An Act to provide for the payment for individual Indian and tribal lands of the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, required by the United States for the Big Bend Dam and Reservoir project on the Missouri River, and for the rehabilitation, social, and economic development of the members of the tribe, and for other purposes
PL 87-734 (H.R.5144), enacted 10/03/1962

698 
PUBLIC LAW 87-734-OCT. 3, 1962 
[76 
S T A T . ] 
October 3, 1962 
[H. R. 5144] 
Public Law 87-734 
AN ACT 
To provide for the acquisition of and tlie payment for individual Indian and 
tribal lands of the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, required 
by the United States for the Big Bend Dam and Reservoir project on the 
Missouri River, ahd for the rehabilitation, social, and economic development 
of the members of the tribe, and for other purposes. 
for Big Bend Dam 
and Reservoir 
project. 
33 u s e 701-1 
et aeq. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
Lower Brule 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That in furtherance 
aif^^'s^Dak"'^' 
of the Big Bend Dam and Eeservoir project authorized by the Flood 
L^idacquismon Control Act of December 22,1944 (58 Stat. 887,891)— 
(a) The entire interest, including gravel but excluding the 
interest in oil, ^as, and all other minerals of any nature whatso-
ever, in approximately 14,299.03 acres of land within the taking 
area described in this Act in the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation 
in South Dakota, in which the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe or 
individual Indians have a trust or restricted interest, and any 
interest the tribe or Indians may have within the bed of the Mis-
souri River so far as it is within the boundaries of the reservation 
are hereby taken by the United States for the Big Bend Dam and 
Reservoir project on the Missouri Rive'r, and in consideration 
thereof and for trust or restricted lands heretofore acquired by the 
United States in condemnation proceedings for the Big Bend 
project the United States will pay to the tribe and the individual 
Indian owners, out of funds available for the Big Bend Dam and 
Reservoir project— 
(1) a sum aggregating $825,000, to be disbursed in accord-
'•"..• 
ance with the provisions of schedules prepared pursuant to 
section 2(b) of this Act; and 
(2) the amount of $400,715, which shall be in settlement 
of all claims, rights, and demands of the tribe and individual 
Indians arising out of the taking under this Act, to be dis-
bursed in accordance with the provisions of section 2 hereof. 
(b) Upon a determination by the Secretary of the Army, 
within two years from the date of enactment of this Act, filed 
among the appropriate land records of the Department of the 
Interior, that any of the lands described in this Act are not 
required for Big Bend project purposes, title to such land shall 
be revested in the former owner. 
SEC. 2. (a) The payments authorized by section 1 of this Act, less 
the amounts heretofore deposited by the United States in the case 
entitled United States of America, Plaintiff against 867.50 acres of 
land, etc., and Crow Creek Tribe of Sioux Indians et al., Defendants, 
civil numbered 335, filed in the United States District Court for the 
District of South Dakota, for trust property acquired in the taking 
area described in this Act, shall be deposited to the credit of the tribe 
in the Treasury of the United States and shall draw interest on the 
principal at the rate of 4 per centum per annum until expended. 
(b) The amount paid pursuant to section 1(a)(1) of this Act shall 
be allocated in accordance with Indian ownership schedules prepared 
by the Secretary of the Interior, after consultation with the Lower 
Brule Tribal Council to correct known errors and to insure fair and 
equitable allocation. These schedules shall reflect the amount agreed 
upon by the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Interior 
as the basis for negotiation, after appropriate acreage adjustments, 
increased by a uniform percentage to equal the amount paid. 
The 
amounts allocated for payment of property owned by individual 
Indians shall be credited to their respective individual Indian money 
Compensation. 
Schedules. 
76 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 87-734-OCT. 3, 1962 
699 
accounts. No part of the compensation provided for in section 1 shall 
be subject to any lien, debt, or claim of any nature whatsoever against 
the tribe or the individual Indian owners entitled to the compensation, 
except delinquent debts owed to the LTnited States by the tribe, or 
delinquent debts owed to the tribe or to the United States by the indi-
vidual Indians entitled to the compensation: Provided^ That such com-
pensation shall not be applied to the payment of such individual 
delinquent debts unless the Secretary of the Interior first determines 
and certifies that no hardship will result from the payment of such 
delinquent debts. 
(c) The tribal council, with the approval of the Secretary of the 
Interior, shall make available from the funds authorized by section 
1(a) (2) of this Act not to exceed $247,325, to pay the expenses, costs, 
losses, and damages incurred by members of the tribe as a direct result 
of moving themselves and their possessions, including dwellings and 
other buildings owned by the individual members, on account of the 
acquisition referred to in section 1 of this Act. 
The balance of the 
amount paid pursuant to section 1(a) (2) shall be consolidated with 
the appropriation authorized by section 3 of this Act and shall be 
expended in accordance with the provisions of section 3. 
SEC. 3. There is authorized to be appropriated the additional sum socuTc^ndiu^ns 
of $1,968,750 which shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United improvement. 
States to the credit of the tribe and which shall draw interest on the 
principal at the rate of 4 per centum per annum until expended, for 
the purposes of developing individual and family plans, relocating, 
reestablishing, and providing other assistance designed to improve 
the economic and social conditions of enrolled members of the tribe 
on the date of enactment of this Act. 
The funds authorized by this 
section shall be expended in accordance with plans and programs 
approved by both the tribal council and the Secretary of the Interior: 
Provided^ That $400,000 shall be allocated exclusively for industrial 
development on the reservation or within fifty miles of any exterior 
boundary of the reservation with preferential right of employment for 
members of the tribe. 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to pre-
vent cooperative action with the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe on industrial 
development or other programs: And provided further, That no part 
of such funds shall be used for per capita payments, or for the pur-
chase of land by the tribe except for the purpose of resale to individual 
Indians in furtherance of the rehabilitation program authorized by 
this section, which resale is hereby authorized. 
SEC. 4. The Secretary of the Army, out of funds appropriated for 
Indian ceme-
the Big Bend project other than funds provided by this Act, is location.*''''* 
authorized and directed to relocate and reestablish such Indian ceme-
teries, tribal monuments, and shrines within the taking area of the 
Big Bend project as the tribal council, with the approval of the Sec-
retary of the Interior, shall select and designate: Provided, 
That 
reinterment of individual remains, but not entire cemeteries, outside 
the reservation boundaries is authorized if desired by the next of kin 
and approved by the tribal council, but in no event will reinterment 
be made to a site which exceeds the equivalent distance from the dis-
interment site to the farthest point at which reinterment could be 
made within the reservation boundaries. 
SEC. 5. The Secretary of the Army is authorized and directed out 
Government and 
of funds appropriated for the Big Bend project other than funds pro- ^^^"^^^ facilities. 
vided by this Act to protect, replace, relocate, or reconstruct any 
existing essential governmental and agency facilities on the reserva-
tion, including schools, hospitals, Public Health Service and Bureau 
of Indian Affairs offices, facilities, service buildings, and employees' 
quarters, roads, bridges, and incidental matters or facilities in con-
700 
PUBLIC LAW 87-734-OCT. 3, 1962 
[76 STAT. 
New town, con-
struction. 
Mineral reserva-
tion. 
Vacating, ef-
fective date. 
Timber, etc. 
nection therewith, which the Secretary of the Interior determines will 
be impaired or required by reason of the Big Bend project: Provided^ 
however, That the design criteria employed shall be reasonably com-
parable to that of the presently existing roads, bridges, and facilities. 
SEC. 6. The Secretary of the Army, under plans approved by the 
Secretary of the Interior after consultation with the Lower Brule 
Tribal Council, is authorized and directed, out of funds appropriated 
for the Big Bend project other than funds provided by this Act, to 
locate, lay out, and construct on tribal land on a site provided by the 
Lower Brule Sioux Council with the approval of the Secretary of the 
Interior a townsite for the new town of Lower Brule, including sub-
stitute and replacement streets, utilities, including water, sewerage, 
and electricity, taking into account the relocation and replacement of 
the governmental and agency facilities as provided for in section 5 
of this Act and the reasonable future growth of the new town: Pro-
vided, hoioever, That the design criteria employed shall be reasonably 
comparable to that of the existing town streets, utilities, and facilities. 
The tribal council is authorized, with the approval of the Secretary 
of the Interior (a) to convey, with or without compensation, tribal 
land, exclusive of minerals, for church or cemetery purposes for so 
long as the land is used for such purposes, and (b) to sell unimproved 
lots, exclusive of minerals, in the relocated town of Lower Brule at 
competitive sale to the highest qualified bidder but for not less than 
the appraised value, pursuant to such terms and conditions as the Sec-
retary of the Interior may prescribe. 
SEC. 7. All minerals of any kind whatsoever, including oil and gas, 
but excluding gravel, in the lands taken by this Act are hereby 
reserved for the benefit of the tribe or individual Indian owners as 
their interests may appear. All right, title, and interest of the United 
States in such minerals in trust or restricted land heretofore acquired 
by the United States for the Big Bend project are hereby revested in 
the former owners. 
All such minerals in trust or restricted land 
hereafter acquired by the United States for the Big Bend project 
shall be reserved for the benefit of the owners as their interests may 
appear. 
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section 
the exploration and development of such minerals, including oil and 
gas, within the taking area shall be subject to all reasonable regula-
tions of the Secretary of the Army necessary for the protection of 
the Big Bend project. 
SEC. 8. Members of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe now residing 
within the taking area of the Big Bend project shall have the right 
without charge to remain on and use the lands taken by this Act until 
required to vacate at such times as may be fixed by the Secretary of the 
Army, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, 
That the time for vacating in any event will not extend beyond July 
1,1963. 
SEC. 9. Individual Indians and the tribe are authorized without 
charge to retain timber and improvements removed by them from their 
respective trust or restricted lands on the reservation acquired by this 
Act and heretofore acquired by the United States for the Big Bend 
project. 
Up to sixty days before the individual Indian landowners 
and the tribe are required to vacate the taking area in accordance with 
t his Act, they shall have the right, without charge, to cut and remove 
all timber and to salvage any improvements on their respective lands, 
but, if such rights are not exercised or are waived within the time 
jirescribed, the tribe, through its tribal council, may exercise such 
rights: Provided, That the timber cut and the salvage permitted by 
this section shall not be construed to be compensation. 
76 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 87-734-OCT. 3, 1962 
701 
SEC. 10. Subject to the right of the United States to occupy, use, 
and control trust and restricted lands acquired by this Act and hereto-
fore acquired in condemnation action civil numbered 335 for the con-
struction, operation, and maintenance of the Big Bend Dam and 
Reservoir project pursuant to the Flood Control Act of 1944, approved 
December 22, 1944, and amendatory laws, as determined necessary by 
the Secretary of the Army adequately to serve said purposes, the 
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe shall be permitted, after the Big Bend Dam 
gates are closed and the waters of the Missouri River impounded, to 
graze stock without charge on such of the land described in this section 
as lies between the level of the reservoir and the taking line described 
in section 16 of this Act and as the Secretary of the Army determines 
is not devoted to other beneficial uses and to lease such land for grazing 
purposes to members or nonmembers of the tribe on such terms and 
conditions as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe. 
The tribe 
ind members thereof shall have without cost the right of free access 
to the shoreline of the reservoir including the right to hunt and fish 
in and on the aforesaid shoreline and reservoir, subject, however, to 
regulations governing the corresponding use by other citizens of the 
United States. 
SEC. 11. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for the pur-
poses of (1) providing substitute land for individual Indians who 
owned land within the taking area of the Fort Randall or Big Bend 
projects, (2) consolidating landholdings, and (3) eliminating frac-
tionated heirship interests within the reservation, the Secretary of the 
Interior is authorized to purchase, with funds made available by such 
individual Indians or by the tribe, land or interests in land, and to 
sell tribal land upon request of the tribe, but no service charge shall 
be made by the United States. The land selected by and purchased for 
individual Indians may be either inside or outside the boundaries of 
the reservation. 
Title to any land or interests in land acquired within 
the boundaries of the reservation shall be taken in the name of the 
United States in trust for the tribe or the individual Indian for whom 
the land is acquired, and title to any land or interests in land acquired 
outside the boundaries of the reservation shall be taken in the name of 
the individual for whom it is acquired: Provided^ That title to lands 
outside the exterior boundaries of the reservation acquired by the tribe 
shall be taken in the name of the tribe subject to a restriction against 
alienation without the consent of the Secretary of the Interior, but 
shall not be exempt from taxation. 
For the purposes of this section, the Secretary of the Interior is au-
thorized to partition or sell individually owned lands in which all 
interests are held in trust or restricted status (1) upon the request 
of the owners of not less than a 25 per centum interest in such land 
where ten persons or more own or claim interests in the land, or (2) 
upon the request of the owners of not less than a 50 per centum in-
terest in such land where fewer than ten persons own or claim interests 
in the land. For the purpose of this section, the Secretary of the In-
terior may represent any Indian owner who is a minor or who is under 
any other legal disability, and the Secretary, after first giving reason-
able notice by publication of the proposed sale, is authorized to repre-
sent any Indian owner or claimant who cannot be located after reason-
able and diligent search. 
Sales of all Indian trust or restricted 
interests in land shall be in accordance with the following procedure: 
(a) Upon receipt of requests from the required ownership interests, 
the Secretary shall notify the tribe and each owner of an undivided 
Indian interest in the land by a letter directed to his last known 
address that each such owner and the tribe has a right to purchase the 
land for its appraised value, unless one of the owners objects within 
Grazing privi-
leges. 
33 use 701-1 
e( seg. 
Hunting and 
fishing fights. 
Purchase and 
sale of land. 
Partition or 
sale of individ-
ually owned lands. 
Procedure. 
702 
PUBLIC LAW 87-734-OCT. 3, 1962 
[76 S TAT. 
Sale at auc-
tion. 
Power of at-
torney. 
Fees and ex-
penses. 
Notice of re-
jection. 
District court, 
jurisdiction. 
the time fixed by the Secretary, or for a lower price if all of the owners 
agree, and that if more than one owner or if one owner and the tribe 
wants to purchase the land it will be sold on the basis of sealed competi-
tive bids restricted to the owners of undivided interests in the land 
and the tribe. 
(b) If no Indian owner of an undivided interest in the land elects 
to purchase the land within the time fixed by the Secretary, and the 
tribe owns no interest in the land, the Secretary shall offer to sell the 
land at its appraised value to the tribe, unless one of the Indian owners 
or his authorized representative objects within the time fixed by the 
Secretary to a sale to the tribe at the appraised value. 
(c) If any Indian owner or his authorized representative objects to 
a sale to the tribe at the appraised value, the Secretary shall offer the 
land for sale by sealed competitive bid with a preferential right in the 
tribe or any Indian owner to meet the high bid, unless one of the 
Indian owners or his authorized representative objects within the time 
fixed by the Secretary to the grant of such preferential right. 
All 
bids shall be rejected if no bid substantially equal to the appraised 
A^alue is refceived. 
(d) If any Indian owner or his authorized representative objects to 
a sale by sealed competitive bid with a preferential right to meet the 
high bid, the Secretary shall offer the land for sale by sealed bids with-
out such preferential right: Promded^ That, if at any time before 
sealed bids are invited the tribe or one of the Indian owners asks that 
the land be sold at auction, then after notice to all interested parties, 
including the tribe, the land shall be sold at auction immediately after 
the opening of the sealed bids and auction bidding shall be limited to 
the Indian owners, the tribe, and persons who submitted sealed bids in 
amounts not less than 75 per centum of the appraised value of the 
land. The highest sealed bid shall be consider^ the opening auction 
bid. No sale shall be made unless the price is equal to the highest 
sealed bid and substantially equal to the appraised value. 
(e) The Secretary may, when he deems it in the best interests of the 
Indian owners, obtain a power of attorney from the owner of a non-
Indian interest in the land to be sold authorizing the Secretary to sell 
and convey the interest of the non-Indian owner in accordance with 
any part of the procedure provided in this section. 
SEC. 12. The Secretary of the Treasury, upon certification by the 
Secretary of the Interior, shall reimburse the tribe for fees and 
expenses incurred in connection with the taking of Indian lands 
within the reservation for the Big Bend project: Provided^ That such 
reimbursable fees and expenses shall not exceed in the aggregate, 
$75,000: Provided further^ That attorney fees shall be paid under the 
terms of a contract approved by the Secretary of the Interior. 
SEC. 13. (a) Any individual Indian who has been duly tendered 
payment in accordance with the schedules prepared pursuant to sec-
tion 2(b) of this Act, shall have the right to reject the sum tendered 
by filing a notice of rejection with the Chief of Engineers, United 
States Army, Washington, District of Columbia, or with the super-
intendent of the Pierre Indian Agency, Pierre, South Dakota, within 
one year from the date of enactment of this Act or within ninety days 
after the tender is made, whichever date is later. For the purpose of 
this section, the Secretary of the Interior and the tribe are authorized 
to represent any Indian entitled to payment who is a minor, or under 
any other legal disability, or who cannot be located after a reasonable 
and diligent search, and any person who is an undetermined heir or 
devisee of a deceased Indian. 
(b) If the land of any Indian rejecting payment is included in 
condemnation proceedings heretofore instituted, the court in those 
proceedings shall proceed to determine the just compensation to which 
76 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 87-734-OCT. 3, 1962 
703 
the individual is entitled and, if the land is not included in such con-
demnation proceedings, jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the 
United States District Court for the District of South Dakota to 
determine just compensation in accordance with procedures applicable 
to the determination of just compensation in condemnation proceed-
ings. No court or statutory costs, but all other costs and expenses, 
including attorney's fees, shall be at the contesting individual's 
expense. Suit may be brought on behalf of any individual rejecting 
payment within one year after the date of the rejection. If a notice 
of rejection of the tender of payment is filed, at least 10 per centum 
of the tender deposited in the individual Indian money account shall 
be withheld from disbursement pending a final determination under 
this subsection. 
SEC. 14. No part of any expenditure made by the United States under 
any of the provisions of this Act shall be charged by the United States 
as an offset or counterclaim against any tribal claim against the United 
States which has arisen prior to the date of enactment of this Act. The 
payment of Sioux benefits as provided for in section 17 of the Act of 
March 2,1889 (25 Stat. 888), as amended, shall be continued under the 
provisions of section 14 of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 
1934 (48 Stat. 984), on the basis now in operation without regard to the 
loss of tribal land within the taking area for the Big Bend project. 
SEC. 15. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated such amounts 
as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act. 
SEO. 16. The land taken by section 1 of this Act, embracing approxi-
mately 14,299.03 acres, and the land heretofore acquired in condemna-
tion proceedings by civil numbered 335, embracing approximately 
310.00 acres, are the lands identified and delimited on a map entitled, 
"A map delimiting tribal and individual Indian trust and restricted 
land of the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation acquired by the United 
States for the Big Bend Dam and Reservoir project for the sum of 
$825,000". Legal descriptions of the lands shown therein shall be pre-
pared by the Secretary of the Army and attached thereto. The map 
and descriptions shall be prepared by the Secretary of the Army and 
shall be filed among the land records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
in Washington, District of Columbia, and a duplicate original filed 
and maintained at the agency in Pierre, South Dakota. A true and 
correct copy of the map and descriptions shall be furnished without 
cost to the tribe. The Secretary of the Army shall prepare and furnish 
the Secretary of the Interior and the tribe tract by tract legal descrip-
tions of trust and restricted land acquired by this Act within two years 
of enactment of this Act: Provided^ That within ninety days after 
notice of rejection is filed pursuant to subsection 13(a) the Secretary 
of the Army shall furnish to the individual Indian and to the Super-
intendent of the Pierre Indian Agency a legal description of the lands 
covered by the rejection. 
SEC. 17. All funds authorized by this Act paid to the tribe and indi-
vidual Indians shall be exempt from all forms of State and Federal 
taxation. 
SEC. 18. The Secretary of the Army is authorized and directed to pay 
to any bona fide lessee or permittee owning improvements situated on 
Indian tribal land the fair value, as determined by the Secretary, or 
by a court of competent jurisdiction, of any such improvements which 
will be rendered inoperative or be otherwise adversely affected by the 
construction of the Big Bend Dam and Reservior project. 
Approved October 3, 1962. 
Offset or coun-
terclaims.. 
25 u s e 474. 
Appropriation. 
Legal land 
descriptions. 
Tax exemp-
tion. 
Lessee or per-
mittee, reimbtirse-
ment.