by the husband and father that he can not take unti all of his improved land shall be taken.

That any citizen of the Cherokee Nation not a resident within the land nerein ceded, who, prior to the first day of November, 1891, had for farming purposes made valuable and permanent improvements upon any of the land herein reded, shall have the right to select one-eighth of a section of land to conform to the United States surveys; such selection to embrace as far as above limitation will admit, such improvements.

It is further agreed and understood that the number of such allotments shall not exceed seventy (70) in number, and the land allotted shall not exceed five thousand and six hundred (5,600) acres; that such allotments shall be made and confirmed under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and when so made and confirmed shall be conveyed to the allottees, respectively, by the United States in fee simple.

It is further agreed that from the price to be paid to the Cherokee Nation for the cession herein provided for there shall be deducted the sum of one dollar and forty cents ($1.40) for each acre so taken in allotment.

Sixth. That in addition to the foregoing enumerated considerations for the cession and relinquishment of title to land hereinbefore provided, the United States shall pay to the Cherokee Nation, at such time and in such manner as the Cherokee National Council shall determine, the sum of eight million five hundred and ninety-five thousand, seven hundred and thirty-six and twelve one-hundredth dollars, in excess of the sum of seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand three hundred and eighty-nine and forty-six one-hundredths dollars, the aggregate amounts heretofore appropriated by Congress and charged against the lands of the Cherokees west of the Arkansas river; and also in excess of the amount heretofore paid by the Osage Indians for their reservation. So long as the money or any part of it, shall remain in the treasury of the United States after this agreement shall have become effective, such sum so left in the treasury of the United States shall bear interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually.

Provided, That the United States may at any time pay to said Cherokee Nation the whole or any part of said sum, and thereupon the obligation of the United States shall cease in respect to so much thereof as shall be paid, and in respect to any further interest upon same: Provided, Further, That should the Cherokee Nation determine to distribute said money or any part thereof principal or interest, to any of its citizens per capita, and should the classes, of persons provided for in the ninth and fifteenth articles of the treaty of July 19, 1866, claim that in such distribution they have been unjustly or illegally discriminated against, then, on complaint made by such persons, Congress shall by law authorize a suit in a proper court, by and between such classes of persons and the United States and the Cherokee Nation, to determine that question, giving to any party thereto the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, and providing that such suit or suits may in proper manner be advanced upon the dockets of such courts to secure a speedy hearing of the same; and the United States shall retain a sufficient sum of such money under its control to adjust and relieve such discrimination, should it be adjudged that such discriminations had been made. It is expressly understood that this agreement ceding and relinquishing the title to the lands herein described shall not be effective for any purpose whatever until it shall in its entirety be rat!fied by Congress, and the amount of money herein agreed to be paid to the Cherokee Nation for such cession and relinquishment shall have been appropriated by Congress and placed in the treasury of the United States, subject to the order of the Cherokee National Council; Provided, Further, That nothing contained in this agreement shall have the effect to limit or impair any rights whatsoever the Cherokee Nation has in or to or over the lands

herein ceded until it shall be so ratified by Congress; and,

Provided, Further, That if this agreement shall not be ratified by Congress and appropriation of money as herein provided for made on or before March 4, 1893, it shall be utterly void.

POTTAWATOMIE RESOLUTION.

APRIL 6, 1892

Joint resolution construing Article 4 of the agreement with the citizen band of Pottawatomie Indians in Oklahoma Territory and elsewhere:

Whereas, the provisions of the articles of agreement by and between the United States and the Citizen of Pottawatomie Indians, residing in Oklahoma Territory and elsewhere, ratified by Congress March 3, 1891, requires that large sums of money be paid to them in said tract of country which is construed to mean said territory of Oklahoma; and,

Whereas, many members of said band of Indians reside in Kansas, who through age, proverty and sickness suffer great hardships by being compelled to go to said territory to receive their payments; therefore,

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, That Article 4 of said agreement be, and the same is hereby construed so as to authorize the Secretary of the Interior in his discretion to direct the proper officers of the Department of the Interior to make payments, as they fall due, to the members of said band residing in Kansas, at some point in their original reservation in said state, as will accommodate the greatest number of said Indians.

Approved April 6, 1892.

OPENING CHEYENNE and ARAPAHOE COUNTRY BY PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION

APRIL 12, 1892

Whereas, by a written agreement made on the day of October, 1890, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes of Indians ceded, conveyed, transferred, relinquished and surrendered all their claim, title and interest in and to the lands described in Article 2 of said agreement, as follows, to-wit:

Commencing at a point where the Washita river crosses the ninetyeighth degree of west longitude as surveyed in the years 1858 and 1871; thence north on a line with the ninety-eighth degree to the point where it is crossed by the Red Fork of the Arkansas (sometimes called the Cimarron river); thence up said river in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the north boundary of the country ceded to the United States by the treaty of June 14, 1866, with the Creek Nation of Indians; thence west on said boundary and the north boundary of the country ceded to the United States by the treaty of March 21, 1866, with the Seminole Indians, to the one-hundredth degree of west longitude; thence south on the line of said one hundredth degree to the point where it strikes the north fork of the Red river; thence down the said north fork of the Red river, to a point where it strikes the north line of the Kiowa and Commanche reservation; thence east along said boundary to a point where it strikes the Washita river; thence down said Washita river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the place of beginning, and all other lands or tracts of country in the Indian Territory to which they have or may set up or allege any right, title, interest or claim whatsoever; Provided, That every member of said tribes shall have an allotment of one hundred and sixty acres of land, as in said agreement provided, to be selected within the tract of country so ceded, except lands in any part of said reservation now used or occupied for military agency, school, school farm, religious or other public uses, or in Sections 16 or 36 in each congressional township; except in cases where any Cheyenne or Arapahoe Indian has heretofore made improvements upon and now uses or occupies a part of said Sections 16 or 36, such Indian may make his or her selection within the boundaries so prescribed so as to include his or her improvements; and except in that part of the lands by said agreement ceded, now occupied and claimed by the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians, described as follows, to-wit:

Commencing at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Washita river where the ninety-eighth meridian of west longitude crosses the same, thence up the middle of the main channel of the said river to the line of ninety-eight degrees forty minutes west longtitude; thence up said line of ninety-eight degrees forty minutes due north to the middle of the main channel of the main Canadian river; thence down the middle of the main Canadian river to where it crosses the ninety-eighth meridian; thence due south to the place of beginning: And provided, That said sections sixteen

and thirty-six in each confressional township in said reservation shall not become subject to homestead entry, but shall be held by the United States and finally sold for public school purposes; and that when the allotments of land shall have been selected and taken by the members on the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes as aforesaid and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, the title thereto shall be held in trust for the allottees respectively for the period of twenty-five years in the manner and to the extent provided for in the act of Congress, approved February 8th, 1887. And, Whereas, It is provided in the Act of Congress accepting, ratifying and confirming the said agreement with the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, approved March 3, 1891, section sixteen:

That whenever any of the lands acquired by either of the foregoing agreements respecting lands in the Indian or Oklahoma Territory shall by operation of law or proclamation of the President of the United States be open to settlement they shall be disposed of to actual settiers only, under the provisions of the homestead and townsite laws (except section twentythree hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which shall before making a final proof and receiving a certificate of entry, pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, and within five years from the date of the first original entry, the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per acre, one half of which shall be paid within two years; but the rights of honorably discharged union soldiers and sailors as defined and described in sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes of the United States, shall not be abridged except as to the sum to be paid as aforesaid, and all the lands in Oklahoma are hereby declared to be agricultural lands, and proof of their non-mineral character shall not be required as a condition precedent to final entry; And,

Whereas, allotments of land in severalty to said Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians have been made and approved in accordance with law and the provisions of the before-mentioned agreement with them; and,

Whereas, the lands acquired by the said agreement hereinbefore mentioned have been divided into counties by the Secretary of the Interior, as required by said last mentioned Act of Congress, before the same shall be opened to settlement, and lands have been reserved for county seat purposes as therein required, as follows, to-wit:

For County C, the south one-half of section nineteen, township sixteen north. range eleven west. For County D, the north one-half of section thirteen, township eighteen north, range seventeen west. For County E, the south one-half of section fifteen, township seventeen north, range twenty-two west. For county F. the south one-half of section eight, township thirteen north, range twenty-three west. For County G, the north one-half of section twenty-five, township thirteen north, range seventeen west. For County H, the south one-half of section thirteen, township nine north, range sixteen west; and,

Whereas, it is provided by act of Congress for temporary government of Oklahoma, approved May second, eighteen hundred and ninety, section twenty-three (twenty-six Statutes, page ninety-two), and there shall be reserved public highways four rods wide between each section of land in said Territory, the section lines being the center of said highways; but no deduction shall be made. where cash payments are provided for in the amount to be paid for each quarter section of land by reason of such reservation; and,

Whereas, all the terms, conditions and considerations required by said agreement made with said tribe of Indians, and by the laws relating thereto, precedent to opening said lands to settlement, have been, as I hereby declare, complied with;

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested by the Statutes hereinbefore mentioned, also an act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian department, and for fulfilling

treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes, for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and by other of the laws of the United States, and by said agreement, do hereby declare and make known that all of said lands hereinbefore described, acquired from the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, by agreement aforesaid, saving and excepting the lands allotted to the Indians, as in said agreement provided; excepting also the lands hereinbefore described as occupied and claimed by the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians, or otherwise reserved in pursuance of the provisions of said agreement and the said act of Congress ratifying the same, and the other laws relating thereto, will at the hour of twelve o'clock noon, (central standard time), Tuesday, the nineteenth day of the present month of April, and not before, be opened to settlement under the terms of and subject to all conditions, limitations, reservations and restrictions contained in said agreement, the Statutes above specified, and the laws of the United States applicable thereto.

The lands to be so opened to settlement are for greater convenience particularly described in the accompanying schedule, entitled "Schedule of lands within the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians Reservation, Oklahoma Territory, opened by proclamation of the President."

Each entry shall be in square form as nearly as applicable, and no other lands in the Territory of Oklahoma are opened to settlement under this proclamation, the agreement with the said Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, or the act ratifying the same.

Notice, moreover, is hereby given that it is by law enacted that until said lands are opened to settlement by proclamation, no person shall be permitted to enter upon and occupy the same, and no person violating this provision shall be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any right thereto, and that the officers of the United States will be required to enforce this provision.

And further notice is hereby given that it has been ordered that the lands mentioned and included in this Proclamation shall be and the same are hereby attached to the Western land district, office at Kingfisher, and the Oklahoma land district, office at Oklahoma City, in said Territory of Oklahoma, as follows:

1. All lands lying north of the township line between townships thirteen and fourteen north are attached to the Western land district, the office of which is at Kingfisher, in said Territory.

2. All of said lands lying south of the township line between townships thirteen and fourteen north are attached to the Oklahoma City land district, the office of which is at Oklahoma City, in said Territory.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and ninety-two, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth.

(Seal)

By the President: BENJ. HARRISON.

JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State.