American Notes PACIFIC NORTHWEST

What were once the ancestral lands of Washington State's Puyallup Indians are now worth nearly $1 billion -- the estimated value of downtown real estate, port facilities and private homes in the city of Tacoma (pop. 160,000). The tribe's holdings, however, have been reduced to less than 100 acres, and unemployment among the 1,400 tribe members stands at 70%.

But in a deal negotiated by Senator Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs, the tribe has agreed to drop its claims to Tacoma in exchange for 900 acres of land and a trust fund that could generate as much as $10,000 annually for every adult, plus $61 million for a salmon fishery and a marine terminal. Each adult will also receive a $20,000 cash grant. Says Frank Wright, a Puyallup administrator: "Now we have something that is ours, something we can grab on to."