[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of September, A.D. 1891, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.
BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President:
WILLIAM F. WHARTON,
Acting Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by a written agreement made on the 12th day of June, 1890, the Sac and Fox Nation of Indians, in the Territory of Oklahoma, ceded and conveyed to the United States of America all title or interest of said Indians in and to the lands particularly described in Article I of the agreement, except the quarter section of land on which the Sac and Fox Agency is located, and provided that the section of land now designated and set apart near the Sac and Fox Agency for a school and farm shall not be subject either to allotment or to homestead entry; that every citizen of said nation shall have an allotment of land in quantity as therein stated, to be selected within the tract of country so ceded, except in sections 16 and 36 in each Congressional township, and except the agency quarter section and section set apart for school and farm, as above mentioned, or other lands selected in lieu thereof; that when the allotments to the citizens of the Sac and Fox Nation are made the Secretary of the Interior shall cause trust patents to issue therefor in the name of the allottees, and that as soon as such allotments are so made and approved by the Department of the Interior, and the patents provided for are issued, then the residue of said tract of country shall, as far as said Sac and Fox Nation is concerned, become public lands of the United States, and, under such restrictions as may be imposed by law, be subject to white settlement; and
Whereas by a certain other agreement with the Iowa tribe of Indians residing on the Iowa Reservation, in said Territory, made on the 20th day of May, 1890, said tribe surrendered and relinquished to the United States all their title and interest in and to the lands of said Indians in said Territory, and particularly described in Article I of said agreement, and provided that each and every member of said tribe shall have an allotment of 80 acres of land upon said reservation, and upon the approval of such allotments by the Secretary of the Interior that trust patents shall be issued therefor, and that there shall be excepted from the operation of said agreement a tract of land not exceeding 10 acres, in a square form, including the church and schoolhouse and graveyard at or near the Iowa village, which shall belong to said Iowa tribe of Indians in common, subject to the conditions and limitations in said agreement expressed; that the chief of the Iowas may select an additional 10 acres, in a square form, for the use of said tribe in said reservation, conforming in boundaries to the legal subdivisions of land therein, which shall be held by said tribe in common, subject to the conditions and limitations as expressed in relation thereto; and
Whereas it is provided-in the act of Congress approved February 13, 1891 (26 U.S. Statutes at Large, pp. 758, 759), section 7, accepting, ratifying, and confirming said agreements with the Sac and Fox Nation of Indians and the Iowa tribe of Indians—
That whenever any of the lands acquired by the agreements in this act ratified and confirmed 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 settlers only, under the provisions of the homestead laws, except section 2301, which shall not apply: Provided, however, That each settler under and in accordance with the provisions of said homestead laws shall before receiving a patent for his homestead pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, the sum of $1.25 for each acre thereof; and such person, having complied with all the laws relating to such homestead settlement, may at his option receive a patent therefor at the expiration of twelve months from date of settlement upon said homestead; and any person otherwise qualified who has attempted to but for any cause failed to secure a title in fee to a homestead under existing law, or who made entry under what is known as the commuted provision of the homestead law, shall be qualified to make a homestead entry upon any of said lands.