The Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary
United States Department of the Interior
South Interior Building
1951 Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington D.C. 20242
May 31, 1996
Dear Secretary Babbitt:
It has come to my attention that Associate Solicitor Robert T. Anderson has advised L.W., Collier, Acting Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Muskogee Area Office by memorandum dated February 13, 1996 that land contiguous to the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City Kansas may be taken into trust for the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma for class III gaming purposes. I respectfully but emphatically disagree with the legal conclusions reached by Mr. Anderson and request that you halt any further proceedings in order to conduct a comprehensive and impartial review of the complex historical and legal issues presented.
As you know 25 U.S.C.S. 2719(a) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) provides that
Except as provided in subsection (b), gaming regulated by this Act shall not be conducted on lands acquired by the Secretary in trust for the benefit of an Indian tribe after the date of the enactment of this Act (Oct. 17, 1988) unless–
such lands are located within or contiguous to the boundaries of the reservation of the Indian tribe on the date of enactment of this Act…
The associate solicitor’s conclusion that lands taken into trust contiguous to the Huron Cemetery are not after-acquired property for purposes of the IGRA rests on the department’s previous determination that the cemetery is part of the Wyandotte Tribe (of Oklahomas) reservation. In fact, however, the Huron Cemetery is not now, and never has been reservation land as that term is defined for purposes of the IGRA.
By treaty dated March 17, 1842, the Wyandotte Tribe was to be removed from the state of Ohio into the Kansas Territory. 11 Stat. 581. However, once relocated, the United States failed to provide the land promised in the 1842 Treaty. See Treaty with the Wyandotte Indians April 1, 1850, 9 Stat. 987, Kappler at 587. Instead the Wyandotte purchased land from the Delaware Tribe in what is now the Kansas City Kansas area. Agreement with the Delawares and Wyandot Dec. 14, 1843, 9 Stat 337, Kappler at 1048. In 1850 the United States agreed to pay the Wyandotte Tribe $185,000 to compensate for the land in Ohio. Kappler at 587.588. The United States never took the land in Kansas into trust, nor was a reservation granted by treaty, for the purposes of the Wyandotte Tribe residing in the Kansas territory. In 1855 the Wyandotte Tribal organization was dissolved and tribal members were encouraged to become United States citizens. Treaty with the Wyandot Jan 31, 1855, 10 Stat 1159, Kappler at 677.678. Tribal property was relinquished, subdivided, assigned and reconveyed (patented in fee simple) to individual members of the Tribe. At this time, the Huron Cemetery was reserved for the purposes of preserving the burial ground. When the Tribe reorganized in 1867, members were removed to the Oklahoma Territory on land previously owned by the Seneca Tribe. Kappler at 960.963
Thus while the Huron Cemetery was reserved for burying ground purposes, it is not and never has been past of a reservation as that term is used in the IGRA. As evidenced by the limitations in the IGRA for prohibiting the conduct of gaming except on certain specified lands, the term reservation, as used in the IGRA refers only to land set aside under federal protection for the residence of tribal Indians.: Cohen Handbook of Federal Indian Law 34-35 (1982 ed)
With regard to possible use of land claim settlement money to purchase the land contiguous to the Huron Cemetery I simply note that the land in question is worth well more than the $185,000 plus interest that was paid in 1850. If this is a serious basis for arguing that the after-acquired property provisions of the IGRA are Inapplicable, I request leave to further argue that point at a later time. (The associate solicitor’s memorandum left us guessing as to the basis for his conclusions.) I would further note that I have never expressed consent to the taking of land into trust for the Wyandotte Tribe for the purpose of gaming, and I do not intend to express such consent in view of the position of the four Indian nations that do have reservation land in Kansas and with whom the state has, in good faith, entered compacts for class III gaming.
Very truly yours
Bill Graves
Governor, State of Kansas