[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4341 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4341

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and 
 feasibility of designating the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic 
 Site in the State of Colorado as a unit of the National Park System, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 1998

 Mr. Bob Schaffer of Colorado introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and 
 feasibility of designating the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic 
 Site in the State of Colorado as a unit of the National Park System, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Sand Creek Massacre National 
Historic Site Study Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) on November 29, 1864, Colonel John M. Chivington led a 
        group of 700 armed soldiers to a peaceful Cheyenne village of 
        more than 100 lodges on the Big Sandy, also known as Sand 
        Creek, located within the Territory of Colorado, and in a 
        running fight that ranged several miles upstream along the Big 
        Sandy, slaughtered several hundred Indians in Chief Black 
        Kettle's village, the majority of whom were women and children;
            (2) the incident was quickly recognized as a national 
        disgrace and investigated and condemned by 2 congressional 
        committees and a military commission;
            (3) although the United States admitted guilt and 
        reparations were provided for in article VI of the Treaty of 
        Little Arkansas of October 14, 1865 (14 Stat. 703) between the 
        United States and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Indians, 
        those treaty obligations remain unfulfilled;
            (4) land at or near the site of the Sand Creek Massacre may 
        be available for purchase from a willing seller; and
            (5) the site is of great significance to the Cheyenne and 
        Arapaho Indian descendants of those who lost their lives at the 
        incident at Sand Creek and to their tribes, and those 
        descendants and tribes deserve the right of open access to 
        visit the site and rights of cultural and historical observance 
        at the site.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior acting through the Director of the National 
        Park Service.
            (2) Site.--The term ``site'' means the Sand Creek massacre 
        site described in section 2.
            (3) Tribes.--The term ``Tribes'' means--
                    (A) the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma;
                    (B) the Northern Cheyenne Tribe; and
                    (C) the Northern Arapaho Tribe.

SEC. 4. STUDY.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 18 months after the date on which 
funds are made available for the purpose, the Secretary, in 
consultation with the Tribes and the State of Colorado, shall submit to 
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 
Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives a resource study 
of the site.
    (b) Contents.--The study under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) identify the location and extent of the massacre area 
        and the suitability and feasibility of designating the site as 
        a unit of the National Park System; and
            (2) include cost estimates for any necessary acquisition, 
        development, operation and maintenance, and identification of 
        alternatives for the management, administration, and protection 
        of the area.
    (c) Oral Histories.--To the extent practical, the Secretary shall 
record and incorporate into the resource study oral histories of the 
Sand Creek Massacre that have been passed down to descendants of its 
survivors within the Tribes.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 
to carry out this Act.
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