Chapter 459. To provide for allotting in severalty lands within the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 459.— An Act To provide for allotting in severalty lands within the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana, and for other purposes.June 3, 1926.[[H. R. 9558](/us/bill/69/hr/9558).][[Public, No. 330](/us/pl/69/330).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Northern Cheyenne Indian Keser vat ion, Mont.Declared to be the property of the Indians thereof. That the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation heretofore set apart by Executive order dated the 19th day of March, 1900, for the permanent use and occupation of the Northern Cheyenne Indians, in Montana, be, and the same is hereby, declared to be the property of said Indians, subject to such control and management of said property as the Congress of the United States may direct.
Sec. 2.Complete roll of living Indians to be prepared. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be prepared a complete roll containing the names of all said Northern Cheyenne Indians now living, for whom said reservation was set apart as aforesaid, which roll, when approved by him, shall be the basis for allotting the land on said reservation, Classification of lands.as herein provided. The Secretary of the Interior shall also cause to be prepared, in such manner as he may deem advisable, a list 691 of the lands of said Indian reservation and to classify the same as agricultural, grazing, and land chiefly valuable for the timber thereon.
As soon as practicable after the approval of said tribalAllotments in severalty of agricultural and grazing lands. roll and after the approval of said list of lands classified as above provided, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to allot in severalty lands classified as agricultural and grazing to the duly enrolled Indians in areas not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any individual from the lands appearing on said approved list: *Provided*, That in allotting said lands each Indian*Provisos*.Contiguous lands. shall be allotted a proportion of the agricultural and grazing lands, respectively, such lands whenever practicable and so far as possible to be contiguous: *Provided*, That trust patents shall be issued thereforHomestead trust patents to issue.Vol. 24, p. 388. of the form and legal effect authorized by the Act of February 8, 1887 (Twenty-fourth Statutes at Large, page 388), as amended, and the lands so allotted and patented shall be designated in each case as a “ homestead,” which homestead shall remain inalienableInalienable, etc. and nontaxable for a period of twenty-five years from the date of issuance of patent therefor, or until the death of the allottee.
The right is hereby reserved to any Indian to select as hisSelection of timber lands. allotment a tract occupied by him at the time of the approval of this Act, though such lands or a part thereof may be classified as timber lands. Sec. 3. That the timber, coal or other minerals, including oil, gas,Timber, minerals, etc., deposits reserved to the tribe. and other natural deposits, on said reservation are hereby reserved for the benefit of the tribe and may be leased with the consent ofLeases. the Indian council under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe: *Provided*, That at the expiration of*Proviso*.
Deposits after 50 years to be property of allottees. fifty years from the date of the approval of this Act the coal or other minerals, including oil, gas, and other natural deposits, of said allotments shall become the property of the respective allottees or their heirs: *Provided further*, That the unallotted landsUnallotted lands to be held in common. of said tribe of Indians shall be held in common, subject to the control and management thereof as Congress may deem expedient for the benefit of said Indians.
Sec. 4. That authority is hereby vested in the Secretary of theLands to be reserved. Interior to cause to be reserved so long as they are needed and used for the benefit of the Northern Cheyennes, suitable lands for the following purposes: For school, agency, and other administrativeSchool, agency, etc. purposes, including not to exceed one thousand two hundred and eighty acres for the boarding school at Busby, Montana, and not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres for the Birney Day School, in all not exceeding two thousand seven hundred and eighty acres: for tribal cemeteries, where needed, not to exceed in all one hundred and sixty acres: *Provided*, That with the consent of the tribal*Proviso*.Religious, educational, etc., purposes. council, lands may be reserved for religious and educational purposes, including parsonage, church, cemetery, and garden sites, not to exceed forty acres at any one point; for recreational purposes having an educational feature, not to exceed ten acres at any one point; for public-school purposes, not to exceed two and one-half acres at any one point: *Provided further*, That such tracts, exceptingLimitation. only the tribal cemeteries, shall remain reserved only so long as they are used for the purposes for which they are set apart: *And provided further*, That the organizations now engaged in educational andEducational and religious organizations not to be disturbed. religious work on the reservation shall not be disturbed in their occupancy of the sites heretofore set apart under authority of the Secretary of the Interior so long as they continue to be used solely in the advancement of religious and welfare work for the benefit of the Northern Cheyenne Indians: *And provided further*, That theReservation for Lame Deer, etc., town sites.
Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to reserve and set aside for townsite purposes not more than eighty acres at Lame 692 Deer, Montana, and not to exceed forty acres at some other suitable location, and to survey and plat said tracts in blocks, lots, streets, alleys,Limit for park and school sites. parks, and school sites: *Provided further*, That the area reserved for park and school sites shall not exceed ten acres in any one town site, and patent shall be issued for such lands to the municipality legally charged with the care and custody of the Appraisal, etc.[R.S., sec. 2381, p.430](/us/rs/sec2381/p430).lands hereby set aside for such purposes.
That such town sites shall be appraised «and disposed of as provided in section 2381 of the All Income from rents, royalties, etc., to be deposited to credit of Indians.Revised Statutes: *Provided further.* That all the income of said tribe from rents, royalties, or other profits accruing from the sale of any timber, coal, or other minerals, including oil, gas, and other natural deposits herein reserved for the benefit of the said Indians, including proceeds from sales of town lots, shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Northern Cheyenne Indians and be subject to expenditure for their benefit Easements for highways.in such manner as Congress may direct.
An area not exceeding sixty feet on either side of every section line within the said reservation is hereby dedicated as public highways whenever and so far as the same may be so declared by the county commissioners of the county in which the same may be situated, and all allotments and patents hereby authorized shall be subject to the easement hereby created. Tracts with springs, cattle watering places, etc., to be reserved.In addition to reservations heretofore herein authorized the Secretary of the Interior shall withhold from allotment any tracts in legal subdivisions in which are springs or other like sources of water supply to which cattle have been accustomed to repair for drink, together with so much land contiguous thereto as may be necessary to permit access by stock to such water supply from the highways herein provided for.
Sec. 5.Amount authorized for all expenses.*Post*, p. 856. That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $30,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to pay the expenses of making the tribal roll, of compiling the list of lands on said reservation, for the necessary surveys and classifications, and all *Proviso*.Tribal council meetings, etc.other expenses in connection with the allotment work: *Provided*, That the sum of $2,500 shall be available for the payment of the expenses of the tribal Indian council in holding meetings on said reservation and for the expenses of delegates which such council may have heretofore sent, or may hereafter send, to the city of Washington on tribal business.
Approved, June 3, 1926.