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.
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 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 grazng lands, in quantities as above provided,
shall be made to each individual.
SEC. 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 his
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 selection shall be allotted as in cases where selections are
made by the Indians, and patents shall issue in like manner.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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 arc 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.
SEC. 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 situate 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 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 sale purpose of
securing homes to actual settlers and shall be disposed of by the
United States to actual and bona fide settlers only 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
homestead, or his heirs, and after the expiration of five years
occupancy therof as such homestead; and any conveyance of said lands
taken as a homestead, or any contract touching the same, or lieu
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
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.
SEC. 6. That upon the completion ef said allotments and
the patenting of the lands to said allottees, each and every number
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 affecting the right of any such
Indian to tribal or other property.
SEC. 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 reservation; and no other appropriation or
grant of water by any riparian proprietor shall permitted to the
damage of any other riparian proprietor.
SEC. 8. That the provisions
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.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 10. That nothing in this act contained shall be so
construed 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 condemn such lands to public uses, upon making just
compensation.
SEC. 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 consent of a majority of the adult male members of said
tribe. Approved, February, 8, 1887.
Source:
United States Statutes at
Large
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