Marie Cleghorn Fondahn v. Native Village of Tyonek, Etc.
Opinion
Opinion
Choy, J.
Marie Cleghorn Fondahn filed an action in the District Court for a declaratory judgment and for imposition of a constructive trust on revenues from certain oil and gas leases on the ground that she is a member of the Tyonek Indian Tribe and entitled to benefit from the lease proceeds. The District Court granted summary judgment against her, and she appeals. We reverse and remand with instructions.
Pursuant to Executive Order No. 2141, dated February 27, 1915, a twenty-five thousand (25,000) acre tract of land at Tyonek, Alaska was withdrawn and reserved for the use of the “U.S. Bureau of Education.” A letter dated February 25, 1915, from the Secretary of the Interior to President Woodrow Wilson, and a letter dated March 5, 1915, from the President’s secretary to the Secretary of the Interior, both state that the withdrawal and reservation of the land were for the benéfit of “Alaskan natives of that region.”
Appellee, the Native Village of Ty-onek, is a corporation organized under 25 U.S.C. § 477 . The local government of the reservation is the Tyonek Tribal Council, which is recognized by the United States as the spokesman for the people of Tyonek in all reservation affairs.