[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      CROW SETTLEMENT ACT--S. 1216

 Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, Monday night the Senate passed S. 
1216, the Crow Settlement Act. This has been a long time coming.
  The Crow Settlement Act is the product of good faith effort, 
compromise, and sometimes difficult negotiations between the Crow 
Tribe, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, the State of Montana, and the U.S. 
Government. It is a credit to all concerned that an agreement of this 
importance could receive the unanimous endorsement of the Senate when 
so many critical issues have been allowed to remain unresolved in the 
final days of the 103d Congress.
  The Crow Settlement Act settles a century-old dispute that deprived 
the Crow Nation of 36,000 acres of land. This land was promised by the 
Federal Government under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Yet, before the 
Crow Tribe had the opportunity to begin settling upon this land, a 
surveying error stole away a significant piece of their reservation.
  The disputed land is in the southeastern corner of Montana, north of 
the Wyoming border, south of the Yellowstone River. Under the Fort 
Laramie Treaty, the Crow Tribe's eastern boundary was designated as the 
107th meridian. Sixteen years later, the Northern Cheyenne Reservation 
was established with a western boundary as the 107th meridian. The 
tribes lived as neighbors, sharing a common boundary. But in 1889-91, a 
U.S. surveying team erroneously drew the eastern boundary of the Crow 
Reservation one-fourth mile west of the 107th meridian. The Crow Tribe 
lost 36,000 acres of their tribal lands. This error was not discovered 
until the 1950's.
  Throughout the intervening 60 years, patents to the minerals and 
allotments to these lands were issued to the Northern Cheyenne, Crow, 
and other holders. Almost 13,000 acres of the Crow Tribe's original 
land has been settled by the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.
  Boundaries established by treaty constitute a solemn promise to a 
tribe by the U.S. Government. A promise of land to be given to the 
tribe in perpetuity. The land above, and the natural resources below, 
belong to the tribe. No one has the right to take away what is legally 
the Crow's. Yet an administrative error caused significant hardship to 
the Crow Tribe, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and all residents of the 
107th meridian strip.
  The Crow Settlement Act seeks to reconcile this injustice. By 
returning to the Crow Tribe the land and coal within the strip that has 
not gone out of Federal ownership and compensating the tribe for lands 
and minerals lost forever, the Federal Government is seeking to make 
good on their promise. It is about time.
  I applaud the efforts of so many people involved in the successful 
conclusion of this dispute: representatives of the Crow and Northern 
Cheyenne Tribes, the excellent staff of the Senate Indian Affairs 
Committee, and the negotiators on behalf of the Department of the 
Interior. But no one has worked harder or perserved longer than Madame 
Chair Clara Nomee of the Crow Nation. Her dedication to her people and 
her grace under difficult circumstances is a tribute to her leadership.
  As the specifics of this settlement are implemented we must all 
continue our concerted effort to work things out amicably and fairly. I 
am confident that we can do it. I am confident that finally, every 
Montanan who has been affected by this dispute can put this issue 
behind them and we can move forward to a more productive 
future.

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