An Act to authorize the conveyance of tribal lands from the Shoshone Indian Tribe and the Arapahoe Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming to the United States
PL 84-960 (S.3467), enacted 08/03/1956

70 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 9 6 0 - A U G . 3, 1956 
987 
P u b l i c Law 960 
CHAPTER 931 
AN ;ACT 
August 3, 1956 
To authorize the, conveyance of tribal lands from the Shoshone Indian Tribe 
' 
and the Arapahoe Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming 
to the United States. 
Be it en-acted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Shoshone 
I*^^?"** 
Indian Tribe and the Arapahoe Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reser- to uTsf ''**"^*^'* 
vation are authorized to convey to the United States the tribes' inter-
ests in the 388.23 acres of land that are described in section 2 of the 
Act, subject to a reservation to the tribes of all minerals, including oil 
and gas, and mineral rights, which may be exercised only in a manner 
that does not interfere with the construction and operation of the dana 
site and reservoir of Anchor Dam, a part of the Owl Creek unit, Mis-
souri River Basin project in Hot Springs Couilt^, near Thermopolis, 
Wyoming. 
The conveyance shall be for a price that is mutually 
agreeable to the tribes and to the Secretary of the Interior as repre-
senting fair and just compensation for the land taken. 
If the tribes 
and the Secretary fail to agree on a price to be paid for said land, the 
Secretary shall report that fact to the President of the Senate and to 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives on the first day of the 
Eighty-fifth Congress, and the Secretary is authorized, effective thirty 
days after said report is filed, to proceed to acquire such land by emi-
nent domain. 
The consideration payable to the tribes pursuant to 
this Act shall be paid out of funds appropriated for the Missouri River 
Basin project and shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United 
States to the credit and for the use of the respective tribes in accord-
ance with the provisions of the Act of May 19, 1947 (61 Stat. 102), as 
amended by the Act of August 30, 1951 (65 Stat. 208). 
SEC. 2. The lands that are referred to in section 1 of this Act are: 
Lots 1 and 2, section 13, northwest quarter, north half southwest 
quarter, west half, northeast quarter, and northwest (quarter southeast 
quarter, section 24, township 8 north, range 1 west. Wind River merid-
ian, Wyoming, containing 388.23 acres. 
SEC. 3. In the event of the failure or abandonment of the Anchor 
Dam feature of the Owl Creek unit the interest in the land acquired 
pursuant to this Act shall be reconveyed by the Secretary of the Inte-
rior to the tribes and the title shall be held in the same manner it was 
held before such acquisition: Provided^ That the purchase price paid 
by the United States shall be returned by the tribes. 
SEC. 4. The portion of the construction costs of the Owl Creek unit 
that is allocable to the irrigable lands of the Shoshone and Arapahoe 
Tribes of the Wind River Reservation shall be a lien against such 
lands, but the assessment and collection of such costs shall be deferred 
in accordance with the provisions of the Act of July 1, 1932 (47 Stat. 
564). The irrigable lands of the tribes shall be entitled to their pro 
rata share of the water storage and regulation benefits accruing from 
the construction and operation of the Owl Creek unit upon payment 
by the tribes, under appropriate contract, of their pro rata share of 
the annual operation and maintenance costs of the Owl Creek unit. 
SEC. 5. The members of the Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes shall 
have the right to fish on the lake created by Anchor Dam, without a 
State license, but the Indians shall be subject to all other provisions of 
applicable conservation laws and regulations. 
Approved August 3, 1966.