On June 11, Tex Hall and Fred Baker, spokesmen for the Mandan tribe of North Dakota, visited the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, asking its members to replace the Indian Health Service hospital destroyed in the creation of the Garrison Dam fifty years ago to the day. The creation of the dam flooded 156,000 acres, forcing the relocation of 80 percent of the tribe. Tribal leaders were forced to sign the contract authorizing the project after their alternative projects were roundly ignored. The tribe was compensated $149.2 million, but the federal government never rebuilt the hospital as they promised. A bill is now being considered to award the tribe $20 million for a new hospital.
