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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 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 and 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-nine, and fulfilling treaty stipulations for the various Indian tribes, namely:
For completing the necessary surveys within the Chippewa Indian Reservation in Minnesota, including expenses of examining and appraising pine lands, under the provisions of the Act approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, to be reimbursed to the United States out of proceeds of the sale of their lands, fifty thousand dollars: Provided, That all lands heretofore or hereafter 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 Secretary shall cause patents to issue to the Santee Sioux Indians who were assigned lands in the State of Nebraska under the Act approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, entitled “An Act for the removal of the Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medawakanton, and Wahpakoota bands of Sioux or Dakota Indians, and for the disposition of their lands in Minnesota and Dakota,” which assignments were approved by the President May eleventh, eighteen hundred and eighty- five. Said patents shall be of the form and legal effect prescribed by the fifth section of the Act approved February eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, entitled “An Act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes.”
That all leases hereafter made of lands belonging to the Sisseton and Wahpeton Indians in the State of South Dakota shall, before they become valid, be approved by and filed with the Secretary of the Interior, and all subleases made by the persons leasing said lands shall be void.
That the time for the completion of the canal, or any part thereof, authorized by an Act entitled “An Act granting to the Columbia Irrigation Company a right of way through the Yakima Indian Reservation, in Washington,” be, and is hereby, extended two years from July twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.
That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he hereby is, directed, through an Indian inspector, to cause an investigation to be made of the kind, extent, character, and value of the improvements made by certain white men, citizens of the United States, since eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, upon tracts of land settled upon, occupied, and improved prior to the date of the treaty creating the Wind River or Shoshone Indian Reservation, in the State of Wyoming, which embraced within said reservation the tracts of land so previously settled upon, and to
report to Congress at the beginning of the next regular session the just and equitable value of said improvements made by the respective claimants thereof, who have been compelled to abandon the same and to remove from the said reservation, and such other facts respecting such settlement as may be of value in the adjustment of any claim arising from such removal.
That the mineral lands only in the Colville Indian Reservation, in the State of Washington, shall be subject to entry under the laws of the United States in relation to the entry of mineral lands: Provided, That lands allotted to the Indians or used by the Government for any purpose or by any school shall not be subject to entry under this provision.
The right is hereby granted to cut timber for mining and domestic purposes, at such prices and subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, from that portion of the Colville Indian Reservation in the State of Washington, which was vacated and restored to the public domain by the Act of July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, entitled “An Act to provide for the opening of a part of the Colville Reservation in the State of Washington and for other purposes,” and the net proceeds arising from the disposition of said timber shall be set apart and disposed of according to the provisions of section two of said Act of July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, but primarily the expense incident to disposing of said timber, including compensation of such special agent as the Secretary of the Interior shall appoint, shall be paid out of any existing appropriation for the survey and allotment of said lands and shall be reimbursed and replaced from the proceeds arising from the disposition of the timber. The Indian allotments in severalty provided for in said Act shall be selected and completed at the earliest practicable time and not later than six months after the proclamation of the President opening the vacated portion of said reservation to settlement and entry, which proclamation may be issued without awaiting the survey of the unsurveyed lands therein. Said allotments shall be made from lands which shall at the time of the selection thereof be surveyed, excepting that any Indian entitled to allotment under said Act who has improvements upon unsurveyed land may select the same for his allotment, whereupon the Secretary of the Interior shall cause the same to be surveyed and allotted to him. At the expiration of six months from the date of the proclamation by the President, and not before, the non-mineral lands within the vacated portion of said reservation which shall not have been allotted to Indians as aforesaid, shall be subject to settlement, entry and disposition under said Act of July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two: Provided, That the land used and occupied for school purposes at what is known as Tonasket School, on Bonapart Creek, and the site of the sawmill, gristmill, and other mill property on said reservation, are hereby reserved from the operation of this Act, unless other lands are selected in lieu thereof as provided in section six of the aforesaid Act of July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two.
That with the consent of the Indians, severally, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to cause a reappraisement of the unsold tracts of land of the Flathead Indians, situated in the Bitter Root Valley, Montana, by such person connected with the Indian service as he may designate, and that such lands shall then be sold, at the reappraised value, as provided for in the Act of Congress of March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, chapter three hundred and ninety-one, Twenty-fifth Statutes at Large, page eight hundred and seventy-one.
That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, directed to send an inspector of his Department to the reservation of the Northern Cheyenne Indians, in the State of Montana, and said agent shall be instructed to make a full and complete report to the Secretary of the Interior upon the conditions existing upon said reservation, said report to be available for use on or before the fifteenth day of November, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.
It shall be the duty of the said inspector to ascertain if it is feasible to secure the removal of said Northern Cheyenne Indians from the present reservation to some portion of the Crow Indian Reservation, in the State of Montana. He shall also ascertain and report in detail the number and names of the white settlers legally upon the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, the number of acres of land owned by them, its location and the value thereof and of the improvements thereon. Also the number and names of white settlers who are alleged to be illegally settled upon the reservation, the circumstances attending their settlement thereon, and their location. He shall also enter into negotiations with the white settlers upon said reservation, who have valid titles, for the sale of their lands and improvements to the Government; and he is hereby authorized and empowered to make written agreements with such settlers, which agreements shall not be binding until ratified and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. He shall also make recommendations as to the settlement of the claims of such white settlers as have gone upon said reservation under circumstances which give them an equitable right thereon.
He shall investigate the subject of fencing in the said reservation and shall indicate the lines such fence should follow and the estimated cost of same, and shall report upon the number of cattle and sheep which may safely be pastured within the limits recommended to be fenced. He shall further report upon and make recommendations with reference to any and all matters which in his judgment have any bearing upon the question of securing an equitable adjustment of the difficulties now existing upon said reservation and with especial reference to bringing about a satisfactory settlement with the white settlers, both as to the sale of their lands to the Government and the adjustment of the reservation limits.
That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to pay out of the appropriation of the Act of Congress of June seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, such of the Creek warrants as are proven to be held by innocent holders who acquired them in good faith for value and without knowledge, actual or constructive, of irregularity or fraud in the issuance thereof, and such warrants shall upon payment be canceled by the Secretary of the Interior; and all the warrants so issued by said Creek Nation shall be presentd to the Secretary of the Interior within ninety days from the passage of this Act, and all warrants not so presented are hereby declared null and void, and such warrants so presented which are not proven to have been issued or acquired in good faith for value and without knowledge, actual or constructive, of irregularity or fraud in the issuance thereof, shall be held by the Secretary and marked upon their face “fraudulent and void.”
Approved, July 1, 1898.
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