sible, an equal value of the land: Provided further, that the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes shall made a correct roll of Chickasaw freedmen entitled to any rights or benefits under the treaty made in eighteen hundred and sixty-six between the United States and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes and their descendants born to them since. the date of said treaty, and forty acres of land, including their present residences and improvements, shall be allotted to each, to be selected, held, and used by them until their rights under said treaty shall be determined, in such manner as shall hereafter be provided by act of Congress.

§ 501. Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen.-[29]. That the lands allotted to the Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen are to be deducted from the portion to be allotted under this agreement to the members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes so as to reduce the allotment to the Choctaws and Chickasaws by the value of the same.

§ 502. Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen, allotment to. -[29]. That the said Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen who may be entitled to allotments of forty acres each shall be entitled each to land equal in value to forty acres of the average land of the two nations.

§ 503. Appraisement for allotment allotment purposes.-[29]. That in the appraisement of the lands to be allotted the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes shall each have a representative, to be appointed by their respective executives, to co-operate with the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, or any one making appraisements under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior in grading and appraising the lands preparatory to allotment. And the land shall be valued in the appraisement as if in its original condition, excluding the improvements thereon.

That the appraisement and allotment shall be made under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and shall

begin as soon as the progress of the surveys, now being made by the United States government, will admit.

3504. Preference right to select allotment.—[29]. That each member of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes, including Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen, shall, where it is possible, have the right to take his allotment on land, the improvements on which belong to him, and such improvements shall not be estimated in the value of his allotment. In the case of minor children, allotments shall be selected for them by their father, mother, guardian, or the administrator having charge of their estate, preference being given in the order named, and shall not be sold during his minority. Allotments shall be selected for prisoners, convicts, and incompetents by some suitable person akin to them, and due care taken that all persons entitled thereto have allotments made to them.

§ 505. Alienation of allotted lands.-[29]. All the lands allotted shall be nontaxable while the title remains in the original allottee, but not to exceed twenty-one years from date of patent, and each allottee shall select from his allotment a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, for which he shall have a separate patent, and which shall be inalienable for twenty-one years from date of patent. This provision shall also apply to the Choctaw and Chickasaw freedman to the extent of his allotment. Selections for homesteads for minors to be made as provided herein in case of allotment, and the remainder of the lands allotted to said members shall be alienable for a price to be actually paid, and to include no former indebtedness or obligationone-fourth of said remainder in one year, one-fourth in three years, and the balance of said alienable lands in five years from the date of the patent.

§ 506. Contracts, violation of agreement.-[29]. That all contracts looking to the sale or incumbrance in any way

of the land of an allottee, except the sale hereinbefore provided, shall be null and void. No allottee shall lease his allotment, or any portion thereof, for a longer period than five years, and then without the privilege of renewal. Every lease which is not evidenced by writing, setting out specifically the terms thereof, or which is not recorded in the clerk's office of the United States court for the district in which the land is located, within three months after the date of its execution, shall be void, and the purchaser or lessee shall acquire no rights whatever by an entry or holding thereunder. And no such lease or any sale shall be valid as against the allottee unless providing to him a reasonable compensation for the lands sold or leased.

§ 507. Jurisdiction conferred upon Commission.-[29]. That all controversies arising between the members of said tribes as to their right to have certain lands allotted to them shall be settled by the commission making the allot

ments.

That the United States shall put each allottee in possession of his allotment and remove all persons therefrom objectionable to the allottee.

That the United States shall survey and definitely mark and locate the ninety-eighth (98th) meridian of west longitude between Red and Canadian rivers before allotment of the lands herein provided for shall begin.

MEMBERS' TITLES TO LANDS

§ 508. Title to allotted lands.-[29]. That, as soon as practicable after the completion of said allotments, the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation and the governor of the Chickasaw Nation shall jointly execute, under their hands and the seals of the respective nations, and deliver to each of the said allottees patents conveying to him all BLED.IND.(2D ED.)-30

the right, title, and interest of the Choctaws and Chickasaws in and to the land which shall have been allotted to him in conformity with the requirements of this agreement, excepting all coal and asphalt in or under said land. Said patents shall be framed in accordance with the provisions of this agreement, and shall embrace the land allotted to such patentee and no other land, and the acceptance of his patents by such allottee shall be operative as an assent on his part to the allotment and conveyance of all the lands of the Choctaws and Chickasaws in accordance with the provisions of this agreement, and as a relinquishment of all his right, title, and interest in and to any and all parts thereof, except the land embraced in said patents, except also his interest in the proceeds of all lands, coal, and asphalt herein excepted from allotment.

That the United States shall provide by law for proper records of land titles in the territory occupied by the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes.

RAILROADS

§ 509. Railroads.-[29]. The rights of way for railroads through the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to be surveyed and set apart and platted to conform to the respective acts of Congress granting the same in cases where said. rights of way are defined by such acts of Congress, but in cases where the acts of Congress do not define the same then Congress is memorialized to definitely fix the width of said rights of way for station grounds and between stations, so that railroads now constructed through said nations shall have, as near as possible, uniform rights of way; and Congress is also requested to fix uniform rates of fare and freight for all railroads through the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations; branch railroads now constructed and not built according to acts of Congress to pay the same rates for rights of way and station grounds as main lines.

TOWNSITES

§ 510. Townsites.-[29]. It is further agreed that there shall be appointed a commission for each of the two nations. Each commission shall consist of one member, to be appointed by the executive of the tribe for which said commission is to act, who shall not be interested in town property other than his home, and one to be appointed by the President of the United States. Each of said commissions shall lay out townsites, to be restricted as far as possible to their present limits, where towns are now located in the nation for which said commission is appointed. Said commission shall have prepared correct and proper plats of each town, and file one in the clerk's office of the United States district court for the district in which the town is located, and one with the principal chief or governor of the nation in which the town is located, and one with the Secretary of the Interior, [to] be approved by him before the same shall take effect. When said towns are so laid out, each lot on which permanent, substantial, and valuable improvements, other than fences, tillage, and temporary houses, have been made, shall be valued by the commission provided for the nation in which the town is located at the price a fee-simple title to the same would bring in the market at the time the valuation is made, but not to include in such value the improvements thereon. The owner of the improvements on each lot shall have the right to buy one residence and one business lot at fifty per centum of the appraised value of such improved property, and the remainder of such improved property at sixty-two and onehalf per centum of the said market value within sixty days from date of notice served on him that such lot is for sale, and if he purchases the same he shall, within ten days from his purchase, pay into the treasury of the United States onefourth of the purchase price, and the balance in three equal annual installments, and when the entire sum is paid shall