That the laws relating to the mineral lands of the United States are hereby extended over the lands ceded by the foregoing agreement.
And whereas in the act of Congress ratifying the said Comanche, Kiowa and Apache agreement, it is provided—
That the lands acquired by this agreement shall be opened to settlement by proclamation of the President within six months after allotments are made and be disposed of under the general provisions of the homestead and townsite laws of the United States: Provided, That in addition to the land office fees prescribed by statute for such entries the entryman shall pay one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for the land entered at the time of submitting his final proof: And provided further, That in all homestead entries where the entryman has resided upon and improved the land entered in good faith for the period of fourteen months he may commute his entry to cash upon the payment of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre: And provided further, That the rights of honorably discharged Union soldiers and sailors of the late civil war, as defined and described in sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes shall not be abridged: And provided further, That any person who, having attempted to but for any cause failed to secure a title in fee to a homestead under existing laws, 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 said lands: And provided further, That any qualified entryman having lands adjoining the lands herein ceded, whose original entry embraced less than one hundred and sixty acres in all, shall have the right to enter so much of the lands by this agreement ceded lying contiguous to his said entry as shall, with the land already entered, make in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres, said land to be taken upon the same conditions as are required of other entrymen: And provided further, That the settlers who located on that part of said lands called and known as the "neutral strip" shall have preference right for thirty days on the lands upon which they have located and improved.
That should any of said lands allotted to said Indians, or opened to settlement under this act, contain valuable mineral deposits, such mineral deposits shall be open to location and entry, under the existing mining laws of the United States, upon the passage of this act, and the mineral laws of the United States are hereby extended over said lands.
And whereas, by the act of Congress approved January 4, 1901 (31 Stat., 727), the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to extend, for a period not exceeding eight months from December 6, 1900, the time for making allotments to the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache Indians and opening to settlement the lands so ceded by them;
And whereas, in pursuance of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1901 (31 Stat., 1093), the Secretary of the Interior has regularly subdivided the lands so as aforesaid respectively ceded to the United States by the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians and the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes of Indians into counties, attaching portions thereof to adjoining counties in the Territory of Oklahoma, has regularly designated the place for the county seat of each new county, has regularly set aside and reserved at such county seat land for a townsite to be disposed of in the manner provided by the act of Congress last named, and has regularly caused to be surveyed, subdivided, and platted the lands so set aside and reserved for disposition as such townsites;
And whereas, by the act of Congress last named, it is provided:
The lands to be opened to settlement and entry under the acts of Congress ratifying said agreements respectively shall be so opened by proclamation of the President, and to avoid the contests and conflicting claims which have heretofore resulted from opening similar public lands to settlement and entry, the President's proclamation shall prescribe the manner in which these lands may be settled upon, occupied, and entered by persons entitled thereto under the acts ratifying said agreements, respectively; and no person shall be permitted to settle upon, occupy, or enter any of said lands except as prescribed in such proclamation until after the expiration of sixty days from the time when the same are opened to settlement and entry.
And whereas, by the act of Congress last named the President was authorized to establish two additional United States land districts and land offices in the Territory of Oklahoma to include the lands so ceded as aforesaid, which land districts and land offices have been established by an order of even date herewith;