§ 463. Town lots-Preference right to purchase.-[42]. Any person being in possession of, or having the right to the possession of, any town lot or lots, as surveyed and platted under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the act of Congress, approved May thirty-first, nineteen hundred (Thirty-First Statutes, page two hundred and twenty-one), the occupancy of which lot or lots was originally acquired under any townsite act of the Cherokee Nation, and not having any improvements thereon, shall have the right to purchase the same at onehalf of the appraised value thereof.

§ 464. Town lots-Preference right to purchase.-[43]. Any citizen in rightful possession of any town lot having improvements thereon other than temporary buildings, fencing, and tillage, the occupancy of which has not been acquired under tribal laws, shall have the right to purchase same by paying one-half the appraised value thereof: Provided, that any other person in undisputed possession of any town lot having improvements thereon other than temporary buildings, fencing, and tillage, the occupancy of which has not been acquired under tribal laws, shall have the right to purchase such lot by paying the appraised value thereof.

§ 465. Town lots-Unimproved, how sold.-[44]. All lots not having thereon improvements other than temporary buildings, fencing, and tillage, the sale or disposition of which is not herein otherwise specifically provided for, shall be sold within twelve months after appraisement, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, after due advertisement, at public auction, to the highest bidder, at not less than their appraised value.

§ 466. Town lots-Failure to purchase.-[45]. When the appraisement of any town lot is made and approved. the townsite commission shall notify the claimant thereof of the amount of appraisement, and he shall, within sixty

days thereafter, make payment of ten per centum of the amount due for the lot, and four months thereafter he shall pay fifteen per centum additional, and the remainder of the purchase money he shall pay in three equal annual installments without interest; but if the claimant of any such lot fail to purchase same or make the first and second payments aforesaid or make any other payment within the time specified, the lot and improvements shall be sold at public auction to the highest bidder, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, at a price not less than its appraised value.

§ 467. Town lots-How sold when owner of improvements fails to purchase.-[46]. When any improved lot shall be sold at public auction because of the failure of the person owning improvements thereon to purchase same within the time allowed in said act of Congress approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight (Thirtieth Statutes, page four hundred and ninety-five), said improvements shall be appraised by a committee, one member of which shall be selected by the owner of the improvements and one member by the purchaser of said lot; and in case the said committee is not able to agree upon the value of said improvements, the committee may select a third member, and in that event the determination of the majority of the committee shall control. Said committee of appraisement shall be paid such compensation for their services by the two parties in interest, share and share alike, as may be agreed upon, and the amount of said appraisement shall be paid by the purchaser of the lot to the owner of the improvements in cash within thirty days after the decision of the committee of appraisement.

§ 468. Town lots-Terms of sale.-[47]. The purchaser of any unimproved town lot sold at public auction shall pay twenty-five per centum of the purchase money at the time of the sale, and within four months thereafter he shall pay twenty-five per centum additional, and the remainder BLED.IND. (2D ED.)-29

of the purchase money he shall pay in two equal annual installments without interest.

§ 469. Towns of less than two hundred population.— [48]. Such towns in the Cherokee Nation as may have a population of less than two hundred people not otherwise provided for, and which, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, should be set aside as townsites, shall have their limits defined as soon as practicable after the approval of this act in the same manner as provided for other townsites.

§ 470. Cemeteries.-[49]. The town authorities of any townsite in said Cherokee Nation may select and locate, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, a cemetery within suitable distance from said town, to embrace such number of acres as may be deemed necessary for such purpose. praise the same at its true value, and the town may purchase the same within one year from the approval of the survey by paying the appraised value. If any citizen have improvements thereon, said improvements shall be appraised by said townsite commission and paid for by the town: Provided, that lands already laid out by tribal authorities for cemeteries shall be included in the cemeteries herein provided for without cost to the towns, and the holdings of the burial lots therein now occupied for such purpose shall in no wise be disturbed: And provided further, that any park laid out and surveyed in any town shall be duly appraised at a fair valuation, and the inhabitants of said. town shall, within one year after the approval of the survey and the appraisement of said park by the Secretary of the Interior, pay the appraised value to the proper officer for the benefit of the tribe.

The townsite commission shall ap

§ 471. Expenses of allotments and townsites.-[50]. The United States shall pay all expenses incident to surveying, platting, and disposition of town lots, and all allot

ments of lands made under the provisions of this plan of allotment, except where the town authorities may have been or may be duly authorized to survey and plat their respective towns at the expense of such towns.

§ 472. Town lots-When may be taxed.-[51]. No taxes shall be assessed by any town government against any town lot remaining unsold, but taxes may be assessed against any town lot sold as herein provided.

§ 473. Town lots-Failure of purchaser to pay purchase price. [52]. If the purchaser of any town lot fail to make payment of any sum when due, the same shall thereafter bear six per centum interest per annum until paid.

§ 474. Lots for churches.-[53]. All lots or parts of lots, not exceeding fifty by one hundred and fifty feet in size, upon which church houses and parsonages have been erected, and which are occupied as such at the time of appraisement, shall be conveyed gratuitously to the churches to which such improvements belong, and if such churches have inclosed other adjoining lots actually necessary for their use, they may purchase the same by paying the appraised value thereof.

§ 475. Townsite commissions.-[54]. Whenever the chief executive of the Cherokee Nation fails or refuses to appoint a townsite commissioner for any town, or to fill any vacancy caused by the neglect or refusal of the townsite commissioners appointed by the chief executive to qualify or act, or otherwise, the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, may appoint a commissioner to fill the vacancy thus created.

§ 476. Payment for lots.-[55]. The purchaser of any town lot may at any time pay the full amount of the purchase money, and he shall thereupon receive title therefor.

§ 477. Who may bid at lot sales.-[56]. Any person may bid for and purchase any lot sold at public auction as herein provided.

§ 478. United States may acquire necessary lots.—[57]. The United States may purchase in any town in the Cherokee Nation suitable lands for courthouses, jails, or other necessary public purposes for its use by paying the appraised value thereof, the same to be selected under the direction of the department for whose use such lands are needed, and if any person have improvements thereon the same shall be appraised in like manner as other town property, and shall be paid for by the United States.

TITLES

§ 479. Patents to allotments.-[58]. The Secretary of the Interior shall furnish the principal chief with blank patents necessary for all conveyances herein provided for, and when any citizen receives his allotment of land, or when⚫ any allotment has been so ascertained and fixed that title should under the provisions of this act be conveyed, the principal chief shall thereupon proceed to execute and deliver to him a patent conveying all the right, title, and interest of the Cherokee Nation, and of all other citizens, in and to the lands embraced in his allotment certificate.

§ 480. Patents to be approved by Secretary.-[59]. Al conveyances shall be approved by the Secretary of the Interior, which shall serve as a relinquishment to the grantee of all the right, title, and interest of the United States in and to the lands embraced in his patent.

§ 481. Acceptance of patent-Effect of.-[60]. Any allottee accepting such patent shall be deemed to assent to the allotment and conveyance of all the lands of the tribe as provided in this act, and to relinquish all his right, title, and interest to the same, except in the proceeds of lands reserved from allotment.