Be
it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of
America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe
or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon
any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation
or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting
apart the same for their use, the President of the United States
be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any
reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous
for agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reservation,
or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or resurveyed if necessary,
and to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any
Indian located thereon in quantities as follows:
To each head of a family, one-quarter of a
section;
To each single person over eighteen years
of age, one-eighth of a section;
To each orphan child under eighteen years
of age, one-eighth of a section; and
To each other single person under eighteen
years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the
order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced
in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section: Provided, That
in case there is not sufficient land in any of said reservations
to allot lands to each individual of the classes above named
in quantities as above provided, the lands embraced in such
reservation or reservations shall be allotted to each individual
of each of said classes pro rata in accordance with the provisions
of this act: And provided further, That where the treaty or
act of Congress setting apart such reservation provides for
the allotment of lands in severalty in quantities in excess
of those herein provided, the President, in making allotments
upon such reservation, shall allot the lands to each individual
Indian belonging thereon in quantity as specified in such treaty
or act: And provided further, That when the lands allotted are
only valuable for grazing purposes, an additional allotment
of such grazing lands, in quantities as above provided, shall
be made to each individual.
§2. That all allotments set apart under
the provisions of this act shall be selected by the Indians,
heads of families selecting for their minor children, and the
agents shall select for each orphan child, and in such manner
as to embrace the improvements of the Indians making the selection.
Where the improvements of two or more Indians have been made
on the same legal subdivision of land, unless they shall otherwise
agree, a provisional line may be run dividing said lands between
them, and the amount to which each is entitled shall be equalized
in the assignment of the remainder of the land to which they
are entitled under this act: Provided, That if any one entitled
to an allotment shall fail to make a selection within four years
after the President shall direct that allotments may be made
on a particular reservation, the Secretary of the Interior may
direct the agent of such tribe or band, if such there be, and
if there be no agent, then a special agent appointed for that
purpose, to make a selection for such Indian, which election
shall be allotted as in cases where selections are made by the
Indians, and patents shall issue in like manner.
§3. That the allotments provided for
in this act shall be made by special agents appointed by the
President for such purpose, and the agents in charge of the
respective reservations on which the allotments are directed
to be made, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary
of the Interior may from time to time prescribe, and shall be
certified by such agents to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
in duplicate, one copy to be retained in the Indian Office and
the other to be transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior
for his action, and to be deposited in the General Land Office.
§4. That where any Indian not residing
upon a reservation, or for whose tribe no reservation has been
provided by treaty, act of Congress, or executive order, shall
make settlement upon any surveyed or unsurveyed lands of the
United States not otherwise appropriated, he or she shall be
entitled, upon application to the local land-office for the
district in which the lands are located, to have the same allotted
to him or her, and to his or her children, in quantities and
manner as provided in this act for Indians residing upon reservations;
and when such settlement is made upon unsurveyed lands, the
grant to such Indians shall be adjusted upon the survey of the
lands so as to conform thereto; and patents shall be issued
to them for such lands in the manner and with the restrictions
as herein provided. And the fees to which the officers of such
local land-office would have been entitled had such lands been
entered under the general laws for the disposition of the public
lands shall be paid to them, from any moneys in the Treasury
of the United States not otherwise appropriated, upon a statement
of an account in their behalf for such fees by the Commissioner
of the General Land Office, and a certification of such account
to the Secretary of the Treasury by the Secretary of the Interior.
§5. That upon the approval of the allotments
provided for in this act by the Secretary of the Interior, he
shall cause patents to issue therefor in the name of the allottees,
which patents shall be of the legal effect, and declare that
the United States does and will hold the land thus allotted,
for the period of twenty-five years, in trust for the sole use
and benefit of the Indian to whom such allotment shall have
been made, or, in case of his decease, of his heirs according
to the laws of the State or Territory where such land is located,
and that at the expiration of said period the United States
will convey the same by patent to said Indian, or his heirs
as aforesaid, in fee, discharged of said trust and free of all
charge or incumbrance whatsoever: Provided, That the President
of the United States may in any case in his discretion extend
the period. And if any conveyance shall be made of the lands
set apart and allotted as herein provided, or any contract made
touching the same, before the expiration of the time above mentioned,
such conveyance or contract shall be absolutely null and void:
Provided, That the law of descent and partition in force in
the State or Territory where such lands are situated shall apply
thereto after patents therefor have been executed and delivered,
except as herein otherwise provided; and the laws of the State
of Kansas regulating the descent and partition of real estate
shall, so far as practicable, apply to all lands in the Indian
Territory which may be allotted in severalty under the provisions
of this act: And provided further, That at any time after lands
have been allotted to all the Indians of any tribe as herein
provided, or sooner if in the opinion of the President it shall
be for the best interests of said tribe, it shall be lawful
for the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate with such Indian
tribe for the purchase and release by said tribe, in conformity
with the treaty or statute under which such reservation is held,
of such portions of its reservation not allotted as such tribe
shall, from time to time, consent to sell, on such terms and
conditions as shall be considered just and equitable between
the United States and said tribe of Indians, which purchase
shall not be complete until ratified by Congress, and the form
and manner of executing such release shall also be prescribed
by Congress: Provided however,
That all lands adapted to agriculture, with
or without irrigation so sold or released to the United States
by any Indian tribe shall be held by the United States for the
sole purpose of securing homes to actual settlers and shall
be disposed of by the United States to actual and bona fide
settlers only in tracts not exceeding one hundred and sixty
acres to any one person, on such terms as Congress shall prescribe,
subject to grants which Congress may make in aid of education:
And provided further, That no patents shall issue therefor except
to the person so taking the same as and for a homestead, or
his heirs, and after the expiration of five years occupancy
thereof as such homestead; and any conveyance of said lands
so taken as a homestead, or any contract touching the same,
or lien thereon, created prior to the date of such patent, shall
be null and void. And the sums agreed to be paid by the United
States as purchase money for any portion of any such reservation
shall be held in the Treasury of the United States for the sole
use of the tribe or tribes of Indians; to whom such reservations
belonged; and the same, with interest thereon at three per cent
per annum, shall be at all times subject to appropriation by
Congress for the education and civilization of such tribe or
tribes of Indians or the members thereof. The patents aforesaid
shall be recorded in the General Land Office, and afterward
delivered, free of charge, to the allottee entitled thereto.
And if any religious society or other organization is now occupying
any of the public lands to which this act is applicable, for
religious or educational work among the Indians, the Secretary
of the Interior is hereby authorized to confirm such occupation
to such society or organization, in quantity not exceeding one
hundred and sixty acres in any one tract, so long as the same
shall be so occupied, on such terms as he shall deem just; but
nothing herein contained shall change or alter any claim of
such society for religious or educational purposes heretofore
granted by law. And hereafter in the employment of Indian police,
or any other employees in the public service among any of the
Indian tribes or bands affected by this act, and where Indians
can perform the duties required, those Indians who have availed
themselves of the provisions of this act and become citizens
of the United States shall be preferred.
§6. That upon the completion of said
allotments and the patenting of the lands to said allottees,
each and every member of the respective bands or tribes of Indians
to whom allotments have been made shall have the benefit of
and be subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of the
State or Territory in which they may reside; and no Territory
shall pass or enforce any law denying any such Indian within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law. And every
Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States
to whom allotments shall have been made under the provisions
of this act, or under any law or treaty, and every Indian born
within the territorial limits of the United States who has voluntarily
taken up, within said limits, his residence separate and apart
from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits
of civilized life, is hereby declared to be a citizen of the
United States, and is entitled to all the rights, privileges,
and immunities of such citizens, whether said Indian has been
or not, by birth or otherwise, a member of any tribe of Indians
within the territorial limits of the United States without in
any manner impairing or otherwise affecting the right of any
such Indian to tribal or other property.
§7. That in cases where the use of water
for irrigation is necessary to render the lands within any Indian
reservation available for agricultural purposes, the Secretary
of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to prescribe
such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to secure
a just and equal distribution thereof among the Indians residing
upon any such reservations; and no other appropriation or grant
of water by any riparian proprietor shall be authorized or permitted
to the damage of any other riparian proprietor.
§8. That the provision of this act shall
not extend to the territory occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks,
Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Osage, Miamies and Peorias,
and Sacs and Foxes, in the Indian Territory, nor to any of the
reservations of the Seneca Nation of New York Indians in the
State of New York, nor to that strip of territory in the State
of Nebraska adjoining the Sioux Nation on the south added by
executive order.
§9. That for the purpose of making the
surveys and resurveys mentioned in section two of this act,
there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any moneys in
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred
thousand dollars, to be repaid proportionately out of the proceeds
of the sales of such land as may be acquired from the Indians
under the provisions of this act.
§10. That nothing in this act contained
shall be so construed as to affect the right and power of Congress
to grant the right of way through any lands granted to an Indian,
or a tribe of Indians, for railroads or other highways, or telegraph
lines, for the public use, or to condemn such lands to public
uses, upon making just compensation.
§11. That nothing in this act shall be
so construed as to prevent the removal of the Southern Ute Indians
from their present reservation in Southwestern Colorado to a
new reservation by and with the consent of a majority of the
adult male members of said tribe.
Source: United States, Statutes at Large,24:388ff.
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