The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1941-06-26
The Capitol
Week In Review

Helena, Mont, June Is -
(UP) - The Montana fish and
game commission was anything
but comfortable today, but on
the Flathead reservation there
was considerable quiet enjoy
ment among Chief EneaS
Grandjo and his braves.
A war party" of Flatheads
visited the commission here,
and at the conclusion of a bu-
sy and sometimes heated dis
cussion, stalked back to the
reservation with the commits
Sion's scalpS dangling from
their beaded belts.
The commission distinctly
was ION the spot" and knew
it. Chief Grandjo's ultimatum
still rang in the commissioners
ears: Either the FlatheadS get
free hunting or fishing licenses
for use outside the reservation,
or we close the reservation to all
non-members of the tribe"
And well did the commission
know that closing the reserva-
ton to white sportsmen would
result in a howl that could be
heard from Libby to Plenty
wood. The Flatheads have -
and know they have - the best
fishing and hunting grounds in
Montana. But the commissions
hands were tied. Under state
law, members said, they can
not issue any kind of free or
courtesy hunting and fishing
permits. The 1941 legislature
refused fatty to grant the
Flatheads' request for them,
based on a treaty signed by the
Indians and whites in 1855 and
virtually ignored since.
HelpleSSly, the commission
dumped the matter into the LAP
of Atty. Gen. John w. Bonner.
who was to try to find if there
was any kind of loophole by
! which the commission could ag-
rec to Chief Grandjo's ultima
tum, or defy it. Capitol corridor
gossips were betting that Bon
ner couldn't and that the red
mems white brothers would be
barred from the Flatheads' lush
hunting and fishing gorunds.
The Woodworking game COM
mission also made news in g
variety of other activities. II
set the opening date for pleas
ant hunting on Oct. 26 but left
to a later meeting the questions
of bag limits and length of the
season. 1t reached cooperative
agreements with the U. S. for
cts service and soil conservation
service in fish and game mat
tiers, and changed fishing regu-
lations. It closed % soil conser-
walton reservoirs in Musselshel
and Petroleum counties; desig-
mated part of the Fort Peck
game range from the mouth Of
the Musselshell east to Fort
Peck dam as a state game ref
uge; confirmed the dismissal OF
Carl Benson, deputy warden al
Red Lodge; closed part of the
Ackley lake area to uplanc
1 DlIu nuIlClllS, CiOStu LAKE ouI1l'
erland, Meagher county, to fish.
!, ing until May %, 1912; cut the
creel limit at Lake Harris to II
pounds and one fish; cut the
limit at Willow Creek storage
reservoir to one fish a day;
closed the middel fork of the
Dearborn river, Lewis and Clark
county, to all fishing from July
l to May %, 1912, and set q
daily limit of IS sockeye salmon
and a creel limit of 10 fish fol
the Clark Fork of the Columbia
river in Sanders county.
The state board of examiners
requested architects for five
new buildings at the state hos
pital at Warm Springs to redrav
their plans, with the result
there was an estimated saving
of $40 1000. Cost of the building!
| was set at about $500, 900.
Governor Sam c. Ford accep'