Said strip, the inner boundary of which shall be 100 feet from the exterior boundary of the country known as the Cherokee Outlet, shall be open to occupancy in advance of the day and hour named for the opening of said country by persons expecting and intending to make settlement pursuant to this proclamation. Such occupancy shall not be regarded as trespass or in violation of this proclamation or of the law under which it is made, nor shall any settlement rights be gained thereby.
The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, establish on said 100-foot strip booths, to be located as follows: One in township 29 north, range 2 east; one in township 29 north, range 2 west; one in township 29 north, range 4 west; one in township 29 north, range 8 west; one in township 29 north, range 12 west; one in township 20 north, range 3 east; one in township 20 north, range 2 west; one in township 20 north, range 7 west; and one in township 20 north, range 26 west; and shall place in charge thereof three officers to each booth, who shall be detailed from the General Land Office. Said booths shall be open for the transaction of business on and after Monday, the 11th day of the month of September, A.D. 1893, from 7 a.m. to 12 m. and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. each business day until the same shall be discontinued by the Secretary of the Interior, who is hereby authorized to discontinue the same at his discretion. Each party desiring to enter upon and occupy as a homestead any of the lands hereby opened to settlement will be required to first appear at one of the before-mentioned booths and make a declaration in writing, to be signed by the party in the presence of one of the officers in charge thereof, which shall be certified by such officer, according to the form hereto attached and made a part hereof marked A, showing his or her qualifications to make homestead entry for said lands, whereupon a certificate will be issued by the officers in charge of the booth to the party making the declaration, which shall be of the form hereto attached and made a part hereof marked D.
Where a party desires to file a soldier's declaratory statement in person, he will be required to make a declaration which shall be of the form hereto attached and made a part hereof marked B, the same to be made and subscribed before one of the officers in charge of the booth and certified by such officer, independently of the affidavit (Form 4-546) to be filed when he presents the certificate of Form D, there given him, to the district officers. Where a party desires to file a declaratory statement through an agent, it will be necessary for him previously to make the affidavit ordinarily required (Form 4-545) before some officer authorized to administer oaths and place the same in the hands of the agent, who, before being permitted to enter upon the lands to be opened in said outlet for the purpose of making the desired filing, will be required to appear before the officers in charge of some one of the booths, to present the said affidavit of the party authorizing him to act as such agent, and to make a declaration in writing, to be subscribed by him in the presence of one of such officers, which shall be certified by such officer, according to the form hereto attached and made a part hereof marked C, whereupon a certificate of Form D will be given him by said officer. The agent should be provided with affidavits of Form 4-545 made in duplicate—one for presentation to the officers in charge of the booth and the other for presentation to the district officers when formal filing is to be made.
Each party desiring to enter upon said lands for the purpose of settling upon a town lot will be required to first appear at one of the before-mentioned booths and make a declaration in writing, to be signed by the party in the presence of one of the officers in charge thereof, which shall be certified by such officer, according to the form hereto attached and made a part hereof marked E, whereupon a certificate will be issued by the officers in charge of the booth to the party making the declaration, which shall be of the form hereto attached and made a part hereof marked F.
The said declarations made before the officers in charge shall be given consecutive numbers, beginning at No. 1 at each booth, and the certificate issued to the party making the declaration shall be given the same number as is given the declaration. The declaration shall be carefully preserved by the officers in charge of the booths, and when the booths are discontinued said declarations shall be transmitted, together with the duplicate affidavits (Form 4-545) hereinbefore required to be presented in case of agents proposing to act for soldiers in filing declaratory statements, to the General Land Office for filing as a part of the records pertaining to the disposal of said lands.
The certificate will be evidence only that the party named therein is permitted to go in upon the lands opened to settlement by this proclamation at the time specified herein, and the certificate of Form D must be surrendered when application to enter or file is presented to the district officers, and the party's right to make a filing, homestead entry, or settlement shall be passed upon by the district land officers at the proper time and in the usual manner. The holder of such certificate will be required when he makes his homestead affidavit, or, if a soldier or soldier's agent, when he files a declaratory statement at the district office, to allege under oath before the officers taking such homestead affidavit or to whom said declaratory statement is presented for filing that all the statements contained in the declaration made by him, upon which said certificate is based, are true in every particular, such oath to be added to affidavit of Form 4-102, as shown on form hereto attached and made a part hereof marked 102d.
After the hour and day hereinbefore named when said lands will be opened to settlement all parties holding such certificates (Form D or F) will be permitted to occupy or enter upon the lands so opened, and parties holding a certificate of Form D may initiate a homestead claim, either by settlement upon the land or by entry or filing at the proper district office; but no person not holding any such certificate shall be permitted to occupy or enter upon any of said lands until after the booths shall have been discontinued by direction of the Secretary of the Interior. Until then the officers of the United States are expressly charged to permit no party without a certificate to occupy or enter upon any of said lands.
The following rules and regulations have been prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, under the direction of the President, as provided by section 10 of said act of March 3, 1893, for the occupation and settlement of the lands hereby opened, to wit:
The thirteenth section of the act approved March 2, 1889, the act approved May 2, 1890, the second proviso of section 17 and the whole of section 18 of the act approved March 3, 1891, are by section 10 of the act of March 3, 1893, made applicable in disposing of the lands under said section 10, and said lands are thereby rendered subject to disposal under the homestead and town-site laws only, with certain modifications, which laws as so modified contain provisions substantially as follows:
1. Any party will be entitled to initiate a homestead claim to a tract of said lands who is over 21 years of age or the head of a family; who is a citizen of the United States or has declared his intention to become such; who has not exhausted his homestead right either by perfecting a homestead entry for 160 acres of land under any law, excepting what is known as the commuted provision of the homestead law contained in section 2301 of the United States Revised Statutes, or by making or commuting a homestead entry since March 2, 1889; who has not entered since August 30, 1890, under the land laws of the United States or filed upon a quantity of land agricultural in character and not mineral which with the tracts sought to be entered in any case would make more than 320 acres; who is not the owner in fee simple of 160 acres of land in any State or Territory, and who has not entered upon or occupied the lands hereby opened in violation of this the President's proclamation opening the same to settlement and entry. (See section 2289, U.S. Revised Statutes; act of March 2, 1889, 25 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 854; section 13 of the act of March 2, 1889, 25 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 1005; act of August 30, 1890, 26 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 391; section 20, act of May 2, 1890, 26 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 91, and section 10, act of March 3, 1893, 27 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 640.)