the limits of said lands under such conditions and regulations as may be hereafter enacted by Congress.

That the lands acquired by conveyance from the Seminole Indians hereunder, except the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, shall be disposed of to actual settlers under the homestead laws only, except as herein otherwise provided (except that section two thousand three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes shall not apply): 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 laws shall be qualified to make a homestead entry upon said lands: And provided further, That the rights of honorably discharged Union soldiers and sailors in 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 each entry shall be in square form as nearly as practicable, and no person be permitted to enter more than one-quarter section thereof, but until said lands are opened for settlement by proclamation of the President. no person shall be permitted to enter upon and occupy the same, and no person violating this provision shall ever be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any right thereto.

The Secretary of the Interior may, after said proclamation and not before, permit entry of said lands for town-sites, under sections twenty-three hundred and eightyseven and twenty-three hundred and eighty-eight, of the Revised Statutes, but no such entry shall embrace more than one half section of land.

That all the foregoing provisions with reference to lands to be acquired from the Seminole Indians, including the provisions pertaining to forfeiture, shall apply to and regulate the disposal of the lands acquired from the Muscogee or Creek Indians by articles of cession and agreement made and concluded at the city of Washington, on the nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and eighty-nine.

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested by said act of Congress, approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, aforesaid, do hereby declare and make known that so much of the lands, as aforesaid, acquired from or conveyed by the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians and from or by the Seminole Nation of Indians, respectively, as is contained within the following described boundaries, viz: Beginning at a point where the degree of longitude ninety-eight west from Greenwich, as surveyed in the years eighteen hundred and fiftyeight and eighteen hundred and seventy-one, intersects the Canadian River; thence north along and with the said degree to a point where the same intersects the Cimarron River; thence up said river, along the right bank thereof, to a point where the same is intersected by the south line of what is known as the Cherokee lands lying west of the Arkansas River or as the "Cherokee Outlet," said line being the north line of the lands ceded by the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians to the United States by the treaty of June fourteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; thence east along said line to a point where the same intersects the west line of the lands set apart as a reservation for the Pawnee Indians by act of Congress approved April tenth, eighteen hundred and sev enty-six, being the range line between ranges four and five east of the Indian meridian; thence south on said line to a point where the same intersects the middle of the main channel of the Cimarron River; thence up said river, along the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point where the same intersects the range line between range one east and range one west (being the Indian meridian), which line forms the western boundary of the reservation set apart, respectively, for the Iowa and Kickapoo Indians by executive orders dated, respectively, August fifteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-three; thence south along said range line or meridian to a point where the same intersects the right bank of the North Fork of the Canadian River; thence up said river, along the right bank thereof, to the point where the same is intersected by the west line of the reservation occupied by the Citizen Band of Pottawatomies, and the Absentee Shawnee Indians, set apart

under the provisions of the treaty of February twenty-seven, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, between the United States and the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians and referred to in the Act of Congress approved May twenty-three, eighteen hundred and seventy-two; thence south along the said west line of the aforesaid reservation to a point where the same intersects the middle of the main channel of the Canadian River; thence up the said river, along the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point opposite to the place of beginning and thence north to the place of beginning (saving and excepting one acre of land in square form in the north west corner of section nine, in township sixteen north, range two west, of the Indian Meridian in Indian Territory, and also one acre of land in the southeast corner of the northwest quarter of section fifteen, township sixteen north, range seven west, of the Indian Meridian in the Indian Territory; (which last described two acres are hereby reserved for Government use and control), will at and after the hour of twelve o'clock, noon, of the twenty-second day of April next, and not before, be open for settlement, under the terms of and subject to, all the conditions, limitations, and restrictions contained in said act of Congress approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and the laws of the United States applicable thereto.

And it is hereby expressly declared and made known that no other parts or portions of the lands embraced within the Indian Territory than those herein specifically described, and declared to be open to settlement at the time above named and fixed, are to be considered as open to settlement under this proclamation or the act of March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine aforesaid; and

Warning, is hereby again expressly given that no person entering upon and occupying said lands before said hour of twelve o'clock, noon, of the Twenty-second day of April, A. D. eighteen hundred and eightynine, herein before fixed, will ever be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any rights thereto, and that the officers of the United States will be required to strictly enforce the provisions of the Act of Congress to the above effect.

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 Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and eighty-nine, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and thirteenth.

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.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled:

SEC. 18. That sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same are hereby, reserved for

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the purpose of being applied to the public schools in the State or States hereafter to be erected out of the same. In all cases where sections sixteen and thirty-six, or either of them, are occupied by actual settlers prior to survey thereof, the county commissioners of the counties in which such sections are so occupied are authorized to locate other lands to an equal amount, in sections or fractional sections, as the case may be, within their respective counties, in lieu of the sections so occupied.

All the lands embraced in that portion of the Territory of Oklahoma heretofore known as the Public Land Strip shall be open to settlement under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States, except section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes, which shall not apply; but all actual and bona fide settlers upon and occupants of the lands in said Public Land Strip at the time of the passage of this act shall be entitled to have preference to and hold the lands upon which they have settled under the homestead laws of the United States, by virtue of their settlement and occupancy of said lands, and they shall be credited with the time they have actually occupied their homesteads, respectively, not exceeding two years, on the time required under said laws to perfect title as homestead settlers.

The lands within said Territory of Oklahoma, acquired by cession of the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians, confirmed by act of Congress approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and also the lands acquired in pursuance of an agreement with the Seminole Nation of Indians by re-lease and conveyance, dated March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, which may hereafter be open to settlement, shall be disposed of under the provisions of sections twelve, thirteen, and fourteen of the "Act making appropriations for the cur rent 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," approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and under section two of an "Act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," approved March first, eighteen hundred and eightynine: Provided, however, That each settler under and in accordance with the provisions of said acts shall, before receiving a patent for his homestead on the land hereafter opened to settlement as aforesaid, pay to the United States for the lands so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per

acre.

Whenever any of the other lands within the Territory of Oklahoma, now occupied by any Indian tribe, shall by operation of law or procla mation 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 law, except section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, 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, a sum per acre equal to the amount which has been or may be paid by the United States to obtain a relinquishment of the Indian title or interest therein, but in no case shall such payment be less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The rights of honorably discharged soldiers and sailors in 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 of the United States, shall not be abridged except as to such payment. All tracts of land in Oklahoma Territory which have been set apart for school purposes, to educational societies or missionary boards at work among the Indians, shall not be open for settlement, but are hereby granted to the respective educational societies or missionary boards for whose use the same has been set apart. No part of the land embraced within the Territory hereby created shall inure to the use and benefit of any railroad corporation, except the rights of way and land for stations heretofore granted to certain railroad corporations. Nor shall any provision of this act or any act of any officer of the United States, done or performed under the provisions of this act or otherwise, invest any corporation owning or operating any railroad in the Indian Territory or Territory created by this act, with any land or any right to any land. in either of said Territories, and this act shall not apply to or affect any land which, upon any condition on becoming a part of the public domain, would inure to the benefit of, or become the property of, any railroad corporation.

SEC. 19. That the portion of the Territory of Oklahoma heretofore known as the Public Land Strip is hereby declared a public land district, and the President of the United States is hereby empowered to locate a land office in said district, at such a place as he shall select, and to appoint in conformity with existing law a register and receiver of said land office. He may also, whenever he shall deem it necessary, establish another additional land district within said Territory, locate a land office therein, and in like manner appoint a register and receiver thereof. And the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall, when directed by the President, cause the lands within the Territory to be properly surveyed and subdivided where the same has not already been done.

SEC. 20. That the procedure in applications, entries, contests, and adjudications in the Territory of Oklahoma shall be in form and manner prescribed under the homestead laws of the United States, and the general principles and provisions of the homestead laws, except as modified by the provisions of this act and the acts of Congress approved March first and second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, heretofore mentioned, shall be applicable to all entries made in said Territory, but no patent shall be issued to any person who is not a citizen of the United States at the time of making final proof.

All persons who shall settle on land in said Territory under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States and of this act shall be required to select the same in square form as nearly as may be; and no person who shall at the time be seized in fee simple of a hundred and sixty acres of land in any State or Territory shall hereafter be entitled to enter land in said Territory of Oklahoma. The provisions of sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall, except so far as modified by this act, apply to all homestead settlements in said Territory.

SEC. 21. That any person entitled by law to take a homestead in said Territory of Oklahoma, who has already located and filed upon or shall hereafter locate and file upon a homestead within the limits described in the President's proclamation of April first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and under and in pursuance of the laws applicable to the settlement of the lands opened for settlement by such proclamation, and who has complied with all the laws relating to such homestead

settlement, may receive a patent therefor at the expiration of twelve months from date of locating upon said homestead upon payment to the United States of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for land embraced in such homestead.

SEC. 22. That the provisions of title thirty-two, chapter eight, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to "reservation and sale of town sites on the public lands," shall apply to the lands open or to be opened to settlement in the Territory of Oklahoma, except those opened to settlement by the proclamation of the President on the twenty-second day of April, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine: Provided, That hereafter all surveys for town sites in said Territory shall contain reservations for parks (of substantially equal area if more than one park) and for schools and other public purposes, embracing in the aggregate not less than ten nor more than twenty acres; and patents for such reservations, to be maintained for such purposes, shall be issued to the towns respectively when organized as municipalities: Provided further, That, in case any lands in said Territory of Oklahoma, which may be occupied and filed upon as a homestead, under the provisions of law applicable to said Territory, by a person who is entitled to perfect his title thereto under such laws, are required for town-site purposes, it shall be lawful for such person to apply to the Secretary of the Interior to purchase the lands embraced in said homestead or any part thereof for town-site purposes. He shall file with the application a plat of such proposed town site, and if such plat shall be approved by the Secretary of the Interior he shall issue a patent to such person for land embraced in said town site, upon the payment of the sum of ten dollars per acre, for all the lands embraced in such town site, except the lands to be donated and maintained for public purposes as provided in this section. And the sums so received by the Secretary of the Interior shall be paid over to the proper authorities of the municipalities when organized, to be used by them for school purposes only.

SEC. 23. That 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. But if the said highways shall be vacated by any competent authority the title to the respective strips shall inure to the then owner of the tract of which it formed a part by the original survey.

SEC. 24. That it shall be unlawful for any person, for himself or any company, association, or corporation, to directly or indirectly procure any person to settle upon any lands open to settlement in the Territory of Oklahoma with intent thereafter of acquiring title thereto; and any title thus acquired shall be void; and the parties to such fraudulent settlement shall severally be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished, upon indictment, by imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 25. That inasmuch as there is a controversy between the United States and the State of Texas as to the ownership of what is known as Greer County, it is hereby expressly provided that this act shall not be construed to apply to said Greer County until the title to the same has been adjudicated and determined to be in the United States; and in order to provide for speedy and final judicial determination of the controversy aforesaid the Attorney-General of the United States is hereby authorized and directed to commence in the name and on behalf of the