Golden Checkerboard (1965) is a book by Ed Ainsworth[nb 1] about the mid-20th century economic conditions of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of Palm Springs, California and the history of the 99-year lease law, which enabled them to commercially develop tribal-owned lands.

[3][4][nb 3]) In December 1944, Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, acting on the advice of Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier, disapproved the allotting schedule set up by Wadsworth 17 years earlier.

After that McKay asked industrialist Floyd B. Odlum (former president of Atlas Corp. and husband of Jacqueline Cochran) to investigate the affairs of the Agua Caliente Indians.

Odlum also discussed the legal problems related to unequal allotments, taxes on non-productive real estate, the inability to lease land because of a 5-year limit, and conflicting claims of the allottees.

[9]: 53, footnote 55, January 29, 1974 interview With the ability to control Indian estates, the conservatorship program fostered corruption among the conservators and administrators—a series of Pulitzer Prize (1968) winning Riverside Press-Enterprise articles[10] authored by journalist George Ringwald exposed such instances of excessive fees, fee-splitting, and other types of questionable conduct.