Act, allotted lands were only provided to Indians shown to be recognized or entitled to be recognized members of an Indian tribe . The Federal Government determined that Mono Lake Kutzadika a members met this criteria. (6) In the early 1920s, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began purchasing lands throughout Inyo and Mono Counties in its effort to secure a reliable water supply for the expanding city of Los Angeles in southern California. The Mono Lake Kutzadika a allottees were not immune to the pressures of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and were encouraged to sell their land, which most did. However, Tribal members remained at Mono Lake working and living on local farms and in some cases squatting on Los Angeles Department of Water and Power or other Federal lands. (7) Although Tribal members were once again landless, they remained under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and appeared on the Bureau of Indian Affairs census records, their children attended Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools, and members received (and do today) health care services, and other Federal benefits and services. (8) Federal representatives worked with the Tribe to no avail in the 1920s and 1930s to secure a land base, and these efforts are well documented in official Bureau of Indian Affairs correspondence and records. (9) In June 1950, Tribal members submitted a petition to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, requesting an investigation into their living conditions. In the petition, they stated that they hoped that through an investigation, the agencies might appropriate, rehabilitate, or set aside land for us . H.R. Muskrat, a Bureau of Indian Affairs field representative who investigated the conditions of Tribal members, reported to J.M. Stewart, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Director for California, that there were no public lands available for the Tribe or its members, and all water resources were owned by the Los Angeles Department of