S. 1695

One Hundred Fifth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight

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.

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.
S. 1695—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.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are

necessary to carry out this Act.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.