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Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That immediately after the passage of this act the Secretary of the Interior shall appoint three disinterested persons as commissioners to arrange a just and satisfactory settlement of the Mission Indians residing in the State of California, upon reservations which shall be secured to them as hereinafter provided.
That it shall be the duty of said commissioners to select a reservation for each band or village of the Mission Indians residing within said State, which reservation shall include, as far as practicable, the lands and villages which have been in the actual occupation and possession of said Indians, and which shall be sufficient in extent to meet their just requirements, which selection shall be valid when approved by the President and Secretary of the Interior. They shall also appraise the value of the improvements belonging to any person to whom valid existing rights have attached under the public-land laws of the United States, or to the assignee of such person, where such improvements are situated within the limits of any reservation selected and defined by said commissioners subject in each case to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. In cases where the Indians are in occupation of lands within the limits of confirmed private grants, the commissioners shall determine and define the boundaries of such lands, and shall ascertain whether there are vacant public lands in the vicinity to which they may be removed. And the said commission is hereby authorized to employ a competent surveyor and the necessary assistants.
That the commissioners, upon the completion of their duties, shall report the result to the Secretary of the Interior, who, if no valid objection exists, shall cause a patent to issue for each of the reservations selected by the commission and approved by him in favor of each band or village of Indians occupying any such reservation, which patents shall be of the legal effect, and declare that the United States does and will hold the land thus patented, subject to the provisions of section four of this act, for the period of twenty-five years, in trust, for the sole use and benefit of the band or village to which it is issued, and that at the expiration of said period the United States will convey the same or the remaining portion not previously patented in severalty by patent to said band or village, discharged of said trust, and free of all charge or incumbrance whatsoever: Provided, That no patent shall embrace any tract or tracts to which existing valid rights have attached in favor of any person under any of the United States laws providing for the disposition of the public domain, unless such person shall acquiesce in and accept the appraisal provided for in the preceding section in all respects and shall thereafter, upon demand and payment of said appraised value, execute a release of all title and claim thereto; and a separate patent, in similar form, may be issued for any such tract or tracts, at any time thereafter. Any such person shall be permitted to exercise the same right to take land under the public-land laws of the United States as though he had not made settlement on the lands embraced in said reservation; and a separate patent
in similar form, may be issued for any tract or tracts at any time after the appraised value of the improvements thereon shall have been paid: And provided further, That in case any land shall be selected under this act to which any railroad company is or shall hereafter be entitled to receive a patent, such railroad company shall, upon releasing all claim and title thereto, and on the approval of the President and Secretary of the Interior, be allowed to select an equal quantity of other land of like value in lieu thereof, at such place as the Secretary of the Interior shall determine: And provided further, That said patents declaring such lands to be held in trust as aforesaid shall be retained and kept in the Interior Department, and certified copies of the same shall be forwarded to and kept at the agency by the agent having charge of the Indians for whom such lands are to be held in trust, and said copies shall be open to inspection at such agency.
That whenever any of the Indians residing upon any reservation patented under the provisions of this act shall, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior, be so advanced in civilization as to be capable of owning and managing land in severalty, the Secretary of the Interior may cause allotments to be made to such Indians, out of the land of such reservation, in quantity as follows: To each head of a family not more than six hundred and forty acres nor less than one hundred and sixty acres of pasture or grazing land, and in addition thereto not exceeding twenty acres, as he shall deem for the best interest of the allottee, of arable land in some suitable locality; to each single person over twenty-one years of age not less than eighty nor more than six hundred and forty acres of pasture or grazing land and not exceeding ten acres of such arable land.
That upon the approval of the allotments provided for in the preceding section by the Secretary of the Interior he shall cause patents to issue therefor in the name of the allottees, which 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 of California, and that at the expiration of said period the United States will convey the same by patent to the said Indian, or his heirs as aforesaid, in fee, discharged of said trust and free of all charge or incumbrance whatsoever. 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 these patents, when issued, shall override the patent authorized to be issued to the band or village as aforesaid, and shall separate the individual allotment from the lands held in common, which proviso shall be incorporated in each of the village patents.
That in cases where the lands occupied by any band or village of Indians are wholly or in part within the limits of any confirmed private grant or grants, it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General of the United States, upon request of the Secretary of the Interior, through special counsel or otherwise, to defend such Indians in the rights secured to them in the original grants from the Mexican Government, and in an act for the government and protection of Indians passed by the legislature of the State of California April twenty-second, eighteen hundred and fifty, or to bring any suit, in the name of the United States, in the Circuit Court of the United States for California, that may be found necessary to the full protection of the legal or equitable rights of any Indian or tribe of Indians in any of such lands.
That each of the commissioners authorized to be appointed by the first section of this act shall be paid at the rate of eight dollars
per day for the time he is actually and necessarily employed in the discharge of his duties, and necessary traveling expenses; and for the payment of the same, and of the expenses of surveying, the sum of ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
That previous to the issuance of a patent for any reservation as provided in section three of this act the Secretary of the Interior may authorize any citizen of the United States, firm, or corporation to construct a flume, ditch, canal, pipe, or other appliances for the conveyance of water over, across, or through such reservation for agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes, upon condition that the Indians owning or occupying such reservation or reservations shall, at all times during such ownership or occupation, be supplied with sufficient quantity of water for irrigating and domestic purposes upon such terms as shall be prescribed in writing by the Secretary of the Interior, and upon such other terms as he may prescribe, and may grant a right of way for rail or other roads through such reservation: Provided, That any individual, firm, or corporation desiring such privilege shall first give bond to the United States, in such sum as may be required by the Secretary of the Interior, with good and sufficient sureties, for the performance of such conditions and stipulations as said Secretary may require as a condition precedent to the granting of such authority: And provided further, That this act shall not authorize the Secretary of the Interior to grant a right of way to any railroad company through any reservation for a longer distance than ten miles. And any patent issued for any reservation upon which such privilege has been granted, or for any allotment therein, shall be subject to such privilege, right of way, or easement. Subsequent to the issuance of any tribal patent, or of any individual trust patent as provided in section five of this act, any citizen of the United States, firm, or corporation may contract with the tribe, band, or individual for whose use and benefit any lands are held in trust by the United States, for the right to construct a flume, ditch, canal, pipe, or other appliances for the conveyance of water over, across, or through such lands, which contract shall not be valid unless approved by the Secretary of the Interior under such conditions as he may see fit to impose.
Approved, January 12, 1891.
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