[105th Congress Public Law 243]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


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[DOCID: f:publ243.105]


[[Page 112 STAT. 1579]]

Public Law 105-243
105th Congress

                                 An Act


 
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. <<NOTE: Oct. 6, 1998 -  [S. 1695]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in <<NOTE: Sand Creek Massacre National 
Historic Site Study Act of 1998.>> 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 <<NOTE: John M. Chivington.>> 29, 1864, 
        Colonel John M. Chivington led a group of 700 
        armed <<NOTE: Black Kettle.>> 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 <<NOTE: Cheyenne Tribe. Arapaho Tribe.>> 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.

[[Page 112 STAT. 1580]]

            (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 <<NOTE: Deadline>> 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.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

    Approved October 6, 1998.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 1695:
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HOUSE REPORTS: No. 105-697 (Comm. on Resources).
SENATE REPORTS: No. 105-244 (Comm. on Energy and Natural Resources).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 144 (1998):
            July 17, considered and passed Senate.
            Sept. 18, considered and passed House.

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