The Missouri River tribes testified before the Senate Indian Affairs committee recently.  Both Chairman Marcus Wells, Jr. of the Three Affiliated Tribes and Chairman Ron His Horse Is Thunder of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe spoke for just compensation for their people, who had to give up tens of thousands of acres of their best farmland for an unfair price.

From today’s article (read the entire post and view related posts here or visit www.indianz.com):

The seven tribes in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee of the negative impacts caused by dams that were created by the federal government. Over 350,000 acres of reservation land was permanently destroyed, taking valuable natural resources, sacred sites and even entire communities.

“This result was not by our own choosing,” testified Marcus Wells Jr., the chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota, which lost over 150,000 acres. “Our tribe was pressured and steamrolled into signing away our prime bottomlands in the 1940s.”

Ron His Horse Is Thunder, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota, said Indian landowners were forced into accepting about $31 an acre in compensation from the government. In comparison, he said non-Indians who were affected by the Missouri River dams received about $60 an acre.

“I talked to a number of the elders who were alive back then and I’ve seen some of the records on the price they were given for their land and every time you talk to them, it brings up much sadness in their hearts,” said His Horse Is Thunder, whose tribe lost about 56,000 acres. “There was no negotiation with them. It was, ‘You take this,’ and that’s it.”

The Three Affiliated Tribes are located on the Fort Berthold Reservation around New Town, North Dakota.  The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe headquarters are in Fort Yates, North Dakota.  Senator Byron Dorgan, D-ND also spoke in favor of the tribe’s efforts.  Again, from the article:

“Entire tribal infrastructures and economies were destroyed,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the chairman. “Their way of life changed dramatically.”

There’s a link to Thursday’s webcast here.