The Native American Embassy Website is updated daily!
Every day, hundreds of American Indian and American Indian related laws, treaties & photos are
added from our archives numbering in the tens of thousands!
![[Dividing Line Image]](Images/div.gif){kind=small}
|
|
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 the following sums be, and they are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of paying the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department in full compensation for all offices the salaries for which are specially provided for herein for the service of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and fulfilling treaty stipulations for the various Indian tribes, namely:
That all lands acquired and sold by the United States under the “Act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota,” approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, shall be subject to the right of the United States to construct and maintain dams for the purpose of creating reservoirs in aid of navigation, and no claim or right of compensation shall accrue from the overflowing of said lands on account of the construction and maintenance of such dams or reservoirs. And the Secretary of War shall furnish the Commissioner of the General Land Office a list of such lands, with the particular tracts appropriately described, and in the disposal of each and every one of said tracts, whether by sale, by allotment in severalty to individual Indians, or otherwise, under said Act, the provisions of this paragraph shall enter into and form a part of the contract of purchase or transfer of title.
That the allottees of land within the limits of the Quapaw Agency, Indian Territory, are hereby authorized to lease their lands, or any part thereof, for a term not exceeding three years, for farming or grazing purposes, or ten years for mining or business purposes. And said allottees and their lessees and tenants shall have the right to employ such assistants, laborers, and help from time to time as they may deem necessary: Provided, That whenever it shall be made to
appear to the Secretary of the Interior that, by reason of age or disability, any such allottee can not improve or manage his allotment properly and with benefit to himself, the same may be leased, in the discretion of the Secretary, upon such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed by him. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this are hereby repealed.
That the adult allottees of land in the Peoria and Miami Indian Reservation in the Quapaw Agency, Indian Territory, who have each received allotments of two hundred acres or more may sell one hundred acres thereof, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe.
That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior hereafter to cause the actual delivery of the woolen clothing herein contemplated and contemplated in prior Acts of Congress and treaties to the Sioux and Ponca Indians of Nebraska and North and South Dakota by the first day of November of the fiscal year for which such appropriations shall be made;
That the Secretary of the Interior shall, within one year after the passage of this Act, establish and thereafter maintain at the city of Omaha, in the State of Nebraska, a warehouse for Indian supplies, from which distributions shall be made to such Indian tribes of the West and Northwest as the Secretary of the Interior may direct: Provided, That the city of Omaha shall provide, equip, and furnish a building suitable for this purpose free of cost to the United States.
That the Sisseton and Wahpeton Indians are hereby authorized to lease their lands, or any part thereof, for a term not exceeding three years for farming or grazing purposes.
The Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to confer with the owners of the Montezuma Valley Canal, in the county of Montezuma and State of Colorado, or any other parties, for the purpose of securing by the Government water rights, or for the supply of so much water, or both, as he may deem necessary for the irrigation of that part of the Montezuma Valley lying within the boundaries of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in said State, and for the domestic use of the Indians thereon; and he shall report to Congress at its next regular session the amount of water necessary to be secured for said purpose and the cost of the same, and such recommendations as he shall deem proper.
That there be paid to the Naalem band of the Tillamook tribe of Indians, of Oregon, the sum of ten thousand five hundred dollars, to be apportioned among those now living and the heirs of those who may be dead, by the Secretary of the Interior, as their respective rights may appear; and that for this purpose there be appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ten thousand five hundred dollars: Provided, That said Indians shall accept said sum in full of all demands or claims against the United States for the lands described in an agreement made with them dated the sixth day of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-one.
For resurvey of the lands of the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, one hundred and forty-one thousand five hundred dollars, to be immediately available: Provided, That such resurveys shall be made under the supervision of the Director of the Geological Survey by
such persons as may be employed by or under him for that purpose; and such surveys shall be executed under instructions to be issued by the Secretary of the Interior, and subdivisional surveys shall be executed under the rectangular system, as now provided by law: Provided further, That when any surveys shall have been so made and plats and field notes thereof prepared they shall be approved and certified to by the Director of the Geological Survey, and two copies of the field notes shall be returned, one for filing in the Indian Office and one in the General Land Office, and twenty photolithographic copies of the plats shall be returned, one for filing in the Office of Indian Affairs and one in the General Land Office, which shall be certified to by the Director of the Geological Survey, and the others filed in the General Land Office, with the facsimile of the signature of the Director of the Geological Survey; and the same provision shall also extend to the plats to be filed of the surveys already made or to be made under the supervision of the Director of the Geological Survey within the Indian Territory, and such surveys, field notes, and plats shall have the same legal force and effect as heretofore given to the acts of surveyorsgeneral: Provided further, That all laws inconsistent with the provisions hereof are hereby declared to be inoperative as respects such surveys, and in making the resurvey the former land survey is to be disregarded, the latter now being declared null and void: Provided further, That hereafter in the public-land surveys of the Indian Territory iron or stone posts shall be erected at each township corner, upon which shall be recorded the usual marks required to be placed on township corners by the laws and regulations governing public-land surveys.
For commissioner, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to superintend the sale of lands, ascertain who are the owners of the allotted lands, have guardians appointed for any minor heirs of deceased allottees, make deeds of the lands to the purchasers thereof, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, which deeds shall operate as a complete conveyance of the land upon payment of the purchase money therefor, and to carry out the provisions of the Act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, relative to lands of the Puyallup Indian Reservation, Washington, as set forth on pages six hundred and thirty-three and six hundred and thirty-four of volume twenty-seven of the Revised Statutes, two thousand dollars.
The Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to allot agricultural lands in severalty to the Uncompahgre Ute Indians now located upon or belonging to the Uncompahgre Indian Reservation in the State of Utah, said allotments to be upon the Uncompahgre and Uintah reservations or elsewhere in said State. And all the lands of said Uncompahgre Reservation not theretofore allotted in severalty to said Uncompahgre Utes shall, on and after the first day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, be open for location and entry under all the land laws of the United States; excepting, however, therefrom all lands containing gilsonite, asphalt, elaterite, or other like substances.
That it being impracticable to provide homes in the Indian Territory for the Absentee Wyandotte Indians as contemplated by the Acts of Congress approved June tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and of August fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, the Secretary of the Interior is therefore directed to use the money appropriated therefor by Acts of August fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety- four, and March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, in locating
homes for said Indians upon any lands that may be available and suitable for such purpose, except that out of said money so appropriated as aforesaid R. B. Armstrong, attorney of said Absentee Wyandottes, be allowed and paid the sum of one thousand dollars for his services and expenses already incurred in and about such matters in behalf of said Indians.
For completion of the digest,, now being prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, of the decisions of the courts and the Interior Department, and of the opinions of the Attorney- General relating to Indian Affairs, under authority of the Indian Appropriation Act approved June tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety- six, two thousand dollars: Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior may authorize said work to be performed by a clerk of the Indian Office out of office hours and pay a proper compensation to such clerk therefor. And the accounting officers of the Treasury are hereby authorized and directed to settle the accounts of Kenneth S. Murchison, allowing him credit for such sums as he has disbursed under the appropriation heretofore made or may hereafter disburse under this appropriation for this purpose to himself or to Millard F. Holland, under authority of the Secretary of the Interior, for services heretofore, or that may be hereafter, rendered by them in connection with the preparation of said digest.
That the claim of the Fond Lac band of Chippewa Indians of Lake Superior for compensation arising from the alleged difference in area of the reservation as actually set apart to them and that provided to be set apart, under the fourth subdivision of article two of the treaty between the United States and the Chippewas of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, made and concluded at Lapointe, in the State of Wisconsin, on the thirtieth day of September, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, proclaimed January twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, be, and the same is hereby, referred to the Court of Claims; and jurisdiction is hereby conferred on said court, with right of appeal as in other cases, to hear and determine the difference, if any, between the area of the reservation actually set apart to said Indians and that provided to be set apart in said treaty, if any, the said action to be brought by the said Fond du Lac band of Chippewa Indians against the United States bypetition, verified under oath by any duly authorized attorney for said Indians, within thirty days from the passage of this Act; and in hearing and determining the said matter, the court shall take into consideration and determine whether since the date of said treaty there has been any equitable adjustment made to said Indians in whole or in part for the alleged difference in area, and the court shall also take into consideration and make due allowance for the fact that said Indians were given a share in the proceeds of the lands sold and disposed of under and pursuant to the provisions of an Act entitled “An Act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota,” approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine. The Attorney-General shall appear and answer said petition within thirty days from the filing thereof, unless the time for pleading be extended by the court for cause shown; and said action shall have precedence in said court and when completed, the court shall make a full report to Congress.
Whereas the Seneca Indians in council, January third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, duly entered into an agreement with William B. Barker whereby said nation leased to said Barker the Oil Springs, the Cattaraugus, and Allegany reservations, situate in western New York, for the purpose of boring and testing said territory for gas and
oil, under certain conditions therein stated, said agreement having been ratified and confirmed by Act of Congress; and
Whereas the assignee of said lease has re-leased to the Seneca Indians certain portions of the lands and reservations, included or referred to in said lease, and the council of the Seneca Nation of Indians, by a resolution adopted by said council, on or about the third day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, in all things ratified, confirmed, and extended as to the lessee thereof, and as to the assignees thereof, the said lease, and empowered and authorized them to fulfill the said lease, the same and to the same extent as the original lessee might or could have done, when said lease was executed: Now therefore, The action aforesaid of the lessee of said lease and of the council of the Seneca Nation is hereby ratified and confirmed as the same has been sanctioned and ratified by the said resolution of the said Seneca Nation.
That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, directed to appoint a discreet person as a commissioner, who shall visit the Chippewa and Christian Indian Reservation in Franklin County, Kansas, and make a thorough investigation and full report of the title of the individual members of said bands in and to the several tracts of land therein which have been allotted to said members, for which certificates have been issued by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, as provided in the first article of the treaty of July sixteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, with the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas, and the Munsee or Christian Indians of Kansas.
That said commissioner shall take a census of said Indians, the enrollment to be made upon separate lists; the first to include all of said bands who hold title to land either by original allotment and certificate, by purchase and approved conveyance, or by inheritance, with a description of the land so held or owned by each, and where any tract is claimed by tenants in common, either as heirs of a deceased allottee or otherwise, the interest of each claimant in such tract to be clearly and distinctly stated, the ownership of lands of deceased allottees to be determined under the laws of Kansas relating to descent; and the second list to embrace all of said bands who have not received an allotment of land, but would, if there were sufficient land, be entitled thereto under the treaty.
That upon the approval of said census and the report of said commissioner by the Secretary of the Interior, patents in fee shall issue in favor of those persons found by the Secretary of the Interior to be entitled to the land held by them.
That where there are several heirs, and partition of land is practicable, the partition shall be made by said commissioner, but if not practicable said land may be appraised and sold as hereinafter directed, and the net proceeds paid to said heirs according to the respective title or share each may have in said land.
That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to issue a patent in fee to the Moravian Church, or its constituted authorities, for the northeast quarter of the south west quarter of section twelve, of township seventeen south, of range eighteen east, in Kansas.
That the residue of their lands shall be appraised by a commission consisting of said commissioner, the Indian agent, and a person to be selected by the Indians in open council, who shall report the same to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; that said commission shall place a valuation for purposes hereinafter named on all tracts of lands now owned or held by inheritance, and make a separate report thereof.
That upon the approval of said appraisement by the Secretary of the Interior, he shall offer said residue of lands, at the proper land office in Kansas, in such manner and upon such terms as he may deem advisable, except that the time for full and complete payment shall not exceed
one year, with clause of absolute forfeiture in case of default: And provided, That the same shall be sold to the highest bidder, and at a price not less than the appraised value.
That where an allottee has died leaving no heirs or has abandoned his or her allotment, and has not resided thereon or lived within the said reservation for three consecutive years, the lands and improvements of such allottee shall be appraised and sold in like manner as other lands herein described, as provided herein.
That the net proceeds derived from the sale of the lands herein authorized to be sold, after payment of the expenses of appraisal and sale thereof, shall be placed in the Treasury for the benefit of those members of said bands of Indians who have not received any land by allotment, and shall be paid per capita to those entitled to share therein who are of age, and to others as they shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years, upon the order of the Secretary of the Interior, or shall be expended for their benefit in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may deem for their best interest.
That when a purchaser shall have made full payment for a tract of land, as herein provided, patent shall be issued as in case of public lands under the homestead and preemption laws.
That, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this section, there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, which sum shall be reimbursed as follows: All expenses of appraisal and sale out of the proceeds of such sale, and all other expenses out of the funds of said Chippewa and Munsee or Christian Indians, now held for them by the United States, said sum being on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, forty-two thousand five hundred and sixty dollars and thirty-six cents.
That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to pay over to the said Chippewa and Munsee or Christian Indians, per capita, the remainder of said funds of forty-two thousand five hundred and sixty dollars and thirty-six cents, trust funds now to their credit on the books of the Treasury Department, after deducting the expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this section.
That no proceedings shall be taken under this section until the said bands of Indians shall file with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs their consent thereto expressed in open counsel.
That the following amended agreement with the Shoshone and Arapahoe tribes of Indians in the State of Wyoming is hereby accepted, ratified, and confirmed, and shall be binding upon said Indians when they shall in the usual manner agree to the amendment herein made thereto, and as amended is as follows, namely:
Articles of agreement made and entered into at Shoshone Agency, in the State of Wyoming, on the twenty-first day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, by and between James McLaughlin, United States Indian inspector, on the part of the United States, and the Shoshone and Arapahoe tribes of Indians in the State of Wyoming.
For the consideration hereinafter named the said Shoshones and Arapahoe tribes of Indians hereby cede, convey, transfer, relinquish, and surrender forever and absolutely all their right, title, and interest
of every kind and character in and to the lands and the water rights appertaining thereto embraced in the following-described tract of country, embracing the Big Horn Hot Springs in the State of Wyoming:
All that portion of the Shoshone Reservation described as follows, to wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of the said reservation, where Owl Creek empties into the Big Horn River; thence south ten miles, following the eastern boundary of the reservation; thence due west ten miles; thence due north to the middle of the channel of Owl Creek, which forms a portion of the northern boundary of the reservation: thence following the middle of the channel of said Owl Creek to the point of beginning.
In consideration for the lands ceded, sold, relinquished, and conveyed as aforesaid, the United States stipulates and agrees to pay to the said Shoshone and Arapahoe tribes of Indians the sum of sixty thousand dollars, to be expended for the benefit of the said Indians in the manner hereinafter described.
Of the said sixty thousand dollars provided for in Article II of this agreement it is hereby agreed that ten thousand dollars shall be available within ninety days after the ratification of this agreement, the same to be distributed per capita, in cash, among the Indians belonging on the reservation. That portion of the aforesaid ten thousand dollars to which the Arapahoes are entitled is, by their unanimous and expressed desire, to be expended, by their agent, in the purchase of stock cattle for distribution among the tribe, and that portion of the before mentioned ten thousand dollars to which the Shoshones are entitled shall be distributed per capita, in cash, among them: Provided, That in cases where heads of families may so elect, stock cattle to the amount to which they may be entitled may be purchased for them by their agent.
The remaining fifty thousand dollars of the aforesaid sixty thousand dollars is to be paid in five annual installments of ten thousand dollars each, the money to be expended, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, for the civilization, industrial education, and subsistence of the Indians; said subsistence to be of bacon, coffee, and sugar, and not to exceed at any time five pounds of bacon, four pounds of coffee, and eight pounds of sugar for each one hundred rations.
Nothing in this agreement shall be construed to deprive the Indians of any annuities or benefits to which they are entitled under existing agreements or treaty stipulations.
This agreement shall not be binding upon either party until ratified by the Congress of the United States.
Done at Shoshone Agency, in the State of Wyoming, on the twenty-first day of April, A. D. eighteen hundred and ninety-six.
JAMES MCLAUGHLIN, [Seal.]
U. S. Indian Inspector.
(Here follow the signatures of Washakie, chief of the Shoshones, Sharp Nose, chief of the Arapahoes, and two hundred and seventy-one other male adult Indians over eighteen years of age, belonging on the Shoshone Reservation.)
I certify that, at the request of Indian Inspector James McLaughlin, I read the foregoing agreement to the Indians in joint council, and that it was explained to the interpreters, paragraph by paragraph.
JOHN S. LOUD,
Captain 9th Cavalry, U. S. Army, Commanding Fort
Washakie, Wyo.
We certify that the foregoing agreement was fully explained in joint council to the Shoshone’s and Arapahoe’s tribes, that they fully understand the nature of the agreement, and agree to the same.
EDMO. LE CLAIR,
NORKOK, his x mark,
Shoshone Interpreters,
HENRY LEE
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Arapahoe Interpreters.
Witnesses:
THOS. R. BEASON,
JNO. W. TWIGGS, Jr.
I certify that the foregoing names, though in some cases duplicates, in every instance represents different individuals.
EDMO. LE CLAIR,
Special Interpreter.
Witnesses to the foregoing agreement and signatures of the Indians.
Captain 9th Cavalry.
JOHN S. LOUD,
JOHN F. MCBLAIN,
1st Lt. 9th Cavalry.
JNO. W. TWIGGS Jr.,
THOS. R. BEASON,
JNO. W. CLARK,
Allotting Agent.
JOHN ROBERTS,
Missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church to the Indians.
I certify that the Indians, Shoshones and Arapahoes, numbering two hundred and seventy-three (273) persons, who have signed the foregoing agreement, constitute a majority of all male Indians over eighteen (18) years of age, belonging on the Shoshone Reservation, Wyoming.
RICHARD H. WILSON,
Captain 8th Infty., Acting Ind. Agent.
That for the purpose of making the payment stipulated for in the first paragraph of article three of the foregoing agreement, the same to be paid to the Indians belonging on the Shoshone Reservation per capita in cash, or expended for them by their agent in the purchase of stock cattle, as in said article provided, the sum of ten thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
That of the lands ceded, sold, relinquished, and conveyed to the United States by the foregoing agreement herein amended, and accepted, ratified, and confirmed, one mile square at and about the principal hot spring thereon contained, is hereby ceded, granted, relinquished, and conveyed unto the State of Wyoming; said mile square to be determined as follows: Commencing at a point one-fourth mile due east from said main spring, running thence one-half mile
north, thence one mile west, thence one mile south, thence one mile east, thence one-half mile north to the point of beginning, and the remainder of the said lands ceded, sold, relinquished, and conveyed to the United States, by the agreement herein ratified and confirmed, are hereby declared to be public lands of the United States, subject to entry, however, only under the homestead and town-site laws of the United States.
Approved, June 7, 1897.
|
|