(The material follows:) (1) United States v. 21,250 Acres of Land (161 F. Supp. 376 (D. W.D. N.Y., 1957)). In this case, the court held that the Corps of Engineers had the right to survey within the Allegany Indian Reservation. The case was not appealed in view of the proceedings brought by the Seneca Nation cited below. (2) Seneca Nation of Indians v. Brucker (262 F. 2d 27 (C.A. D.C., 1958), cert. den 360 U.S. 909 (1959)). In this case, the court of appeals denied the Seneca Nation's request for an injunction against construction of the Kinzua Dam. This is the key case in the Seneca litigation. (3) Tuscarora Nation of Indians v. Power Authority (257 F. 2d. 885 (C.A. 2, 1958), cert. den. 358 U.S. 841 (1958), reversing 164 F. Supp. 107 (D. W.D. N.Y., 1958)). In this case, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the New York Power Authority could not invoke State law, but could use Federal condemnation powers to acquire lands within the Tuscarora Reservation. (4) Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation (362 U.S. 99 (1960)), reversing Tuscarora Indian Nation v. Federal Power Commission (265 F.2d 338 (1958)). In this case, the Supreme Court held that the Federal Power Commission, under its FPC license, did possess a Federal power of condemnation within the Tuscarora Reservation. Mr. HALEY. As many of you know, yesterday our party visited several points of interest on the Allegany Reservation and in the taking area for the dam and reservoir. We saw a number of homes and a couple of villages already deserted and demolished. We recognize that this destruction is being carried out in the interest of progress. I should say, perhaps, progress and safety. But I wonder if it is really progress when I see homes, villages, cemeteries destroyed, famlies uprooted and forced to scatter, all ties disrupted and, American citizens forced to be relocated. Perhaps I am a little sentimental but to me it is almost tragic to see that happen to the Senecas who have been our friends for over 200 or more years. However, we move on, and let us face the future. The Seneca Nation will be paid for its losses. It is my intention to press for liberal payments from the Federal Government. I hope the Corps of Army Engineers will be generous and sympathetic. My colleagues in the House recognize me as a conservative Member of the Congress, but I want the Senecas to be adequately reimbursed for their losses. I also hope, and, may I add, expect, the Senecas to be careful and wise in the expenditure of the Federal funds they receive. I hope they will cooperate with their leaders as well as with the State, county, and city officials with whom they will have to work in their rehabilitation program. I urge that you explore ever possibility which may improve your social and economic development. It is quite possible that this tragedy may be turned into a blessing and that the members of this once powerful nation may develop their remaining holdings into a community of which they can be proud and pleased. It will take a lot of work and the full cooperation of all concerned. Now we will get along with our hearing, and I want to hear from the people who can contribute something to the thinking of what is necessary to be done and help the members of the committee to be just and fair in authorization bills that we will be called upon to pass. I do not intend today to call any member of the Corps of Army Engineers. They are available to us any time that we need them in Washington. That also holds true for the Bureau of Indian Affairs: they are available to us at any time. And we will hear from them at a later date. Mr. Abele, do you have anything you would like to say? Mr. ABELE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think you have covered the situation as far as our committee is concerned. I hope the people of the area in their testimony will keep in mind the reasons why we are here, and that we can work out a sensible solution to this difficult problem. That is all I have to say at this time. Mr. HALEY. Mr. Martin, do you have anything to say? Mr. MARTIN. I have no comment at this time, Mr. Chairman. Mr. HALEY. Thank you. We want everyone to be heard. I might say the committtee will stay here as long as its is necessary, but we must return to Washington tonight. We want to hear from all persons who can contribute something to this serious situation and enlighten us in anyway that you possibly can. I would like for you to keep your statements as brief as possible, yet do not make it so brief that you do not fully express yourself. Particularly I want to hear from the taxing authorities of the community here and any other officials that believe their sphere of government activity may be affected in anyway. I neglected in my introduction to say that we have two members of your State government present; Mr. John Hathorne will you stand up, sir? And we also have a young lady who went with us all day yesterday on the trip, Miss Wayne. We are glad to have you here. Dr. Taylor, will you call the first witness? Dr. TAYLOR (staff). We would like to hear from Mr. George D. Heron, president of the Seneca Nation, at this time who would like to welcome the committee to Salamanca. STATEMENT OF GEORGE D. HERON, PRESIDENT, SENECA NATION Mr. HERON. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, I should like to welcome you officially to the land of the Senecas, and, too, I would like to express the appreciation of both myself and the Seneca Nation for your willingness to journey these many miles to conduct these hearings which will enable us to give testimony. I should like to further state that in previous years I have journeyed to Washington also opposing bills; my people say, "We do not want this bill to be passed, we do not want that bill to be passed," and the people of the nation made these trips to Washington in opposition, and we have never had any luck in stopping one yet. But I have turned over a new leaf. I want you to know I am in favor of this bill here and, with your permission, I should like to return later in the afternoon for a further statement. Mr. HALEY. Thank you very much, Mr. Heron, and we are indebted to you and your people for the opportunity to view the taking area and your good sheriff-I do not see him here this morning he is probably out chasing some other law violators, but he was very gracious to us yesterday and more or less escorted us around over the reservation, and I want to extend the thanks of the committee to him also. Dr. Taylor, will you call your next witness. As the witness comes forward I would like for you to identify yourself for the record so that the reporter may have your name, your address, and who you represent if other than yourself individually. Dr. TAYLOR. Mr. Leighton Wade of the planning commission. While Mr. Wade is coming forward, may I reiterate what Mr. Haley has already said, if there are those who have not notified us in advance and would like to be heard sometime this morning or this afternoon, come up and I will be glad to put your names down on our list. Mr. HALEY. Mr. Wade. STATEMENT OF LEIGHTON T. WADE, OLEAN, N.Y. Mr. WADE. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Leighton T. Wade. My address is 416 Madison Avenue, Olean, N.Y. I am not officially representing any group although it so happens that for the last 20 years I have been counsel to the New York State Legislative Committee on Indian Affairs, and still am, for that matter. Also, locally, I am a member and chairman of our Cattaraugus County Planning Board which has been in existence for approximately 2 years. However, as I previously stated, I am not appearing here in any official capacity, but more as a resident of the area, having lived here for 31 years. I think my feeling is shared by practically everyone with whom I have been in contact in the county and in the vicinity, we were opposed to the idea of this Kinzua Dam and we deplored it. Many of us have had very happy experiences on the river, canoeing down it, enjoying its great natural beauty. We sympathized thoroughly with the Indians in their opposition. We were deeply disturbed they were unsuccessful in opposing it. It having nevertheless become a reality in the sense that we know it is soon to be an accomplished fact, we feel-and I say "we"-I am trying to express in a measure the sense of my fellow residents-we feel that, granting that there should be, morally at least, a very generous and just compensation to the Indian Nation, we hope that in the process of doing so, the Congress of the United States will not overlook the interests of the many other people who reside in this area. There are some 80,000 people who live in Cattaraugus County, not to mention the residents of adjoining areas, and we would like to see the most benefit realized from the dam as a whole, not only to the Seneca Nation, but to the rest of the community. And that brings up specifically the matter of recreational benefits. We understand that there are plans for the development of some 8 to 10 such recreational areas on the New York side of the reservoir which at normal level will be some 27 miles long. And a few more of them are to be located in Pennsylvania. The question seems to have arisen as to whether some arrangement may be worked out between the Government of the United States and the Seneca Nation whereby the U.S. Government will be given the right to use, either under a lease or otherwise, those portions of the reservation necessary along the borders of the new lake or dam to develop these recreation potentials, and to maintain them so that they will be of greater attraction and a material benefit to the Seneca Nation as well as to the surrounding area. We are in the center of a population of some 11 million people which in the course of another 35 to 40 years is anticipated to double. The annual visitation to the proposed recreational area is estimated to be some 1,700,000 at the outset, which, in the course of the next 8 to 10 years I understand is expected to rise to some 11 million. Now the material advantages are obvious to anyone who considers that. I will not even attempt to repeat what statistics I have read or heard. But the difficulty seems to be that the Seneca Nation believes that the Government should provide the necessary funds for the Nation itself to develop these recreation areas on the New York side of the dam or of the reservoir, that they should be provided with the funds to develop them, and that they exclusively should operate and maintain them, and that gives considerable concern to many residents of the county for fear that the lack of experience on the part of the individual members of the nation, and the very specialized type of operation which would be involved in running these recreational areas, would give rise to a danger of their being conducted successfully and of their being able to attract, and continue to attract, the large numbers of people to use them. We had hoped an arrangement would be worked out between the Indian nation and the Government of the United States whereby the latter would be given this right over land not covered by the proposed appropriations, H.R. 1794, and that a further provision of any such arrangement would be that the members of the nation, or the nation itself, would be given the first priority to operate those concessions or these recreation areas, thereby realizing to the nation a tremendous income over the years and, at the same time, assuring to the public the high quality of operation and maintenance which is standard and usual in the operation of these park areas we have seen them in other parts of the country under the guidance and supervision and control and so on of the U.Š. Government. I might add that there is a particular significance to the residents of the area in this connection because very recently Cattaraugus County, which is our county, has been classified as a distressed area, we have lost a number of industries, and the indications from the results of our study as members of the planning board are that this county has a great potential from the standpoint of recreation, its recreational attraction. Consequently, this all fits together. We must, for the benefit of the Indians as well as for the benefit of the residents of the county, if possible, realize what maximum potential there is in these proposed developments. I thank you. Mr. HALEY. Thank you very much, Mr. Wade. Wait there for a minute, please, sir. Mr. Abele, did you have any questions you would like to direct to the witness? Mr. ABELE. No questions. Mr. HALEY. Mr. Wade, is this plan that you have been speaking about included in this pamphlet? Mr. WADE. What you are holding in your hand, Mr. Chairman, is the report issued by the Cattaraugus County Planning Board. It is a recommendation as a proposed utilization of the various areas on this side of the State border which we felt would approximate the ideal development for recreational purposes of the affected areas. Mr. HALEY. Thank you very much, sir. Without objection, this document, a plan for the development of the Kinzua Reservoir area will be made a part of the files for the future reference of the committee at this point in the proceedings. Dr. Taylor, will you call the next witness? Dr. TAYLOR. As I call these persons, in the event they are not here, or do not find it convenient to appear at this time, if they will so indicate we will call them later. Mr. Donald Patterson is a member of the planning board, also, I am advised. Mr. HALEY. Mr. Patterson. STATEMENT OF DONALD PATTERSON, PERRYSBURG, N.Y. Mr. PATTERSON. Donald Patterson, Perrysburg Record, Perrysburg, N.Y. Mr. HALEY. You are representing? Mr. PATTERSON. I am a member of the Cattaraugus County Planning Board, and I also want to speak as a citizen of Cattaraugus County. Mr. HALEY. You may proceed. Mr. PATTERSON. I would like to read a statement I have prepared. I do not know just what this committee hearing will cover, but these are ny feelings on the matter. As a taxpayer of Cattaraugus County, and as a member of the Cattaraugus County Planning Board, I protest the further extension of the reservation boundary line. The taxpayers of Cattaraugus County have lost considerable acreage from the tax rolls because of the Kinzua Dam project. The granting of lieu land to the Seneca Nation would further increase the burdens of the taxpayers of Cattaraugus County. Furthermore, the granting of lieu land to the Seneca Nation along the west bank of the reservoir would eliminate any possible development of recreational facilities which would directly benefit the taxpayers of Cattaraugus County. The Federal Government of the United States may have caused the Seneca Nation a great injustice by breaking the treaty of 1794, but I am sure the Seneca Nation will be adequately compensated for the flooding of their lands and the inconvenience caused them. A project such as the Kinzua Dam will benefit thousand of people downstream from flood damage and save millions of dollars in the years to come. With these benefits to be considered, I feel that the U.S. Government was justified in breaking this treaty. In conclusion, I do not feel that the residents of Cattaraugus County should be made to suffer all of the bad effects of the Kinzua Dam project without the assurance that the potentials will be developed to their fullest. Agreement should be made with the Seneca Nation and the agencies concerned to insure that beneficial recreational development occurs which will directly benefit the Seneca Nation and also the residents of Cattaraugus County. Thank you. Mr. HALEY. Does that complete your statement, sir? |