$50 Million Approved to Settle Land Fight With Catawba Tribe

The House approved a $50-million settlement Tuesday to end a 150-year land dispute with the Catawba Indian tribe of South Carolina.

The payment, in exchange for the Catawbas’ agreement to give up claims to 144,000 acres of land the tribe ceded to the government in 1840, includes $7.5 million to be split among 1,300 tribe members.

Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.) said the thousands of people involved in the land dispute will be “tremendously relieved to have this cloud lifted from the titles of their property that has been cast by this claim for the last 15 to 16 years.”