Chapter CXIX. for the Removal of the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Medawakanton, and Wahpakoota Bands of Sioux or Dakota Indians, and for the Disposition of their Lands in Minnesota and Dakota
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Chap. CXIX.— An Act for the Removal of the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Medawakanton, and Wahpakoota Bands of Sioux or Dakota Indians, and for the Disposition of their Lands in Minnesota and Dakota.March 3, 1863. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* ThatLands outside the limits of any state to be assigned certain bands of Sioux Indians.Quantity. the President is authorized and hereby directed to assign to and set apart for the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Medawakanton, and Wahpakoota bands of Sioux Indians a tract of unoccupied land outside of the limits of any state, sufficient in extent to enable him to assign to each member of said bands (who are willing to adopt the pursuit of agriculture) eighty acres of good agricultural lands, the same to he well adapted to agricultural purposes.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* ThatReservations of said Indians to be surveyed. the several tracts of land within the reservations of the said Indians, shall he surveyed, under the direction of the commissioner of the general land-office, into legal subdivisions to conform to the surveys of the other public lands. And the SecretaryLegal subdivisions to be appraised.Improvements.When subject to preëmption. of the Interior shall cause each legal subdivision of the said lands to be appraised by discreet persons to be appointed by him for that purpose.
And in each instance where there are improvements upon any legal subdivision of said lands, the improvements shall be separately appraised. But no portion of the said lands shall be subject to preëmption, settlement, entry, or location, tinder any act of Congress, unless the party preempting, settling upon, or locating any portion of said lands shall pay therefor the full appraised value thereof, including the value of the said improvements, under such regulations as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* ThatAfter survey, lands to be open to preëmption, entry, and settlement.Who may preempt, &c. after the survey of the said reservations the same shall be open to preemption, entry, and settlement in the same manner as other public lands: *Provided,* That before any person shall be entitled to enter any portion of the said lands by preëmption or Otherwise, previous to their exposure to sale to the highest bidder, at public outcry, he shall become an actual bona fide settler thereon, and shall conform to all the regulations now provided by law in eases of preemption; and shall pay, within the term of one year from the date of his settlement, the full appraised value of the land, and the improvements thereon, to the land officers of the district where the said lands are situated.What may be sold at public auction.
And the portions of the said reservations which may not be settled upon, as albresaid, may be sold at public auction, as other public lands are sold, after which they shall be subject to sale at private, entry, as other public lands of the United States, but no portion thereof shall be sold for a sum less than their appraised value, before the first of January, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-five, nor for a less price than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, until otherwise provided for by law.
Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* ThatProceeds of sales of lands, how to be applied. the money arising from said sale shall be invested by the Secretary of the Interior for the benefit of said Indians in their new homes, in the establishing them in agricultural pursuits: *Provided,* That it shall be lawful for said Secretary to locate any meritorious individual Indian of said bauds, who exerted himself to save the lives of the whites in the late massacre, upon said lands on which the improvements are situated, assigning the same to him to the extent of eighty acres, to be held by such tenure as is or may be provided by law: *And provided, further.* That no more than eighty acres shall be awarded to any one Indian, under this or any other act.
Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted,* ThatAnnual appropriations for these Indians, how to be expended. the money to be annually appropriated for the benefit of the said Indians shall be expended in such manlier as will, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, best advance the said Indians in agricultural and mechanical pursuits, and enable them to sustain themselves without the aid of the government; but no portion of said appropriations shall be paid in money to said Indians.No part to be paid in money.
And in such expenditure, said Secretary may make reasonable discrimination in favor of the chiefs who shall be found faithful to the Government820THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 119, 120. 1863. of theDiscrimination in favor of loyal chiefs.Indians to be subject to laws,and to rules and regulations.They cannot make a valid civil contract, &c.Education. United States, and efficient in maintaining its authority and the peace of the Indians. Said Indians shall be subject to* the laws of the United States, and to the criminal laws of the state or territory in which they may happen to reside.
They shall also be subject to such rules and regulations for their government as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; bat they shall be incapable of making any valid civil contract with any person other than a native member of their tribe, without the consent of the President. The Secretary of the Interior shall also make reasonable provision for the education of said Indians, according to their capacity and the means at his command. Approved, March 3, 1863.