INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS AND TREATIES. Vol. 1, Laws

Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.

Chapter 74
Sections 2 | 3

Margin Notes
Chap. 74	Preamble.
Chap. 74	Crow Indians, Montana, agreement of, for sale of lands accepted, ratified, and confirmed. Vol. 2, p. 1011.
Chap. 74	Boundaries of portion of reservation agreed upon for sale.
Chap. 74	Condition of sale.
Chap. 74	Allotment of lands in severalty.
Chap. 74	Title inalienable for twenty-five years.
Chap. 74	Patent.
Chap. 74	Annuity for twenty-five years.
Chap. 74	Driving or grazing cattle on reservation. Vol. 2, p. 1008.
Sec. 2	Secretary of Interior to carry provisions of act into effect.
Sec. 2	Approval of allotments. Patents to issue.
Sec. 3	Appropriations.
Sec. 3	Expense of survey.

Chapter 74
Apr. 11, 1882. | 22 Stat., 42.

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An act to accept and ratify the agreement (^a) submitted by the Crow Indians of Montana for the sale of a portion of their reservation in said Territory, and for other purposes, and to make the necessary appropriations for carrying out the same.(^b)

^a  The agreement of May 14, 1880 (see p. 277 of annual report for 1880), signed at Washington, D. C., was not ratified by the Crow Nation of Indians, and this agreement was substituted therefor.

^b  Subsequent acts ratifying agreements with the Crow Indians are those of July 10, 1882, chapter 284 (post, p. 201), and March 3, 1891, chapter 543, section 31 (post, p. 432), modified by the act of 1892, ch. 164, post, p. 448. By the act of July 13, 1892, chapter 164 (post, p. 447), allotments under the latter act, are not to conflict with prior valid claims of settlers. Relatives to the allotments upon the Crow Reservation, see the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1901, page 53.
   By the act of March 2, 1895, chapter 188 (post, p. 565), settlers on the Crow Reservation are authorized to file suits for damages in the Court of Claims.
   The act of March 1, 1899, chapter 324 (post, p. 687), authorizes the use of annuity money for the completion of the irrigation system.
  The distribution of the “common herd” of cattle (see act of March 3, 1891, supra), and of money arising from sales of stock is directed by the act of May 27, 1902, chapter 888 (post, p. 754).
  Railroads.—The following special acts authorize the construction of railroads through the Crow Reservation: March 3, 1887, chapter 366 (post, p. 254); June 4, 1888, chapter 344 (post, p. 277); February 12, 1889, chapter 134 (post, p. 309); and March 1, 1893, chapter 192 (post, p. 479).

Whereas certain individual Indians and heads of families representing a majority of all the adult male members of the Crow tribe of Indians occupying or interested in the Crow Reservation in the Territory of Montana have agreed upon, executed, and submitted to the Secretary of the Interior an agreement for the sale to the United States of a portion of their said reservation, and for their settlement upon lands in severalty, and for other purposes: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That said agreement be, and the same is hereby, accepted, ratified, and confirmed. Said agreement is executed by a majority of all the adult male members of said tribe, in conformity with the provisions of article eleven of the treaty with the Crow Indians of May seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and is in words and figures as follows, namely:

“We, the undersigned individual Indians and heads of families of the Crow tribe of Indians now residing upon the Crow Reservation in the Territory of Montana, do, this twelfth day of June, anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty, hereby agree to dispose of and sell to the Government of the United States, for certain considerations to be hereinafter mentioned, all that part of the present Crow Reservation in the Territory of Montana described as follows, to wit: Beginning in the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River at a point apposite the mouth of Boulder Creek; thence up the mid-channel of said river to the point where it crosses the southern boundary of Montana Territory, being the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence east along said parallel of latitude to a point where said parallel crosses Clarke’s Fork; thence north to a point six miles south of the first standard parallel, being on the township-line between townships six and seven south; thence west on said township-line to the one hundred and tenth meridian of longitude; thence north along said meridian to a point either west or east of the source of the eastern branch of Boulder Creek; thence down said eastern branch to Boulder Creek; thence down Boulder Creek to the place of beginning; for the following considerations:

“First. That the Government of the United States cause the agricultural lands remaining in our reservation to be properly surveyed and divided among us in severalty, in the proportions hereinafter mentioned, and to issue patents to us respectively therefor, so soon as the necessary laws are passed by Congress. Allotments in severalty of said surveyed lands shall be made as follows:

“To each single person over eighteen years of age not more than one-eighth of a section, with an additional quantity of grazing land not exceeding one-eighth of a section.

“To each orphan child under eighteen years of age not more than one-eighth of a section, with an additional quantity of grazing land not exceeding one-eighth of a section; and

“To each other person under eighteen years, or who may be born prior to said allotments, one-eighth of a section, with a like quantity of grazing land.

“All allotments to be made with the advice of our agent, or such other persons as the Secretary of the Interior may designate for that purpose upon our selection, heads of families selecting for their minor children, and the agent making the allotment for each orphan child. The title to be acquired by us, and by all members of the Crow tribe of Indians, shall not be subject to alienation, lease, or incumbrance, either by voluntary conveyance of the grantee or his heirs or by the judgment, order, or decree of any court, nor subject to taxation of any character, but shall be and remain inalienable and not subject to taxation for the period of twenty-five years, and until such time thereafter as the President may see fit to remove the restriction, which shall be incorporated in each patent.

“Second. That in consideration of the session of territory to be made by us as individual Indians and heads of families of the Crow tribe to the Government of the United States, said Government of the United States, in addition to the annuities and sums for provisions and clothing stipulated and provided for in existing treaties and laws, hereby agrees to appropriate annually, for twenty-five years, the sum of thirty thousand dollars, to be expended, under the direction of the President, for our benefit, in assisting us to erect houses, to procure seeds, farming implements, and stock, or in cash, as the President may direct.

“Third. That if at any time hereafter we, as a tribe, shall consent to permit cattle to be driven across our reservation or grazed thereon, the Secretary of the Interior shall fix the amount to be paid by parties so desiring to drive or graze cattle; all moneys arising from this source to be paid to us under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe.

“Fourth. That all the existing provisions of May seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, shall continue in force.

“Done at Crow Agency, Montana Territory, this twelfth day of June, anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty.”

That for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this act into effect the following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and they are hereby, set aside, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior as follows, namely:

For the expense of the survey of the lands as provided in the second section of this act, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars.

For the first of twenty-five installments, as provided in said agreement, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in such manner as the President may direct, the sum of thirty thousand dollars.