Existing comment:
The Threat of "Termination"
From the beginning, the use of federal lands for Indian reservations was criticized. Congress experimented with programs to grant land to individual Indians to speed their assimilation into American culture. Granting private property rights to Indians would also eventually eliminate the need for reservations, opening more land to private entry and development.
The "termination" movement of the 1950s led by Utah Senator Arthur Watkins called for the end of federal trust responsibility with Indians. Tribal governments and reservations would be eliminated. Senator Watkins' focused on the Southern Paiute bands of Utah - the Shivwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and Indian Peaks. These bands were terminated in 1954. The Kaibab were lucky to be in Arizona - outside the area of Watkins' influence. Nevertheless, they witnessed their relatives lose tribal lands and federal assistance programs.
Ultimately the Federal government found termination to be ineffective and even detrimental to the Indians. In 1980 the Southern Paiutes of Utah regained status as a federally recognized tribe. |