upon such rolls shall be open to investigation by such commission for a period of six months after the passage of this act. And any name appearing on such rolls and not confirmed by the act of June tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, as herein construed, may be stricken therefrom by such commission where the party affected shall have ten days previous notice that said commission will investigate and determine the right of such party to remain upon such roll as a citizen of such Nation; Provided, Also, That any one whose name shall be stricken from the roli by such commission shall have the right of appeal, as provided in the act of June tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six.

That on and after January first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, all acts, ordinances and resolutions of the council of either of the aforesaid Five Civilized Tribes passed shall be certified immediately upon their passage by the President of the United States and shall not take effect, if disapproved by him, or until thirty days after their passage; Provided, That this act shall not apply to resolutions for adjournment, or any acts or resolutions, or ordinances in relation to negotiations with commissioners heretofore appointed to treat with said tribes.

OPENING CHEROKEE STRIP

AUGUST 19, 1893.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, pursuant to section ten, of the act of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, entitled "An Act making appropriations for current and contingent expenses, and fulfilling treaty stipulations with Indian tribes, for fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four," the Cherokee Nation of Indians, by a written agreement made on the seventeenth day of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, has ratified an agreement for the cession of certain lands, hereinafter described, as amended by said act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and thereby ceded, conveyed, transferred, relinquished and surrendered all its title, claim and interest of every kind and character in and to that part of the Indian Territory bounded on the west by the one hundredth degree of west longitude; on the north by the State of Kansas; on the east by the ninety-sixth degree of west longitude, and on the south by the Creek Nation, the Territory of Oklahoma and the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation created or defined by Executive order dated August tenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine;

Provided, That any citizen of the Cherokee Nation who prior to the first day of November, eighteen hundred and ninety one, was a bona fide resident upon and further had, as a farmer and for farming purposes, made permanent and valuable improvements upon any part of the land so ceded and who has not disposed of same, but desires to occupy the particular lands so improved as a homestead and for farming purposes, shall have the right to select one-eighth of a section of land, to conform, however, to the United States surveys; such selection to embrace as far as the above limitation will admit, such improvements. The wife and children of any such citizen shall have the same right of selection that is above given to the citizen, and they shall have the preference in making selections to take any lands improved by the husband and father that he can not take until all of his improved land shall be taken; and that any citizen of the Cherokee Nation not a resident within the land so ceded, who, prior to the first day of November, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, had for farming purposes made valuable and permanent improvements upon any of the lands so ceded 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 the above limitation will admit, such improvements; but the allotments so provided for shall not exceed seventy in number, and the land allotted shall not exceed five thousand and six hundred acres; and 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 and from the price to be paid the Cherokee Nation for the cession so made there shall be deducted

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the sum of One Dollar and Forty Cents for each acre so taken in allotment; and, Provided, That D. W. Bushyhead, having made permanent and valuable improvements prior to the first day of November, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, on the lands so ceded, he may select a quarter section of the lands so ceded, whether reserved or otherwise, prior to the opening of said lands to public settlement; but he shall be required to pay for such selection, at the same rate per acre as other settlers, into the Treasury of the United States in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior shall direct; and,

Whereas, it is provided in section ten of the aforesaid act of Congress, approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, that,

Said lands, except the portion to be allotted as provided in said agreement shall, upon the payment of the sum of Two Hundred and Ninetyfive Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty-six Dollars, herein appropriated, to be immediately paid, become and be taken to be and treated as a part of the public domain. But in any opening of the same to settlement, sections sixteen and thirty-six in each township, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, shall be, and are hereby reserved for the use and benefit of the public schools to be established within the limits of such lands, under such conditions and regulations as may be hereafter enacted by Congress.

Sections thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, twenty-one, twentytwo, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, and the east half of sections seventeen, twenty and twentynine, all in township numbered twenty-nine north, of range numbered two east of the Indian Meridian, the same being lands reserved by Executive order dated July twelfth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, for use of and in connection with the Chilocco Indian Industrial School, in the Indian Territory, shall not be subject to public settlement, but shall, until the further action of Congress, continue to be reserved for the purpose for which they were set apart in the said Executive order. And the President of the United States, in any order or proclamation which he shall make for the opening of the lands for settlement, may make such other reservation of lands for public purposes as he may deem wise and desirable.

The President of the United States is hereby authorized, at any time within six months after the approval of this act and the acceptance of the same by the Cherokee Nation as herein provided, by proclamation, to open settlement any or all of the lands not allotted or reserved, in the manner provided in section thirteen of the act of Congress approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, 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, and for other purposes," (Twenty-fifth United States Statutes, page ten hundred and five); and also subject to the provisions of the act of Congress approved May second, eighteen hundred and ninety, entitled "An Act to provide a temporary government for the Territory of Oklahoma to enlarge the jurisdiction of the United States Court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes"; also subject to the second proviso of section seventeen, the whole of section eighteen of the act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, 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," except as to so much of said acts and sections as may conflict with the provisions of this act. Each settler on the lands so opened to settlement as aforesaid shall, before receiving a patent for his homestead, pay to the United States for the lands so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, the sum of Two Dollars and Fifty Cents per acre for any land east of ninety-seven and one half degrees west longitude, the sum of One Dollar

and Fifty Cents per acre for any land between nintey-seven and one-half degrees west longitude and ninety-eight and one-half degrees west longitude, and the sum of One Dollar per acre for any lands west of ninetyeight and one-half degrees west longitude, and shall also pay interest upon the amount so to be paid for said land from the date of entry to the date of final payment therefor at the rate of four per centum per annum.

No person shall be permitted to occupy or to enter upon any of the lands herein referred to except in the manner prescribed by the proclamation of the President opening the same to settlement; and any person otherwise occupying or entering upon any of said lands shall forfeit all right to acquire any of said lands. The Secretary of the Interior shall, under the direction of the President, prescribed rules and regulations not inconsistent with this act, for the occupation and settlement of said lands, to be incorporated in the proclamation of the President, which shall be issued at least twenty days before the time fixed for the opening of said lands; and, Whereas, by a written agreement, made on the twenty-first day of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, the Tonkawa Tribe of Indians, in the Territory of Oklahoma, ceded, conveyed, and forever relinquished to the United States all their right, title, claim and interest of every kind and character, in and to the lands particularly described in Article 1 of the agreement, provided, that the allotments of land to said Tonkawa tribe of Indians theretofore made, or to be made under said agreement, anl the provisions of the general allotment act approved February eighth, eighteen and eighty seven and an act amendatory thereof, approved February twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, shall be confirmed, and provided that in all cases where the allottee has died since land has been set off and scheduled to such person, the law of descent and partition in force in Oklahoma Territory shall apply thereto, any existing law to the contrary, notwithstanding; and,

Whereas, by a certain other agreement with the Pawnee tribe of Indians, in said Territory, made on the twenty-third day of November, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, said tribe ceded, conveyed, released, relinquished and surrendered to the United States all its title, claim and interest, of every kind and character, in and to the lands particularly described in Article I of the agreement, provided, that the allotments made, or to be made to said Indians, in the manner and subject to the conditions contained in said agreement, shall be confirmed; and,

Whereas, it is provided in section thirteen of the Act of Congress, accepting, ratifying and confirming said agreements with the Tonkawa Indians and the Pawnee Indians, specified in sections eleven and twelve of the same act, approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, entitled "An act making appropriations for current and contingent expenses, and fulfilling treaty stipulations with Indian tribes for fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety four."

That the lands acquired by the agreements specified in the two preceding sections are hereby declared to be a part of the public domain. Sections sixteen and thirty-six in each township, whether surveyed or unsurveyed. are hereby reserved from settlement for the use and benefit of public schools, as provided in section ten relating to lands acquired from the Cherokee Nation of Indians. And the lands so acquired by the agreement by proclamation of the President at the same time and in the manner and subject to the same conditions and regulations provided in section ten relating to the opening of the lands acquired from the Cherokee Nation of Indians. And each settler on the land so to be opened as aforesaid, shall, before receiving a patent for his homestead pay to the United States for the lands so taken by him in addition to the fees provided by law, the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per acre; and shall also pay interest upon the amount so to be paid for said land from the date of entry to the date of final payment at the rate of four per centum per annum, and,

Whereas, the thirteenth section of the act approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, the act approved May second eighteen hundred and ninety, and the second proviso of section seventeen and the whole of section eighteen, of the act, approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, are referred to in the tenth section of the act approved March the third, eighteen hundred and ninety three, and thereby made applicable in the disposal of the lands in the "Cherokee Outlet," hereinbefore mentioned, the provisions of which acts, so far as they effect the opening to settlement and the disposal of said lands, are more particularly set forth hereinafter in connection with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, for the occupation and settlement of the lands hereby opened according to said tenth section; and,

Whereas, the lands acquired by the three several agreements herein before 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 to be entered under section twenty-three hundred and eighty-seven and twenty-three hundred and eighty-eight of the revised statutes of the United States as therein required as follows, to-wit:

For county K, the southeast quarter of section twenty-three and northeast quarter of section twenty-six, township twenty-eight north, range two east of the Indian Meridian, excepting four acres reserved for the site of a court house to be designated by lot and block upon the official plat of survey of said reservation for county seat purposes, hereafter to be issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office: said reservation to be additional to the reservations for parks, schools, and other public purposes required to be made by section 22, of the act of May 2, 1890.

For County L, the southwest quarter of section one and the southeast quarter of section two, and township twenty-five north, range six west of Indian Meridian, excepting four acres reserved for the site of a Court House to be designated by lot and block upon the official plat of survey of said reservation for county seat purposes, hereafter to be issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, said reservation to be additional to the reservations for parks, schools and other public purposes required to be made by section 22, of the Act of May 2, 1890.

For County M, the south half of the northeast quarter and the north half of the northwest quarter, and the north half of the southwest quarter of section twenty-four, township twenty-seven north, range fourteen west the Indian Meridian, excepting one acre reserved for government use for the site of a land office, and four acres to be reserved for the site of a court house, which tracts are to be contiguous and to be designated by lot and block upon the official plat of survey of said reservation for county-seat purposes, hereafter to be issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office said reservations to be additional to the reservations for parks, schools, and other public purposes required to be made by section 22, of the Act of May 2, 1890.

For County N, the south half of section twenty-five, township twentythree north, range twenty-one west of the Indian Meridian, excepting one acre reserved for government use for the site of a land office and four acres to be reserved for government use for the site of a court house, which tracts are to be contiguous and to be designated by lot and block upon the official plat or survey of said reservation for county seat purposes, hereafter to be issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office; said reservations to be additional to the reservations for parks, schools, and other public purposes required to be made by section 22, of the Act of May 2, 1890.

For County O, the southeast quarter of section seven, and the southwest quarter of section eight, township twenty-two north, range six west