EXHIPIT B

The North portion of the Arkansas Riverbed from the confluence of the Canadian River to the Arkansas-Oklahoma border belonging to the Cherokee Nation according to decision of a special threeJudge Federal Court in Choctaw Nation v. Cherokee Nation, Civil Case No. 73-332, 393 F. Supp. 224 (1975). The Judgment rendered in this Decision held that the thread of the main channel of the Arkansas River shall be the dividing line of ownership between the Cherokee Nation and Choctaw-Chickasaw Nations.

EXHIBIT C

The South-half of the Arkansas River from the confluence of the Canadian River to the Oklahoma-Arkansas State line. The title to this segment of the Arkansas River is vested with the Choctaw-Chickasaw Nations according to the recent Three Judge Court Decision; Civil Case No. 73-332.

1. Land Appraisal (8,098.08 Acres)

Sand & Gravel

Present worth of Remnant Resource

Conl

2.

Oil & Gas

3.

4.

5.

6.

Damsites:

Robert S. Kerr Lock & Dam

W. D. Mayo Lock & Dam

Fish & Wildlife:

Robert S. Kerr Lock & Dam

$ 2,237,000.00 160,528.00 9,331,681.08 2,187,524.90

13,437,773.65

1,534,671.20

450,626.50

348,000.00

0.00

766,000.00

234,000.00

$30,687,805.33

0.00

$32.946,000.00

Mr. SWIMMER. You are looking at three frustrated Indians because we don't know where to go next.

I appreciate your indulgence and respectfully request that Congress give fair consideration to this legislation and perhaps the next Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Interior will decide that they need this authority. We would like to give them this authority and at least the direction of Congress to get this job done. We appreciate your consideration.

Chairman ABOUREZK. When you say, "The next Office of Management and Budget" it won't make any difference, they never change. [Laughter.]

They just keep the same people up there. I don't think any of them even die or get sick. [Laughter.]

The Secretary of the Interior changes as well as the Director of OMB but the rest of them just go on. I think they are all computers. Mr. SWIMMER. We are very much in agreement, Mr. Chairman, with your statement that we regard the U.S. Government to be our trustee. Frankly, we do not know now who is going to represent us in the U.S. Government. We felt like we were being told the right thing. We have followed the direction of the Secretary explicitly. We have done everything. At 7:30 last night, we found out that our trustee was somewhere else.

Chairman ABOUREZK. Thank you very much. We appreciate your testimony.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Swimmer follows:]

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF

PRINCIPAL CHIEF, CHEROKEE NATION

Testimony of Ross Swimmer, Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma on S. 660- purchase rights to river bed of Arkansas River from Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian Nations before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs- Room 1318, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., May 25, 1977.

Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee and Senator Bartlett, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee to present testimony in regard to the S.B. 660. I am Ross Swimmer, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. I am here today as a representative of the people of the Cherokee Nation.

As you know, we are here to urge passage of the S.B. 660. This bill would authorize the Secretary of Interior to negotiate an agreement with the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw people for their interest in the Arkansas River. The Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws own the bed and banks of a section of the Arkansas River in Eastern Oklahoma. This was determined by the Supreme Court. The Court found that the bed and banks of the Arkansas River were part of the land deeded to the Tribes in exchange for their homelands in the southeastern United States; that they were vested with fee simple title through patents issued by the United States; that even though other tribal lands were allotted to individuals, the bed and banks of the Arkansas River were not; that when Oklahoma was admitted to the Union the Tribes still had title to the bed and banks of the river and that title remains to this day in the Tribes. The United States Government is exercising control over the river through the McClellan-Kerr Waterway. We are prevented

from exercising any control ourselves by the fact that we do not have the financial capability to exploit the resources, and the regulatory control exercised by the Federal Government makes it too cumbersome for us to deal with the river's resources.

We have not been compensated for our interest in the Arkansas River. We are asking that the Secretary of Interior be given the authority to negotiate for the lease or sale of interest in the river bed. Passage of the Bill would open the way for an agreement--an agreement which would give the Tribes capital funds with which to build a sound financial future for the Cherokee people through the sale or lease of the river bed to the United States. Further inaction or delay, in effect, results in the taking of our interest in property without just compensation which, as you know, is prohibited by the Constitution.

Now that the ownership of the bed and banks of the Arkansas has been settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, after all these years of mistaken belief, we have the responsibility and you have the responsibility to work out a means whereby we will uphold the integrity of the laws of this Nation and our form of government which provides a way for an equitable agreement. Not only equity and justice, but the Constitution itself demands that action be taken in this direction. This Bill provides the most logical and workable method of reaching such an agreement.

The tribal government of the Cherokee Nation has worked long and hard to establish our ownership of the bed and banks of the Arkansas. We are continuing to seek an agreement with the government which will provide a source of revenue that will enable us to have a fair and