-BF-061.
49. "Annual Report of Extension Workers, Jan. 1, 1936, to Dec. 31, 1936", p. 2 of statistical report. NA RG 75 CCF-1 File 4634-1937-BF-031.
50. Assistant Solicitor Felix Cohen to Acting Solicitor, May 18, 1937.
51. Acting Solicitor Frederic L. Kirgis to CIA, May 22, 1937. FCP Box 5, Folder 73.
52. "Minutes of a Meeting of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, June 3, 1937", 6. NA RG 75 CCF-1 File 10809-1936-BF-322.6.
53. "What Remains to Be Done in the Field of Tribal Organization", Felix Cohen to Organization Division, July 15, 1937. FCP, Box 8, Folder 119.
54. John Herrick to Collier, April 7, 1937.
55. Cohen, "Memorandum: Blackfeet Oil and Gas Leases" (no date). File 30654-1937-BF-054.
56. Zimmerman to Superintendent Charles Graves, May 15, 1937.
57. U. S. Department of the Interior, "Memorandum for the Press", December 27, 1937.
58. "Blackfeet Irrigation Project Is Approved", Glacier County Chief [Browning, MT], January 7, 1938.
59. "Hugh Jackson Writes Regarding Coming Tribal Council Election", Glacier County Chief, November 10, 1939;
60. "Hugh Jackson's Letter", Glacier County Chief, December 1, 1939.
61. "Minutes of Meeting of BTBC, February 1, 1940", 6, 8.
62. Thomas Biolsi, Organizing the Lakota: The Political Economy of the New Deal on the Pine Ridge and the Rosebud Reservations (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992), ch. 5.
63. Hugh W. Jackson to Collier, November 26, 1941;
64. "Memo: List of Complaints Against Tribal Self-Government by the Blackfeet Full-Blood Minority." NA RG 75 CCF-2 File 174-1943-BF-056. No date (ca. March 1945).
65. Champagne, "Economic Culture, Institutional Order, and Sustained Market Enterprise, 209.
66. Anderson, Sovereign Nations or Reservations;
67. Cornell and Kalt, "Culture and Institutions as Public Goods"
68. "Minutes of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council in Special Session, December 20, 1941." File 9522-E-1936-BF-054. The BTBC usually tried to release per capita payments in December.
69. George Fox to Joe McCaskill, October 22, 1942.
70. George Fox, "Some Observations on the Blackfeet Reservation", June 26, 1942, NA RG 75 File 9004-1943-BF-042.
71. Interview with author, March 6, 1996.
72. Interview with author, February 15, 1997.
73. William N. Fenton to D'Arcy McNickle, November 3, 1950.
74. Cohen to Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, June 16, 1950.
75. "Meeting of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, March 11, 1948." NA RG 75 CCF-2 File 44997-1945-BF-224.
76. Fickinger to Lucille A. Hastings, Chief, Welfare Section, February 1, 1950;
77. Hastings to Zimmerman, February 2, 1950.
78. Interview with author, March 6, 1996.
79. "Minutes of the Blackfeet Tribal Constitutional Convention Under Sponsorship of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council", April 24, 1945, 7-9.
80. "Monthly Financial Statement: Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. For Month Ending September 30, 1945." NA RG 75 CCF-2 File 36128-1945-BF-054.
81. "Meeting of Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and D'Arcy McNickle on the Wheeler-Howard Act", November 5, 1945. File 36128-1945-BF-054.
82. McBride to Daiker, August 14, 1944. NARG 75 CCF-2 File 50403-1941-BF-720;
83. "Tribal Council Certifies Vote Cast at Election", Browning [MT] Chief, January 28, 1944;
84. "Light Vote Cast by Blackfeet at Special Election", Browning Chief, October 6, 1944.
85. Paul C. Rosier, "Joseph W Brown: Native American Politician", in The Human Tradition in the American West, ed. Regan Lutz and Benson Tong (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2001).
86. Grant and Kennerly to CIA, January 26, 1944;
87. McBride to Zimmerman, January 28, 1944.
88. Brown and Pambrun to CIA, March 7, 1944.
89. "Resolution No. 13 of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, January 4, 1945", and "To the Members of the Blackfeet Tribe", September 17, 1945, a mimeographed handout that explained to voters the "relative risks and advantages" of the amendment. File 9522-B-1936-067.
90. Zimmerman to Brown, November 17, 1944, and other relevant correspondence, in NA RG 75 CCF-2 File 37019-1942-BF-322.
91. "Indian Voters Reject Change of Charter", Browning Chief, October 5, 1945;
92. McBride to Secretary of the Interior, October 9, 1945.
93. Melzner to CIA, January 18, 1950. NA RG 75 CCF-2 File 19646-1943-BF-322.
94. "Tribal Election Returns", Browning Chief, November 30, 1945;
95. "Blackfeet Indian Voters Balloting on Sale of Oil Royalty Proposals", Browning Chief, November 16, 1945.
96. Rosier, Rebirth of the Blackfeet Nation, ch. 6.
97. "Meeting of the BTBC, July 11, 1952";
98. "Blackfeet to Receive Per Capita Payment", Browning Chief, November 28, 1952.
99. "Per Capita Fund Distribution Starts Monday", Glacier Reporter (née Browning Chief), December 18, 1953.
100. "Petition by Resolution to the Blackfeet Tribal Council" (no date). File 19858-1953-BF-620.
101. Walter Wetzel, Interview by author, August 15, 1997.
102. Walzer, Spheres of Justice, 78.