While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
41. All persons duly identified by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes under the provisions of section 21 of the act of Congress approved June 28, 1898 (30 Stats., 495), as Mississippi Choctaws entitled to benefits under article 14 of the treaty between the United States and the Choctaw Nation concluded September 27, 1830, may, at any time within six months after the date of their identification as Mississippi Choctaws by the
said Commission, make bona fide settlement within the Choctaw-Chickasaw country, and upon proof of such settlement to such Commission within one year after the date of their said identification as Mississippi Choctaws shall be enrolled by such Commission as Mississippi Choctaws entitled to allotment as herein provided for citizens of the tribes, subject to the special provisions herein provided as to Mississippi Choctaws, and said
enrollment shall be final when approved by the Secretary of the Interior. The application of no person for identification as a Mississippi Choctaw shall be received by said Commission after six months subsequent to the date of the final ratification of this agreement, and in the disposition of such applications all full-blood Mississippi Choctaw Indians and the descendants of any Mississippi Choctaw Indians, whether of full or mixed blood,
who receive a patent to land under the said fourteenth article of the said treaty of eighteen hundred and thirty who had not moved to and made bona fide settlement in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country prior to June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety eight, shall be deemed to be Mississippi Choctaws, entitled to benefits under article fourteen of the said treaty of September twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and thirty, and to
identification as such by said Commission, but this direc tion or provision shall be deemed to be only a rule of evidence and shall not be invoked by or operate to the advantage of any applicant who is not a Mississippi Choctaw of the full blood, or who is not the descendent of a Mississippi Choctaw who received a patent to land under said treaty, or who is otherwise barred from the right of citizenship in the Choctaw Nation. All of said
Mississippi Choctaws so enrolled by said Commission shall be upon a separate roll.
42. When any such Mississippi Choctaw shall have in good faith continuously resided upon the lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations for a period of three years, including his residence thereon before and after such enrollment, he shall, upon due proof of such continuous bona fide residence, made in such manner and before such officer as maybe designated by the Secretary of the Interior, receive a patent for his allotment, as
provided in the Atoka agreement, and he shall hold the lands allotted to him as provided in this agreement for citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations.
43. Applications for enrollment as Mississippi Choctaws, and applications to have land set apart to them as such, must be made personally before the Com mission to the Five Civilized Tribes. Fathers may apply for their minor children; and, if the father he dead, the mother may apply ; husbands may apply for wives. Applications for orphans, insane persons, and persons of unsound mind may be made by duly appointed guardian or curator,
and for aged and infirm persons and prisoners by agents duly authorized thereunto by power of attorney, in the discretion of said Commission.
44. If within four years after such enrollment any such Mississippi Choctaw, or his heirs or representatives if he be dead, fails to make proof of such continuous bona fide residence for the period so prescribed, or up to the time of the death of such Mississippi Choctaw, in case of his death after enrollment, he, and his heirs and representatives if he be dead, shall be deemed to have acquired no interest in the lands set apart to
him, and the same shall be sold at public-auction for cash, under rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and the proceeds paid into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, and distributed per capita with other funds of the tribes. Such lands shall not be sold for less than their appraised value. Upon payment of the full purchase price patent shall issue to the
purchaser.
45. The Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes hereby assent to the act of Congress approved May 31, 1900 (31 Stats., 221), in so far as it pertains to town sites in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, ratifying and confirming all acts of the Government of the United States there under, and consent to a continuance of the provisions of said act not in conflict with the terms of this agreement.
46. As to those town sites heretofore set aside by the Secretary of the Interior on the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, as provided in said act of Congress of May 31, 1900, such additional acreage may be added thereto, in like manner as the original town site was set apart, as may be necessary for the present needs and reasonable prospective growth of said town sites, the total acreage not to exceed six
hundred and forty acres for each town site.
47. The lands which may hereafter be set aside and reserved for town sites upon the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, under the provisions of said act of May 31, 1900, shall embrace such acreage as may be necessary for the present needs and reasonable prospective growth of such town sites, not to exceed six hundred and forty acres for each town site.
48. Whenever any tract of land shall be set aside for town-site purposes, as provided in said act of May 31, 1900, or by the terms of this agreement, which is occupied by any member of the Choctaw or Chickasaw nations, such occupant shall be fully compensated for his improvements thereon, out of the funds of the tribes arising from the sale of town sites, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, the
value of such improvements to be determined by a board of appraisers, one member of which shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, one by the chief executive of the tribe in which the town site is located, and one by the occupant of the land, said board of appraisers to be paid such compensation for their services as may be deter mined by the Secretary of the Interior out of any appropriation for surveying, laying out, platting,
and selling town sites.
49. Whenever the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nation fails or refuses to appoint a town-site commissioner for .any town, or to fill any vacancy caused by the neglect or refusal of the town-site commissioner appointed by the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nation to qualify or act, or otherwise, the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, may appoint a commissioner to fill the vacancy thus created.
50. There shall be appointed, in the manner provided in the Atoka agreement, such additional town-site commissions as the Secretary of the Interior may deem necessary, for the speedy disposal of all town sites in said nations : Pro vided, That the jurisdiction of said additional town-site commissions shall ex tend to such -town sites only as shall be designated by the Secretary of the Interior.
51. Upon the payment of the full amount of the purchase price of any lot in any town site in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, appraised and sold as herein provided, or sold as herein provided, the chief executives of said nations shall jointly execute, under their hands and the seals of the respective nations and deliver to the purchaser of the said lot a patent conveying to him all right, title, and interest of the Choctaw and Chickasaw
tribes in and to said lot.
52. All town lots in any one town site to be conveyed to one person shall, as far as practicable, be included in one patent, and all patents shall be executed free of charge to the grantee.
53. Such towns in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations as may have a population of less than two hundred people, not otherwise provided for, and which in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior should be set aside as town sites, shall have their limits defined not later than ninety days after the final ratification of this agreement, in the same manner as herein provided for other town sites ; but in no such case shall more than forty
acres of land be set aside for any such town site.
54. All town sites heretofore set aside by the Secretary of the Interior on the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, under the pro visions of "the act of Congress approved May 31, 1900 (31 Stat, 221), with the additional acreage added thereto, and all town sites which may hereafter be set aside, as well as all town sites set aside under the provisions of this agreement having a population of less than two hundred,
shall be surveyed, laid out, platted, appraised, and disposed of in a like manner, and with like preference rights accorded to owners of improvements as other town sites in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations are surveyed, laid out, platted, appraised, and disposed of under the Atoka agreement, as modified or supplemented by the said act of May 31, 1900: Provided, That occupants or purchasers of lots in town sites in said Choctaw and
Chickasaw nations upon which no improvements have been made prior to the passage of this act by Congress shall pay the full appraised value of said lots instead of the percentage named in the Atoka agreement.
55. Authority is hereby conferred upon municipal corporations in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to issue bonds and borrow money thereon for sanitary purposes and for the construction of sewers, lighting plants, waterworks, and schoolhouses, subject to all the provisions of laws of the United States in force in the organized Territories of the United States in reference to municipal
indebtedness and issuance of bonds for public purposes ; and said provisions of law are hereby put in force in said nations and made applicable to the cities and towns therein the same as if specially enacted in reference thereto ; and said municipal corporations are hereby authorized to vacate streets and alleys, or parts thereof, and said streets and alleys, when so vacated, shall become the property of the adjacent property holders.
56. At the expiration of two years after the final ratification of this agreement all deposits of coal and asphalt which are in lands within the limits of any town site established under the Atoka agreement, or the act of Congress of May 31, 1900, or this agreement, and which are within the exterior limits of any lands reserved from allotment on account of their coal or asphalt deposits, as herein provided, and which are not at the time of
the final ratification of this agreement embraced in any then existing coal or asphalt lease, shall be sold at public auction for cash under the direction of the President as herein after provided, and the proceeds thereof disposed of as herein provided respect ing the proceeds of the sale of coal and asphalt lands.
57. All coal and asphalt deposits which are within the limits of any town site so established, which are at the date of the final ratification of this agreement covered by any existing lease, shall, at the expiration of two years after the final ratification of this agreement, be sold at public auction under the direction of the President as hereinafter provided, and the proceeds thereof disposed of as provided in the last preceding
section. The coal or asphalt covered by each lease shall be separately sold. The purchaser shall take such coal or asphalt deposits subject to the existing lease, and shall by the purchase succeed to all the rights of the two tribes of every kind and character, under the lease, but all advanced royalties received by the tribe shall be retained by them.
58. Within six months after the final ratification of this agreement the Secretary of the Interior shall ascertain, so far as may be practicable, what lands are principally valuable because of their deposits of coal or asphalt, including therein all lands which at the time of the final ratification of this agreement shall be covered by then existing coal or asphalt leases, and within that time he shall, by a written order, segregate and
reserve from allotment all of said lands. Such segregation and reservation shall conform to the subdivisions of the Government survey as nearly as may be, and the total segregation and reservation shall not exceed five hundred thousand acres. No lands so reserved shall be allotted to any member or freedman, and the improvements of any member or freedman existing upon any of the lands so segregated and reserved at the time of their
segregation and reservation shall be appraised under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and shall be paid for out of any common funds of the two tribes in the Treasury of the United States, upon the order of the Secretary of the Interior. All coal and asphalt deposits, as well as other minerals which may be found in any lauds not so segregated and reserved, shall be deemed a part of the land and shall pass to the allottee or
other person who may lawfully acquire title to such lands.
59. All lands segregated and reserved under the last preceding section, except ing those embraced within the limits of a town site, established as hereinbefore provided, shall, within three years from the final ratification of this agreement and before the dissolution of the tribal governments, be sold at public auction for cash, under the direction of the President, by a commission composed of three persons, which shall be appointed by the
President, one on the recommendation of the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation, who shall be a Choctaw by blood, and one on the recommendation of the governor of the Chickasaw Nation, who shall be a Chickasaw by blood. Either of said commissioners may, at any time, be removed by the President for good cause shown. Each of said commissioners shall be paid at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum, the Choctaw commissioner to be paid
by the Choctaw Nation, the Chickasaw commissioner to be paid by the Chickasaw Nation, and the third commissioner to be paid by the United States. In the sale of coal and asphalt lands and coal and asphalt deposits hereunder, the commission shall have the right to reject any or all bids which it considers below the value of any such lands or deposits. The proceeds arising from the sale of coal and asphalt lands and coal and asphalt deposits
shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of said tribes and paid out per capita to the members of said tribes (freedmen excepted) with the other moneys belonging to said tribes in the manner provided by law. The lands embraced within any coal or asphalt lease shall be separately sold, subject to such lease, and the purchaser shall succeed to all the rights of the two tribes of every kind and character, under
the lease, but all advanced royalties received by the tribes shall be retained by them. The lands so segregated and reserved, and not included within any existing coal or asphalt lease, shall be sold in tracts not exceeding in area a section under the Government survey.
60. Upon the recommendation of the chief executive of each of the two tribes, and where in the judgment of the President it is advantageous to the tribes so to do, the sale of any coal or asphalt lands which are herein directed to be sold may be made at any time after the expiration of six months from the final ratification of this agreement, without awaiting the expiration of the period of two years, as hereinbefore provided.
61. No lease of any coal or asphalt lands shall be made after the final ratification of this agreement, the provisions of the Atoka agreement to the contrary notwithstanding.
62. Where any lands so as aforesaid segregated and reserved on account of their coal or asphalt deposits are in this agreement specifically reserved from allotment for any other reason, the sale to be made hereunder shall be only of the coal and asphalt deposits contained therein, and in all other respects the other specified reservation of such lands herein provided for shall be fully respected.
63. The chief executives of the two tribes shall execute and deliver, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to each purchaser of any coal or asphalt lands so sold, and to each purchaser of any coal or asphalt deposits so sold, an appropriate patent or instrument of conveyance, conveying to the purchaser the property so sold.
64. The two tribes hereby absolutely and unqualifiedly relinquish, cede, and convey unto the United States a tract or tracts of land at and in the vicinity of the village of Sulphur, in the Chickasaw Nation, of not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, to be selected, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, within four months after the final ratification of this agreement, and to embrace all the natural springs in and about
said village, and so much of Sulphur Creek, Rock Creek, Buckhorn Creek, and the lands adjacent to said natural springs and creeks as may be deemed necessary by the Secretary of the Interior for the proper utilization and control of said springs and the waters of said creeks, which lands shall be so selected as to cause the least interference with the contemplated town site at that place consistent with the purposes for which said cession is
made, and when selected the ceded lands shall be held, owned, and controlled by the United States absolutely and without any restriction, save that no part thereof shall be platted or disposed of for town-site purposes during the existence of the two tribal governments. Such other lands as may be embraced in a town site at that point shall be disposed of in the manner provided in the Atoka agreement for the disposition of town sites.
Within ninety days after the selection of the lands so ceded there shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States, to the credit of the two tribes, from the unappropriated public moneys of the United States, twenty dollars per acre for each acre so selected, which shall be in full compensation for the lands so ceded, and such moneys shall, upon the dissolution of the tribal governments, be divided per capita among the members of
the tribes, freedmen excepted, as are other funds of the tribes. All improvements upon the lands so selected which were lawfully there at the time of the ratification of this agreement by Congress shall be appraised, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, at the true value thereof at the time of the selection of said lands, and shall be paid for by warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Interior upon the Treasurer of the
United States. Until otherwise provided by law, the Secretary of the Interior may, under rules prescribed for that purpose, regulate and control the use of the water of said springs and creeks and the temporary use and occupation of the lands so ceded. No person shall occupy any portion of the lands so ceded or carry on any business thereon, except as provided in said rules, and until otherwise provided by Congress the laws of the United
States relating to the introduction, possession, sale, and giving away of liquors or intoxicants of any kind within the Indian country or Indian reservations shall be applicable to the lands so ceded, and said lands shall remain within the jurisdiction of the United States court for the southern district of Indian Territory : Provided, however, That nothing contained in this section shall be construed or held to commit the Government of
the United States to any expenditure of money upon said lands or the improvements thereof, except as provided herein, it being the intention of this provision that in the future the lands and improvements herein mentioned shall be conveyed by the United States to such Territorial or State organization as may exist at the time when such conveyance is made.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Laws, Decisions and Regulations Affecting the work of the Commissioners to Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1906, Copyright 1906
