Chapter 337. to provide for the sale of the Sac and Fox and Iowa Indian Reservations, in the States of Nebraska and Kansas, and for other purposes.”March 3, 1885. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Sale of Sac and Fox and Iowa Indian R
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CHAP. 337.— An Act to provide for the sale of the Sac and Fox and Iowa Indian Reservations, in the States of Nebraska and Kansas, and for other purposes.”March 3, 1885. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Sale of Sac and Fox and Iowa Indian Reservations in Nebraska and Kansas.Secretary of Interior to survey and sell said lands with consent of majority of chiefs, headmen, and male adults.Appraisement in tracts of forty acres.Sales to be through public land offices.
That with the consent of a majority of the chiefs, headmen, and male adults of the Sac and Fox (of the Missouria) tribe of Indians and the Iowa tribe of Indians, expressed in open council by each tribe, the Secretary of the Interior be, and he hereby is, authorized to cause to be surveyed, if necessary, and sold the remainder of the reservations of the Sac and Fox and Iowa Indians, lying in the States of Nebraska and Kansas. The said lands shall be appraised, in tracts of forty acres each, by three competent commissioners, one of whom shall be selected by the Sac and Fox and Iowa tribes of Indians and the other two shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior.
Sec. 2. That after the survey and appraisement of said lands the Secretary of the Interior shall be, and hereby is, authorized to offer the same, through the United States public-land office at Beatrice or Lincoln, Nebraska, at public sale, to the highest bidder. In cases where improvements have been made by any Indian or for the United StatesIndian improvements separately appraised.*Proviso*.Price not less than $8 per acre, and sales only to actual settlers in good faith. upon such lands, such improvements shall be separately appraised: *Provided*, That no portion of such land shall be sold at less than the appraised value thereof, and in no case for less than eight dollars per acre, and to none except such as purchase the same for actual occupation and settlement, and who have made and subscribed on oath, before the register of said land-office, and filed the same with said officer of the land office at Beatrice or Lincoln Nebraska, that it is his good-faith intention to settle upon and occupy the land which he seeks to purchase, and improve the same for a home; and, except in case of the death of the purchaser, unless said party shall have executed his declared intention by making improvements and being in actual occupation of said land, by actual residence thereon, at the time for making the second payment, he shall forfeit the payment already made, and the land shall be subject to resale as hereinafter provided.
Each purchaser of said lands at such sale shall be entitled to purchase one hundred and sixtyPurchase limited to 160 acres, except in case of a fractional excess. acres of land, and no more, except in cases where a tract contains a fractional excess over one hundred and sixty acres. If the excess is less than forty acres, is contiguous, and results from inability in the survey to make township and section lines conform to the boundary-fines of the reservation, and no other objection exists, the purchase of such excess shall be allowed.
Such purchaser shall pay one-fourth ofPayments and interest. the purchase-price at the time said land is bid off, one-fourth in one year, one-fourth in two years, and one-fourth in three years, with interest on the deferred payments at the rate of six per centum per annum; and where there are improvements upon the lands purchased which shall have been separately appraised, the purchaser shall pay the appraised value of such improvements at the time of purchase, in addition to the amounts hereinbefore required to be paid.
No patents shall issuePatents when all payments are made.Forfeiture on failure to pay. until all payments shall have been made; and on the failure of any purchaser to make payment as required by this act he shall forfeit the lands purchased, and the same shall be subject to entry and sale, at the appraised value thereof, or shall be again offered at public sale, as the Secretary of the Interior may determine. 352 Sec. 3. That if any member of said Sac and Fox or Iowa tribe of Indians residing at the date of the passage of this act upon any of the lands authorized to be sold by the second section of this act, and who Allotments to Indians choosing to remain.has improvements thereon, shall elect to remain on the lands occupied by him, such lands shall be withheld from sale as provided for herein; and the Secretary of the Interior shall cause a certificate to issue to the person so electing as follows:
If he be the head of a family, to one hundred and sixty acres of land, and if a single man, to eighty acres of land, the land so selected to include his improvements, and to be accepted in full satisfaction of his interest in and to the said reservation, and of the Trust certificate for 25 years.moneys or fund realized from the sale thereof. The certificate provided for herein shall be of the legal effect, and declare that the United States does and will hold the land thus certified, for the period of twenty-five years, in trust for the sole use and benefit of the allottee, or in case of his decease, of his heirs according to the laws of the State in which said land is situated, and that at the expiration of said period the United Patents then to issue.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 Conveyances or contracts, before 25 years expire, void.incumbrance whatsoever; and if any conveyance shall be made of the lands thus allotted, 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; and such lands during such time Free from taxation, etc.shall not be subject to taxation, alienation, or forced sale under execution or otherwise.
Sec. 4. That the proceeds of the sale of any improvements belongingProceeds of Indians ’ improvement paid to them.Proceeds of United States improvements paid into Treasury.Proceeds of lands deposited in Treasury in trust for Indians with interest. to individual Indians shall be paid to the Indians to whom such improvements belonged. The proceeds of the sale of any improvements belonging to the United States shall Ire deposited in the Treasury of the United States and the proceeds of the sale of said lands, first deducting therefrom the cost of the survey, appraisement, and sale, and the expense of removing the Indians as hereinafter provided, shall be placed to the credit of the said Sac and Fox and Iowa Indians, according to the interest of said tribes in said reservations, in the Treasury of the United States, and shall bear interest at the rate of four per centum per annum, which income shall be annually expended for the benefit of said Indians, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior.
Sec. 5. That the Secretary of the Interior may, with the consent ofSecretary of Interior may, with consent of Indians, secure for them other reservations. the Indians expressed in open council, as aforesaid, secure other Reservation lands upon which to locate said Indians, cause their removal thereto, and expend such sum as may be necessary for their comfort and advancement in civilization. Sec. 6. That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby,Patents for reservations that may be selected. authorized to cause patents to be issued to the Sac and Fox (of the Missouria) tribe of Indians and the said Iowa tribe for the reservations that may be selected for them under the provisions of the preceding section.
Sec. 7. That the patent authorized by the preceding section to be issuedPatents for lands to be in trust. to said Sac and Fox and Iowa tribes of Indians shall be of the legal effect, and declare that the United States does and will hold the land therein described in trust for the sole use and benefit of said Sac and Fox and Iowa tribes of Indians, respectively. Sec. 8. That whenever the Indians who may be properly residingAllotments to be for— upon the said reservations referred to in the last preceding sections shall desire allotments of lands in severalty, the Secretary of the Interior shall cause allotments to be made to such Indians in quantity as follows:
To each head of a family, one hundred and sixty acres.A head of a family, 160 acres.Single person, over 21, 80 acres.Minor, 40 acres.Certificates for allotments. To each single person over the age of twenty-one years, eighty acres. To each minor, forty acres. Sec. 9. That upon the approval of the allotments provided for in the preceding section by the Secretary of the Interior, the President shall 353 cause certificates to issue therefor in the name of the allottees, which certificates shall be of the legal effect, and declare that the United States does and will hold the fee of the land thus allotted, for the period ofSame as section 3. 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 bis heirs, and that at the expiration of said period the United States will convey the same by patent to the said Indian, or his heirs, 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.
Sec. 10. That the Secretary of the Interior may, with the consent ofRemoval of Indians to reservations secured for them. the Indians expressed in open Council, as provided in section one, cause the removal of that portion of the Sac and Fox and Iowa tribes residing upon said Sac and Fox and Iowa Reservations, in Nebraska and Kansas, to the reservation or reservations that may be secured for them, and expend such sums as may be rendered necessary by such removal, and for the comfort and advancement in civilization of said Indians; and the sum of ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury notAppropriation. otherwise appropriated, for the payment of such expenses and for the expenses of the survey, appraisement, and sale of said Sac and Fox and Iowa lands; and the amount so expended shall be reimbursed to the United States out of the first proceeds of the sales of said lands by said tribes respectively.
Approved, March 3, 1885.