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1891 Amendment to General Allotment or Dawes
Act
1891 Amendment
An Act to Amend and Further Extend the Benefits of the Act Approved February
Eighth, Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-Seven, Statutes at Large 26, 794-96,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That section one of the act 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," approved February
eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, be, and the same is hereby, amended
so as to read as follows:
"SEC. 1. 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 in advantageous for agricultural or grazing purposes,
to cause said reservation to, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or
resurveyed, if necessary, and to allot to each Indian located thereon one-eighth
of a section of land: Provided, That in case there is not sufficient land
in any said reservations to allot lands to each individual in quantity as above
provided the land in such reservation or reservations shall be allotted to each
individual pro rata, as near as may be, according to legal subdivisions:
Provided further, That where the treaty or act of Congress setting apart
such Reservation provides for the allotment of lands in severalty to
certain classes in quantity in excess of that herein provided the President, in
making allotments upon such reservation, shall allot the land to each individual
in quantity as specified in such treaty or act, and to other Indian belonging
thereon in quantity its herein provided: Provided further, That where
existing agreements or laws provide for allotments in accordance with the
provisions of said act of February eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, or
in quantities substantially as therein provided, allotments may be, made in
quantity as specified in this act, with the consent of the Indian, expressed in
such manner as the President, in his discretion, may require: And provided
further, That when the lands allotted, or any legal subdivision thereof, are
only valuable for grazing purposes, such land shall be allotted in double
quantities."
SEC. 2. That where allotments have been made in whole or in part upon any
reservation under the provisions of said act of February eighth, eighteen
hundred and eighty-seven, and the quantity of land is such reservations is
sufficient to give each member of the tribe eighty acres, such allotments shall
be revised and equalized under the provisions of this act: Provided, That
no allotment heretofore approved by the Secretary of the Interior shall be
reduced in quantity.
SEC. 3. That whenever it shall be made to appear to the Secretary of the
Interior that, by reason of age or other disability, any allottee under the
provisions of said act, or any other act or treaty can not personally and with
benefit to himself occupy or improve his allotment or any part thereof the same
may be leased upon such terms and conditions as shall be proscribed by such
Secretary, for a term not exceeding three years for farming or grazing, ten
years for mining purposes: Provided, That where lands are occupied by
Indians who have bought and paid for the same, and which lands, are not needed
for farming or agricultural purposes, and are not desired for individual
allotments, the same may be then by leased by authority of the Council speaking
for such Indians, for a period not to exceed five years for grazing, or ten
years for mining purposes in such quantities and upon such terms and conditions
as the agent in charge of such reservation may recommend, subject to the
approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
SEC. 4. That where any Indian entitled to allotment under existing laws 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 are located, to have the
same allotted to his or her children, in quantities and manner as provided in
the foregoing section of this amending 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 provided in the act to which this is an amendment. And the
fees to which the officers of such local land office would have been entit1ed
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 for the purpose of determining the descent of land to the heirs of
any deceased Indian under the provisions of the fifth section of said act,
whenever any male and female Indian shall have co-habited together as husband
and wife according to the custom and manner of Indian life the issue of such
co-habitation shall be, for the purpose aforesaid, taken and deemed to be the
legitimate issue of the Indians so living together, and every Indian child,
otherwise illegitimate, shall for such purpose be taken and deemed to be the
legitimate issue of the father of such child: Provided, That the
provisions of this act shall not be held or construed as to applying to
the lands commonly called and known as the " Cherokee Outlet": And provided
further, That no allotment of lands shall be made or annuities of money paid
to any of the Sac and Fox of the Missouri Indians who were not enrolled as
members of said tribe on January first, eighteen hundred and ninety; but this
shall not be held to impair or otherwise affect the rights or equities of any
person whose claim to membership in said tribe is now pending and being
investigated.
Approved, February 28, 1891.
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