[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 144 (Monday, July 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43779-43780]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17734]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-16151: PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Cowlitz County 
Historical Museum, Kelso, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Cowlitz County Historical Museum, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to the Cowlitz County Historical 
Museum. If no additional claimants come forward, transfer of control of 
the cultural items to the lineal descendants, Indian tribes, or Native 
Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Cowlitz County Historical 
Museum at the address in this notice by August 27, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Bill Watson, Collections Curator, Cowlitz County Historical 
Museum, 405 Allen Street, Kelso, WA 98626, telephone (360) 577-3119, 
email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items under the 
control of the Cowlitz County Historical Museum, Kelso, WA, that meet 
the definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25

[[Page 43780]]

U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The determinations in this notice are the sole 
responsibility of the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has 
control of the Native American cultural items. The National Park 
Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    In or around the first decade of the 20th century, 60 cultural 
items were removed from the Columbia River in the vicinity of the town 
of Chelan, in Chelan County, WA. The catalog form for these items 
includes the notation, ``Mr. Urban Fisher found these in an Indian 
Grave in the Upper Columbia River.'' Urban Fisher is found in the 1900 
and 1910 Federal Censuses in the town of Chelan, in Chelan County, WA, 
ages 6 and 16, respectively. In the 1920 Federal Census, Urban Fisher 
is found in Kelso, in Cowlitz County, WA. At some point between when 
Mr. Fisher moved to Kelso and 1960, he gave or sold these items to 
Sanford Lord, a Kelso collector of Native objects. City Directories in 
our collection indicate Mr. Fisher and Mr. Lord worked together in the 
Kelso Post Office for over 30 years. On January 4, 1960, Sanford Lord 
donated the bulk of his collection of Native objects to the Cowlitz 
County Historical Museum. The 60 unassociated funerary objects consist 
of short necklace fragments: One containing 7 copper beads and 13 shell 
beads, one containing 5 copper bead fragments and 3 shell beads, and 
one containing 3 copper beads and 4 shell beads; and 25 loose copper 
beads of various sizes.
    These items were taken from the Columbia River in the vicinity of 
Chelan, WA, which falls within the traditional lands of the 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. The determination of 
the cultural affiliation of the unassociated funerary objects is based 
upon geographical, archeological, oral tradition, and historical 
evidences. The unassociated funerary objects described above are 
consistent with cultural items typically found in context with Native 
American burials in eastern Washington State and the upper Columbia 
River. Extensive museum documentation, the general geographic locations 
of the site, burial patterns, and consultation with the Confederated 
Tribes of the Colville Reservation verify that the cultural items were 
removed from the area that is within the aboriginal territory of the 
Chelan Indians, a constituent tribe of the Confederated Tribes of the 
Colville Reservation.

Determinations Made by the Cowlitz County Historical Museum

    Officials of the Cowlitz County Historical Museum have determined 
that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 60 cultural items 
described above are reasonably believed to have been placed with or 
near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of 
the death rite or ceremony and are believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and the Confederated Tribes of the 
Colville Reservation.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Bill Watson, Collections Curator, Cowlitz 
County Historical Museum, 405 Allen Street, Kelso, WA 98626, telephone 
(360) 577-3119, email [email protected], by August 27, 2014. 
After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer 
of control of the unassociated funerary objects described in this 
notice to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation may 
proceed.
    The Cowlitz County Historical Museum is responsible for notifying 
the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: July 2, 2014.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2014-17734 Filed 7-25-14; 8:45 am]
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