July 1, 2010: Trust Patent

A century-old oversight by the federal government was remedied this week when the Chemehuevi Indians were finally given official title to their 32,500-acre reservation along the Colorado River in eastern San Bernardino County. Officials explained a missing signature on the 1907 document -- a trust patent -- as a "historical anomaly," said Jan Bedrosian, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The omission was discovered in 1984 by a Chemehuevi law clerk researching other matters, said Charles Wood, tribal chairman. NOTE: the 1907 Act did not amend the definition of Mission Indians to include the Chemehuevi.

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