That the Secretary of the Interior is directed to subdivide these lands in accordance with the present streets and alleys laid out on such lands and to dispose of such lands and place the proceeds derived therefrom to the credit of the Cherokee Nation: Provided, that the owners of permanent and substantial improvements on such lots shall have the preference right of purchasing their lots for cash at a price not to exceed two hundred dollars per acre: Provided further, that all unimproved lots shall be sold at public auction to the highest bidder for cash: And provided further, that the expense of surveying, platting, laying out, and selling such lands shall be deducted from the proceeds of such sale.13

18 35 Stat. 448, c. 216.

ORIGINAL

CHAPTER 44

CHOCTAW-CHICKASAW

ALLOTMENT AGREE

MENT, ADOPTED AS SECTION 29 ACT OF JUNE 28, 1898

(CHAPTER 517, 30 STAT. 495-505)

§ 497. Submission of Atoka Agreement.

498. Parties to Atoka Agreement.

499.

Allotment to Choctaws and Chickasaws.

500. Coal and asphalt reservation.

501.

Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen.

502. Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen, allotment to. 503. Appraisement for allotment purposes.

504. Preference right to select allotment.

505. Alienation of allotted lands.

506. Contracts, violation of agreement.

507.

Jurisdiction conferred upon Commission.

508. Title to allotted lands.

509.

510.

511.

Railroads.

Townsites.

Cemeteries, churches, etc.

512. Coal and asphalt lands reserved.

513. Jurisdiction conferred upon United States courts. 514. Acts of Indian Council to be approved by President. 515. Tribal governments to continue for eight years.

518. Choctaws and Chickasaws to become citizens of the United

States.

519. Orphan lands in Mississippi.

§ 497. Submission of Atoka Agreement.-[29]. That the agreement made by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes with commissions representing the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes of Indians on the twenty-third day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, as herein amended, is hereby ratified and confirmed, and the same shall be of full force and effect if ratified before the first day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, by a majority of the whole number of votes cast by the members of said tribes at an election held for that purpose; and the executives of said tribes are hereby authorized and directed to make public proclamation that said agreement

shall be voted on at the next general election, or at any special election to be called by such executives for the purpose of voting on said agreement; and at the election held for such purpose all male members of each of said tribes qualified to vote under his tribal laws shall have the right to vote at the election precinct most convenient to his residence, whether the same be within the bounds of his tribe or not: Provided, that no person whose right to citizenship in either of said tribes or nations is now contested in original or appellate proceedings before any United States court shall be permitted to vote at said election: Provided further, that the votes cast in both said tribes or nations shall be forthwith returned duly certified by the precinct officers to the national secretaries of said tribes or nations, and shall be presented by said national secretaries to a board of commissioners consisting of the principal chief and national secretary of the Choctaw Nation, the governor and national secretary of the Chickasaw Nation, and a member of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, to be designated by the chairman of said Commission; and said board shall meet without delay at Atoka, in the Indian Territory, and canvass and count said votes and make proclamation of the result; and if said agreement as amended be so ratified, the provisions of this act shall then only apply to said tribes where the same do not conflict with the provisions of said agreement; but the provisions of said agreement, if so ratified, shall not in any manner affect the provisions of section fourteen of this act, which said amended agreement is as follows: 1

§ 498. Parties to Atoka Agreement.-[29]. This agreement, by and between the government of the United States,

1 Hayes v. Barringer, 168 Fed. 221, 93 C. C. A. 507; Morris v. Hitchcock, 194 U. S. 384, 24 Sup. Ct. 712, 48 L. Ed. 1030; United States v. Choctaw Nation, 193 U. S. 115, 24 Sup. Ct. 411, 48 L. Ed. 640; In re Joins, 191 U. S. 93, 24 Sup. Ct. 27, 48 L. Ed. 110; Stephens v. Cherokee Nation, 174 U. S. 445, 19 Sup. Ct. 722, 43 L. Ed. 1041.

of the first part, entered into in its behalf by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, Henry L. Dawes, Frank C. Armstrong, Archibald S. McKennon, Thomas B. Cabaniss, and Alexander B. Montgomery, duly appointed and authorized thereunto, and the governments of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes or Nations of Indians in the Indian Territory, respectively, of the second part, entered into in behalf of such Choctaw and Chickasaw governments, duly appointed and authorized thereunto, viz: Green McCurtain, J. S. Standley, N. B. Ainsworth, Ben Hampton, Wesley Anderson, Amos Henry, D. C. Garland, and A. S. Williams, in behalf of the Choctaw Tribe or Nation, and R. M. Harris, I. O. Lewis, Holmes Colbert, P. S. Mosely, M. V. Cheadle, R. L. Murray, William Perry, A. H. Colbert, and R. L. Boyd, in behalf of the Chickasaw Tribe or Nation.

ALLOTMENT OF LANDS

Witnesseth, that in consideration of the mutual undertakings, herein contained, it is agreed as follows:

§ 499. Allotment to Choctaws and Chickasaws.-[29]. That all the lands within the Indian Territory belonging to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians shall be allotted to the members of said tribes so as to give to each member of these tribes so far as possible a fair and equal share thereof, considering the character and fertility of the soil and the location and value of the lands.

That all the lands set apart for townsites, and the strip of land lying between the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the Arkansas and Poteau rivers, extending up said river to the mouth of Mill creek; and six hundred and forty acres each, to include the buildings now occupied by the Jones Academy, Tushkahoma Female Seminary, Wheelock Orphan Seminary, and Armstrong Orphan Academy, and ten acres for the capitol building of the Choctaw Nation;

one hundred and sixty acres each, immediately contiguous to and including the buildings known as Bloomfield Academy, Lebanon Orphan Home, Harley Institute, Rock Academy, and Collins Institute, and five acres for the capitol building in the Chickasaw Nation, and the use of one acre of land for each church house now erected outside of the towns, and eighty acres of land each for J. S. Murrow, H. R. Schermerhorn, and the widow of R. S. Bell, who have been laboring as missionaries in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations since the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six, with the same conditions and limitations as apply to lands allotted to the members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, and to be located on lands not occupied by a Choctaw or a Chickasaw, and a reasonable amount of land, to be determined by the townsite commission, to include all courthouses and jails and other public buildings not hereinbefore provided for, shall be exempted from division.2

§ 500. Coal and asphalt reservation.-[29]. And all coal and asphalt in or under the lands allotted and reserved from allotment shall be reserved for the sole use of the members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes, exclusive of freedmen: Provided, that where any coal or asphalt is hereafter opened on land allotted, sold, or reserved, the value of the use of the necessary surface for prospecting or mining, and the damage done to the other land and improvements, shall be ascertained under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior and paid to the allottee or owner of the land by the lessee or party operating the same, before operations begin. That in order to such equal division, the lands of the Choctaws and Chickasaws shall be graded and appraised so as to give to each member, so far as pos

2 Mullen v. United States, 224 U. S. 448, 32 Sup. Ct. 494, 56 L. Ed. 834; Heckman v. United States, 224 U. S. 413, 32 Sup. Ct. 424, 56 L. Ed. 820; Hendrix v. United States, 219 U. S. 79, 31 Sup. Ct. 193, 55 L. Ed. 102; Ballinger v. United States ex rel. Frost, 216 U. S. 240, 30 Sup. Ct. 338, 54 L. Ed. 464.