Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/103255/mattz-vs-arnett
Timestamp: 2016-10-25 16:47:24
Document Index: 387135835

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1151', '§ 1151', '§ 1151', '§ 8664', '§ 2133', '§ 6', '§ 1151', '§ 348', '§ 1151', '§ 348', '§ 461']

Mattz Vs Arnett - Citation 103255 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Save as PDF Add a Tag Add a Note Semantics Visualize Mattz Vs. Arnett - Court Judgment	LegalCrystal Citationlegalcrystal.com/103255CourtUS Supreme CourtDecided OnJun-11-1973Case Number412 U.S. 481AppellantMattzRespondentArnettExcerpt:
mattz v. arnett - 412 u.s. 481 (1973)
petitioner, a yurok, or klamath river, indian, intervened in a forfeiture proceeding, seeking the return of five gill nets confiscated by a california game warden. he alleged that the nets were seized in indian country, within the meaning of 18 u.s.c. § 1151, and that the state statutes prohibiting their use did not apply to him. the state trial court found that the klamath river reservation, in 1892, "for all practical purposes, almost immediately lost.....Judgment:
"declared to be subject to settlement, entry, and purchase under the laws of the United States granting homestead rights . . .
That any Indian now located upon said reservation may, at any time within one year . . . apply to the Secretary of the Interior for an allotment of land. . . . And the Secretary of the Interior may reserve from settlement, entry, or purchase any tract . . . upon which any village or settlement of Indians is now located, and may set apart the same for the permanent use and occupation of said village or settlement of Indians."
The Klamath River Reservation was not
terminated by the Act of June 17, 1892, and the land within the reservation boundaries is still Indian country within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1151. Pp.
412 U. S. 494
(a) The allotment provisions of the 1892 Act, rather than indicating an intention to terminate the reservation, are completely consistent with continued reservation status.
Seymour v. Superintendent,
368 U. S. 351
412 U. S. 496
(b) The reference in the Act to the Klamath River Reservation in the past tense did not manifest a congressional purpose to terminate the reservation, but was merely a convenient way of identifying the land, which had just recently been included in the Hoopa Valley Reservation. Pp.
412 U. S. 498
(c) The Act's legislative history does not support the view that the reservation was terminated, but, by contrast with the final enactment, it compels the conclusion that efforts to terminate by denying allotments to the Indians failed completely. Pp.
412 U. S. 499
(d) A congressional determination to terminate a reservation must be expressed on the face of the statute or be clear from the surrounding circumstances and legislative history, neither of which obtained here. Pp.
412 U. S. 504
(e) The conclusion that the 1892 Act did not terminate the Reservation is reinforced by repeated recognition thereafter by the Department of the Interior and by the Congress. Congress has recognized the reservation's continued existence by extending, in 1942, the period of trust allotments, and, in 1958, by restoring to tribal ownership certain vacant and undisposed-of ceded lands in the reservation. P.
412 U. S. 505
Our decision in this case turns on the resolution of the narrow question whether the Klamath River Indian Reservation in northern California was terminated by Act of Congress or whether it remains "Indian country," within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1151. [
] When established, the reservation was described as "a strip of territory commencing at the Pacific Ocean and extending 1 mile in width on each side of the Klamath River"
for a distance of approximately 20 miles, encompassing an area not exceeding 25,000 acres. This description is taken from President Franklin Pierce's Executive Order issued November 16, 1855, pursuant to the authority granted by the Act of March 3, 1853, 10 Stat. 226, 238, and the Act of March 3, 1855, 10 Stat. 686, 699. [
The respondent Director of the Department of Fish and Game instituted a forfeiture proceeding in state court. Mattz intervened and asked for the return of his nets. He alleged, among other things, that he was an enrolled member of the Yurok Tribe, that the nets were seized within Indian country, and that the state statutes prohibiting the use of gill nets, Cal.Fish & Game Code §§ 8664, 8686, and 8630, therefore were inapplicable to him. The state trial court, relying on
Elser v. Gill Net Number One,
246 Cal.App.2d 30, 54 Cal.Rptr. 568 (1966), found that the Klamath River Reservation in 1892, "for all practical purposes, almost immediately lost its identity," [
] and concluded that the area where the
On appeal, the State Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that, inasmuch as the area in question had been opened for unrestricted homestead entry in 1892, the earlier reservation status of the land had terminated. 20 Cal.App.3d 729, 97 Cal.Rptr. 894 (1971). The Supreme Court of California, one judge dissenting, denied a petition for hearing.
20 Cal.App.3d at 735, 97 Cal.Rptr. at 898. We granted certiorari, 409 U.S. 1124 (1973), because the judgments of the state courts appeared to be in conflict with applicable decisions of this Court.
detailed information about the tribe, its culture, living conditions, and customs for the period following 1855. [
] That the tribe had inhabited the lower Klamath River well before 1855 is suggested by the name. Yurok means "down the river." The names of the neighboring tribes, the Karok and the Modok, mean, respectively, "up the river" and "head of the river," and these appellations, as would be expected, coincide with the respective homelands. Powers 19; Kroeber 15. [
"collecting, removing, and subsisting the Indians of California . . . on two additional military reservations, to be selected as heretofore . . .
That the President may enlarge the quantity of reservations heretofore selected, equal to those hereby provided for."
The site was ideally selected for the Yuroks. They had lived in the area; the arable land, although limited, was "peculiarly adapted to the growth of vegetables," 1856 Report 238; and the river, which ran through a canyon its entire length, abounded in salmon and other fish.
1858 Report 286. [
years to the Klamath River.
Crichton v. Shelton,
33 I.D. 205, 208 (1904); Kappler 830; 1864 Report 122. The Smith River Reservation was then discontinued. Act of July 27, 1868, 15 Stat.198, 221.
The total Yurok population on the Klamath River Reservation in the 1860's cannot be stated with precision. In 1852, based in part on a rough census made by a trader, it was estimated at 2,500. Kroeber 16-17. [
The effect of the 1861 flood cannot be firmly established, but it is clear that the tribe remained on the Klamath thereafter. [
] For later years, Kroeber estimated that the population in 1895 was 900, and, in 1910, 668. Kroeber 19. From this it would appear that the flood at least did not cause a dissolution of the tribe; on the contrary, the Yuroks continued to reside in the area through the turn of the century and beyond.
action, upon the passage of the Act, to recognize reservations in California. It was not until 1868 that any formal recognition occurred, and then it was the Congress, rather than the President, that acted. In that year, Congress discontinued the Smith River Reservation, 15 Stat. 221, and restored the Mendocino to the public lands.
at 223. No similar action was taken with respect to the Klamath River Reservation.
33 I.D. at 209. Congress made appropriations for the Round Valley Reservation, 15 Stat. 221, and for it and the Hoopa Valley Reservation in 1869, 16 Stat. 37, although neither of these, apparently, had been established theretofore by formal Executive Order. [
The Klamath River Reservation, although not reestablished by Executive Order or specific congressional action, continued, certainly, in
existence. Yuroks remained on reservation land, and the Department of Indian Affairs regarded the Klamath River Reservation as "in a state of reservation" throughout the period from 1864 to 1891. [
] No steps were taken to sell the reservation, or parts thereof, under the 1864 Act. Indeed, in 1879, all trespassers there were removed by the military. In 1883, the Secretary of the Interior directed that allotments of land be made to the Indians on the reservation. [
] In February, 1889, the Senate, by
20 Cong.Rec. 1818. In response, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, by letter dated February 18, 1889, to the Secretary disclosed that no proceedings to this effect had been undertaken. [
] An Assistant Attorney General for the Department of the Interior expressed a similar view in an opinion dated January 20, 1891. [
In 1888, in a forfeiture suit, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California concluded that the area within the Klamath River Reservation was not Indian country within the meaning of Rev.Stat. § 2133, prescribing the penalty for unlicensed trading in Indian country. The court concluded that the land composing the reservation was not retained or recognized as reservation land pursuant to the 1864 Act, and that, therefore, it no longer constituted an Indian reservation.
United States v. Forty-eight Pounds of Rising Star Tea,
35 F. 403 (ND Cal. 1888). This holding was expressly affirmed on appeal to a circuit judge. 38 F. 400 (CCND Cal. 1889). The Assistant Attorney General, in the opinion referred to above, conceded the probable correctness of the Judgment, but was not convinced that his own views were erroneous, and he could not assent to the reasoning of the court. He felt that the court's comments as to the abandoned status of the reservation "were dicta, and not essential to the decision of the case before the court."
33 I.D. at 215.
Any question concerning the reservation's continuing legal existence, however, appears to have been effectively laid to rest by an Executive Order dated October 16, 1891, issued by President Benjamin Harrison. [
] By the specific terms of that order, the Hoopa Valley Reservation, which, as we already have noted, was located in 1864 and formally set apart in 1876, and which was situated about 50 miles upstream from the Klamath River's mouth, was extended so as to include all land, one mile in width on each side of the river, from "the present limits" of the Hoopa Valley Reservation to the Pacific Ocean. The Klamath River Reservation, or what had been the reservation, thus was made part of the Hoopa Valley Reservation, as extended.
The reason for incorporating the Klamath River Reservation in the Hoopa Valley Reservation is apparent. The 1864 Act had authorized the President to "set apart" no more than four tracts for Indian reservations in California. By 1876, and certainly by 1891, four reservations already had been so set apart. These were the Round Valley, referred to above, the Mission, [
] the Hoopa
Valley, and the Tule River. Kappler 830-831. Thus, recognition of a fifth reservation along the Klamath River was not permissible under the 1864 Act. Accordingly, the President turned to his authority under the Act to expand an existing, recognized reservation. He enlarged the Hoopa Valley Reservation to include what had been the Klamath River Reservation as well as an intervening riparian strip connecting the two tracts. [
] The President's continuing authority so to enlarge reservations and, specifically, the legality of the 1891 Executive Order, was affirmed by this Court in
228 U. S. 255
-259 (1913),
reh. denied,
"That all of the lands embraced in what was Klamath River Reservation in the State of California, as set apart and reserved under authority of law by an Executive order dated November sixteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, are hereby declared to be subject to settlement, entry, and purchase under the laws of the United States granting homestead rights and authorizing the sale of mineral, stone, and timber lands:
That any Indian now located upon said reservation may, at any time within one year from the passage of this act, apply to the Secretary of the Interior for an allotment. . . . And the Secretary of the Interior may reserve from settlement, entry, or purchase any tract or tracts of land upon which any village or settlement of Indians is now located, and may set apart the same for the permanent use and occupation of said village or settlement of Indians. . . .
That the proceeds arising from the sale of said lands shall constitute a fund to be used under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior for the maintenance and education of the Indians now residing on said lands and their children."
We conclude, however, that this is a misreading of the effect of the allotment provisions in the 1892 Act. The meaning of those terms is to be ascertained from the overview of the earlier General Allotment Act of 1887, 24 Stat. 388. That Act permitted the President to make allotments of reservation lands to resident Indians and, with tribal consent, to sell surplus lands. Its policy was to continue the reservation system and the trust status of Indian lands, but to allot tracts to individual Indians for agriculture and grazing. When all the lands had been allotted and the trust expired, the reservation could be abolished. [
] Unalloted lands were made available to non-Indians with the purpose, in part, of promoting interaction between the races and of encouraging Indians to adopt white ways.
§ 6 of the General Allotment Act, 24 Stat. 390; United States Department of the Interior, Federal Indian Law 115-117, 127-129, 776-777 (1958). [
In view of the discretionary nature of this presidential power, Congress occasionally enacted special legislation in order to assure that a particular reservation was in fact, opened to allotment. [
] The 1892 Act was but one example of this. Its allotment provisions, which do not differ materially from those of the General Allotment Act of 1887, and which, in fact, refer to the earlier Act, do not, alone, recite or even suggest that Congress intended thereby to terminate the Klamath River Reservation.
See Seymour v. Superintendent,
368 U. S. 357
-358 (1962). Rather, allotment under the 1892 Act is completely consistent with continued reservation status. This Court unanimously observed, in an analogous setting in
Seymour, id.
368 U. S. 356
See United States v. Celestine,
215 U. S. 278
See also Wilbur v. United States,
The 1892 Act, to be sure, does refer to the Klamath River Reservation in the past tense. But this is not to be read as a clear indication of congressional purpose to terminate. Just a few weeks before the bill (H.R. 38, 52d Cong., 1st Sess.), which eventually became the Act, was reported out of committee on February 5, 1892, H.R.Rep. No. 161, 52d Cong., 1st Sess., the President had formally extended the Hoopa Valley Reservation to include the Klamath River Reservation. And only that portion of the extension which had been the Klamath River Reservation was the subject of the 1892 Act. The reference to the Klamath River Reservation in the past tense seems, then, merely to have been a natural, convenient, and shorthand way of identifying the land subject to allotment under the 1892 Act. [
] We do not believe
the reference can be read as indicating any clear purpose to terminate the reservation directly or by innuendo. The respondent also points to numerous statements in the legislative history that, in his view, indicate that the reservation was to be terminated. We need not refer in detail to the cited passages in H.R.Rep. No. 161,
or to the debates on the bill, 23 Cong.Rec. 1598-1599, 3918-3919 (1892), for there is no challenge here to the view that the House was generally hostile to continued reservation status of the land in question. In our estimation, however, this very fact, in proper perspective, supports the petitioner and undermines the respondent's position.
As early as 1879, there were efforts in Congress to abolish the Klamath River Reservation. From that date to 1892, strong sentiment existed to this effect. But it does not appear that termination ever commanded majority support. The advocates of termination argued that the reservation, as of 1879, long had been abandoned; that the land was useless as a reservation; and that many white settlers had moved on to the land, and their property should be protected.
H.R.Rep. No. 1354, 46th Cong., 2d Sess., 5 (1880). That whites had settled there is clear, but the view that no Indians remained after the flood of 1861 appears to have been a gross misconception on the part of those who sought termination. [
The first bill providing for public entry and sale of the Klamath River Reservation was introduced in the Senate on May 28, 1879. S.Res. 34, 46th Cong., 1st Sess.; 9 Cong.Rec. 1651. The resolution referred to the reservation's having been "abandoned" in 1855 "and the tribe removed to another reservation established for its use." No action was taken on the bill, and another, of the same purport, was introduced on January 12, 1880, in the House. H.R. 3454, 46th Cong., 2d Sess.; 10 Cong.Rec. 286. This bill provided that the reservation "be, and the same is hereby, abolished," and authorized and directed the Secretary of the Interior to survey the lands and have them made subject to homestead and preemption entry and sale "the same as other public lands." It is clear from the report on this second bill, H.R.Rep. No. 1354,
at 1-5, that the establishment of the reservation in 1855 was viewed as a mistake and an injustice. According to the Report, the reservation had been abandoned after the 1861 freshet, and the Indians had moved to the Smith River and, later, the Hoopa Valley Reservations. White settlers had moved in and wished to exploit the lumber and soil of the area which, some said, "has no equal in California as a fruit and wine growing country."
at 5. Inasmuch as the reservation blocked access to the river, the resources of the area could not be developed. Although unmentioned in that Report, the Office of Indian Affairs opposed the bill.
H.R.Rep. No. 1148, 47th Cong., 1st Sess., 1 (1882). The bill as reported was recommitted, and no further action was taken. 10 Cong.Rec. 3126 (1880).
An identical bill was introduced in the following Congress. H.R. 60, 47th Cong., 1st Sess.; 13 Cong.Rec. 90 (1881). The Commissioner of Indian Affairs opposed the bill as introduced, but stated that he would not oppose it if provision for prior allotments to the Indians was made. H.R.Rep. No. 1148,
at 2. The
No further bills, apparently, were introduced until 1889. During the intervening period, however, the General Allotment Act of 1887, 24 Stat. 388, was passed, and thereafter amended, 26 Stat. 794. The
Rising Star Tea
case, 35 F. 403, was also decided.
In 1889, a bill providing for the allotment of the Klamath River Reservation was introduced. The allotments, however, were to be made in a manner inconsistent with the General Allotment Act. H.R. 12104, 50th Cong., 2d Sess.; 20 Cong.Rec. 756 (1889). And after affirmance of the
case by the circuit court, 38 F. 400 (1889), identical bills were introduced in the House and the Senate providing, without mention of allotment, that
under the land laws. H.R. 113, 51st Cong., 1st Sess.; 21 Cong.Rec. 229 (1889); S. 2297, 51st Cong., 1st Sess.; 21 Cong.Rec. 855 (1890). The Indian Office opposed the bills, recommending that they be amended to provide for allotments to the Indians under the General Allotment Act, that surplus lands be restored to the public domain, and that the proceeds be held in trust for the Klamath River Indians.
See Short v. United States,
No. 102-63, pp. 44-45 (Report of Commissioner, Court of Claims, 1972). H.R. 113 was reported out of committee with certain amendments, including one to the effect that proceeds arising from the sale of lands were to be used for the "removal, maintenance, and education" of the resident Indians, the Hoopa Valley Reservation being considered the place of removal. Allotments to the Indians on the Klamath Reservation, however, were emphatically rejected. H.R.Rep. No. 1176, 51st Cong., 1st Sess., 2 (1890). The bill was so amended and passed the House. 21 Cong.Rec. 10701-10702 (1890). It died in the Senate.
In light of the passage of this last bill in the House and the presence of the
opinions, the Indian Department moved to have the Klamath River Reservation land protected for the Indians residing there. The details of this effort, including the opinion of the Assistant Attorney General, referred to above, are outlined in the Commissioner's report in
Short v. United States, supra,
at 45-50. These efforts culminated in President Harrison's Executive Order of October, 1891, expanding the Hoopa Valley Reservation to include the Klamath River Reservation.
125 (1892). The bill provided for the settlement, entry, and purchase of the reservation land, and specified that the proceeds should be used for the "removal, maintenance, and education" of the resident Indians. No allotments were provided for, as the Indians were "semi-civilized, disinclined to labor, and have no conception of land values or desire to cultivate the soil." H.R.Rep. No. 161, 52d Cong., 1st Sess., 1 (1892). The House Committee on Indian Affairs amended the bill by changing the word "and" to "or" in the proviso relating to the use of proceeds.
The bill passed the House without change. 23 Cong.Rec. 1598-1599 (1892). It was struck out in the Senate, however, and another version was substituted deleting reference to the removal of the Indians and providing that, before public sale, the land should be allotted to the Indians under the General Allotment Act of 1887, as amended.
at 3918-3919. This substitute measure had the support of the Interior Department.
at 3918. The Senate called for a conference with the House,
at 3919, and the conference adopted the Senate version with amendments. Sen.Misc.Doc. No. 153, 52d Cong., 1st Sess. (1892). The bill was then passed, and became the 1892 Act.
A second conclusion is also inescapable. The presence of allotment provisions in the 1892 Act cannot be interpreted to mean that the reservation was to be terminated. This is apparent from the very language of 18 U.S.C. § 1151, defining Indian country "notwithstanding the issuance of any patent" therein. More significantly, throughout the period from 1871-1892, numerous bills were introduced which expressly provided for the termination of the reservation, and did so in unequivocal terms. Congress was fully aware of the means by which termination could be effected. But clear termination language was not employed in the 1892 Act. This being so, we are not inclined to infer an intent to terminate the reservation. [
] The Court stated in
United States v. Celestine,
215 U.S. at
215 U. S. 285
A congressional determination to terminate must be expressed on the face of the Act or be clear from the surrounding circumstances and legislative history.
(1916). [
Finally, our conclusion that the 1892 Act did not terminate the Klamath River Reservation is reinforced by repeated recognition of the reservation status of the land after 1892 by the Department of the Interior and by Congress. In 1904 the Department, in
33 I.D. 205, ruled that the 1892 Act reconfirmed the continued existence of the reservation. In 1932, the Department continued to recognize the Klamath River Reservation, albeit as part of the Hoopa Valley Reservation, [
] and it continues to do so today. And Congress has recognized the reservation's continued existence by extending the period of trust allotments for this very reservation by the 1942 Act, described above, 25 U.S.C. § 348a, and by restoring to tribal ownership certain vacant and undisposed-of ceded lands in the reservation by the 1958 Act,
Title 18 U.S.C. § 1151 defines the term "Indian country" to include,
Pet. for Cert., App. B 4-5.
A. Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California, cc. 1-4, published as Bulletin 78, Bureau of American Ethnology 1-97 (1925) (hereinafter Kroeber); S. Powers, Tribes of California, cc. 4 and 5, published as 3 Contributions to North American Ethnology 44-64 (1877) (hereinafter Powers). Various Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs provide further information;
the 1856 Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 249-250 (hereinafter Report).
1864 Report 122; Opinion dated Jan. 20, 1891, of the Assistant Attorney General for the Department of the Interior, quoted in
33 I.D. 205, 210 (1904); Kroeber 19. Another source estimates that, in 1871, the Indian population along the Klamath was 2,500. Report of D. H. Lowry, Indian Agent, Sept. 1, 1871, noted in
Short v. United States,
No. 102-63, p. 35 (Report of Commissioner, Court of Claims, 1972).
The Hoopa Valley Reservation was located August 21, 1864, but formally set apart for Indian purposes, as authorized by the 1864 Act, by President Grant only by Executive Order dated June 23, 1876. Kappler 815.
Appendix map [omitted]. The area is that described as the "Original Hoopa Valley Reservation."
Letter dated Apr. 4, 1888, from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior, quoted in
33 I.D. at 211.
The allotments, however, were postponed "on account of the discovery of gross errors in the public surveys."
1885 Report XLVIII.
33 I.D. at 212.
33 I.D. at 212-213 .
"It is hereby ordered that the limits of the Hoopa Valley Reservation in the state of California, a reservation duly set apart for Indian purposes, as one of the Indian reservations authorized to be set apart, in said State, by Act of Congress approved April [8], 1864, (13 Stats., 39), be and the same are hereby extended so as to include a tract of country one mile in width on each side of the Klamath River, and extending from the present limits of the said Hoopa Valley reservation to the Pacific Ocean;
That any tract or tracts included within the above described boundaries to which valid rights have attached under the laws of the United States are hereby excluded from the reservation as hereby extended."
Kappler 819-824. It is noteworthy that the boundaries of the Mission Reservation were altered repeatedly between 1870 and 1875, and even thereafter. These actions were taken under the President's continuing authority to set apart and add to or diminish the four reservations authorized under the 1864 Act.
and 708 (1913). In its final form, the Mission Reservation consisted of no less than 19 different and noncontiguous tracts. Kappler 819-824;
33 I.D. at 209-210.
Appendix map [omitted]. The strip of land between the Hoopa Valley Reservation and the Klamath River Reservation is referred to there as the "Connecting Strip." Under the 1891 Executive Order, the Hoopa Valley Reservation was extended to encompass all three areas indicated on the map. The connecting strip and the old Klamath River Reservation frequently are referred to as the Hoopa Valley Extension.
The trust period on allotments to Indians on the Klamath River Reservation expired in 1919, but was later extended by Congress by the Act of Dec. 24, 1942, 56 Stat. 1081, 25 U.S.C. § 348a.
S.Rep. No. 1714, 77th Cong., 2d Sess. (1942). And, in 1958, Congress restored to tribal ownership vacant and undisposed-of ceded lands on various reservations, including 159.57 acres on the Klamath River Reservation. Pub.L. 85-420, 72 Stat. 121.
For an extended treatment of allotment policy,
D. Otis, History of the Allotment Policy, in Readjustment of Indian Affairs, Hearings on H.R. 7902 Before the House Committee on Indian Affairs, 73d Cong., 2d Sess., 428-440 (1934). The policy of allotment and sale of surplus reservation land was repudiated in 1934 by the Indian Reorganization Act, 48 Stat. 984, now amended and codified as 25 U.S.C. § 461
the Act of Mar. 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 888 (Sioux Reservations),
and United States v. Nice,
(1916); the Act of Mar. 22, 1906, 34 Stat. 80 (Colville Reservation), and
(1962); the Act of May 29, 1908, 35 Stat. 460 (Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Reservations), and
United States ex rel. Condon v. Erickson,
478 F.2d 684 (CA8 1973),
344 F.Supp. 777 (SD 1972).
The respondent argues, however, that Congress, perhaps unacquainted with the Executive Order of October 1891, intended this language to convey the view expressed in the House Report H.R.Rep. No. 161,
23 Cong.Rec. 1598-1599 (1892), that the Klamath River Reservation had long been abandoned and, in fact and in law, had already been terminated.
It is clear from the text,
that there were efforts in certain quarters of the House to terminate the reservation and open it for white settlement.
See Short v. United States, supra,
8, at 352. While the respondent's interpretation of the phrase is plausible, it is no less plausible to conclude, in light of the repeated and unsuccessful efforts by the House to terminate the reservation, that the Senate proponents of the legislation were not inclined to make their cause (of requiring allotments) less attractive to the House by amending the bill to refer to the "former Klamath River Reservation, now part of the Hoopa Valley Reservation," rather than "what was [the] Klamath River Reservation."
Congress has used clear language of express termination when that result is desired.
15 Stat. 221 (1868) ("the Smith River reservation is hereby discontinued"); 27 Stat. 63 (1892) (adopted just two weeks after the 1892 Act with which this case is concerned, providing that the North Half of the Colville Indian Reservation, "the same being a portion of the Colville Indian Reservation . . . be, and is hereby, vacated and restored to the public domain"), and
368 U.S. at
368 U. S. 354
478 F.2d 684 (1973), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reached a similar conclusion in a case presenting issues not unlike those before us. The court concluded,
at 689, that
"a holding favoring federal jurisdiction is required unless Congress has
expressly or by clear implication
diminished the boundaries of the reservation opened to settlement."
Although subsequent legislation usually is not entitled to much weight in construing earlier statutes,
392 U. S. 170
(1968), it is not always without significance.