deemed to be Mississippi Choctaws, entitled to benefits under article fourteen of the said treaty of September twentyseventh, eighteen hundred and thirty, and to identification as such by said Commission, but this direction or provision shall be deemed to be only a rule of evidence and shall not be invoked by or operate to the advantage of any applicant who is not a Mississippi Choctaw of the full blood, or who is not the descendant of a Mississippi Choctaw who received a patent to land under said treaty, or who is otherwise barred from the right of citizenship in the Choctaw Nation, all of said Mississippi Choctaws so enrolled by said Commission shall be upon a separate roll.

§ 562. Mississippi Choctaws-Allotments upon condition.-[42]. When any such Mississippi Choctaw shall have in good faith continuously resided upon the lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations for a period of three years, including his residence thereon before and after such enrollment, he shall, upon due proof of such continuous. bona fide residence, made in such manner and before such officer as may be designated by the Secretary of the Interior, receive a patent for his allotment, as provided in the Atoka Agreement, and he shall hold the lands allotted to him as provided in this agreement for citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations.14

§ 563. Mississippi Choctaws - Enrollments of. [43]. Applications for enrollment as Mississippi Choctaws, and applications to have land set apart to them as such, must be made personally before the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes. Fathers may apply for their minor chi!dren; and if the father be dead, the mother may apply; husbands may apply for wives. Applications for orphans, insane persons, and persons of unsound mind may be made by duly appointed guardian or curator, and for aged and infirm persons and prisoners by agents duly authorized there

14 Hoteyabi v. Vaughn, 32 Okl. 807, 124 Pac. 63.

unto by power of attorney, in the discretion of said Commission.

§ 564. Mississippi Choctaws-Proof of continuous residence.-[44]. If within four years after such enrollment any such Mississippi Choctaw, or his heirs or representatives if he be dead, fails to make proof of such continuous bona fide residence for the period so prescribed, or up to the time of the death of such Mississippi Choctaw, in case of his death after enrollment, he, and his heirs and representatives if he be dead, shall be deemed to have acquired no interest in the lands set apart to him, and the same shall be sold at public auction for cash, under rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and the proceeds paid into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes, and distributed per capita with other funds of the tribes. Such lands shall not be sold for less than their appraised value. Upon payment of the full purchase price patent shall issue to the purchaser.

TOWNSITES

§ 565. Townsites.-[45]. The Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes hereby assent to the Act of Congress approved May 31, 1900 (31 Stats. 221), in so far as it pertains to townsites in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, ratifying and confirming all acts of the government of the United States thereunder, and consent to a continuance of the provisions of said act not in conflict with the terms of this agrecment.15

§ 566. Townsites-Acreage may be added.-[46]. As to those townsites heretofore set aside by the Secretary of the Interior on the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, as provided in said Act of Congress of May 31, 1900, such additional acreage may be add

15 Ballinger v. United States ex rel. Frost, 216 U. S. 240, 30 Sup. Ct. 338, 54 L. Ed. 464.

ed thereto, in like manner as the original townsite was set apart, as may be necessary for the present needs and reasonable prospective growth of said townsites, the total acreage not to exceed six hundred and forty acres for each townsite.

567. Townsites-Sufficient land for present and prospective growth.-[47]. The lands which may hereafter be set aside and reserved for townsites upon the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, under the provisions of said Act of May 31, 1900, shall embrace such acreage as may be necessary for the present needs and reasonable prospective growth of such townsites, not to exceed six hundred and forty acres for each townsite.

§ 568. Townsites-Compensation to owner of improvements.-[48]. Whenever any tract of land shall be set aside for townsite purposes, as provided in said Act of May 31, 1900, or by the terms of this agreement, which is occupied by any member of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nations, such occupant shall be fully compensated for his improvements thereon out of the funds of the tribes arising. from the sale of townsites, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, the value of such improvements to be determined by a board of appraisers, one member of which shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, one by the chief executive of the tribe in which the townsite is located, and one by the occupant of the land, said board of appraisers to be paid such. compensation for their services as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior out of any appropriation for surveying, laying out, platting, and selling townsites.

§ 569. Townsites-Provisions for vesting title.-[49]. Whenever the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw 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 commissioner appointed by the

chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nation to qualify or act, or otherwise, the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, may appoint a commissioner to fill the vacancy thus created.

570. Townsites-Additional commissions authorized. -[50]. There shall be appointed, in the manner provided in the Atoka Agreement, such additional townsite commissions as the Secretary of the Interior may deem necessary, for the speedy disposal of all townsites in said nations: Provided, that the jurisdiction of said additional townsite commissions shall extend to such townsites only as shall be designated by the Secretary of the Interior.

§ 571. Townsites-Patents to purchasers.-[51]. Upon the payment of the full amount of the purchase price of any lot in any townsite in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, appraised and sold as herein provided, or sold as herein provided, the chief executives of said nations shall jointly execute, under their hands and the seals of the respective nations and deliver to the purchaser of the said lot, a patent conveying to him all right, title, and interest of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes in and to said lot.

§ 572. Townsites-Deeds to lots.-[52]. All town lots in any one townsite to be conveyed to one person shall, as far as practicable, be included in one patent, and all patents shall be executed free of charge to the grantee.

§ 573. Towns of two hundred population or less.-[53]. Such towns in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations 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 not later than ninety days after the final ratification of this agreement, in the same manner as herein provided for other townsites; but in no such case shall more than forty acres of land be set aside for any such townsite.

§ 574. Government-Survey of townsites confirmed.[54]. All townsites heretofore set aside by the Secretary of the Interior on the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved May 31, 1900 (31 Stat. 221), with the additional acreage added thereto, and all townsites which may hereafter be set aside, as well as all townsites set aside under the provisions of this agreement having a population of less than two hundred, shall be surveyed, laid out, platted, appraised, and disposed of in a like manner, and with like preference rights accorded to owners of improvements as other townsites in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations are surveyed, laid out, platted, appraised, and disposed of under the Atoka Agreement, as modified or supplemented by the said Act of May 31, 1900: Provided, that occupants or purchasers of lots in townsites in said Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations upon which no improvements have been made prior to the passage of this act by Congress shall pay the full appraised value of said lots instead of the percentage named in the Atoka Agreement.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS

§ 575. Municipal corporations. [55]. Authority is hereby conferred upon municipal corporations in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to issue bonds and borrow money thereon for sanitary purposes and for the construction of sewers, lighting plants, waterworks, and schoolhouses, subject to all the provisions of laws of the United States in force in the organized territories of the United States in reference to municipal indebtedness and issuance of bonds for public purposes; and said provisions of law are hereby put in force in said nations and made applicable to the cities and towns therein the same as if specially enacted in reference thereto; and said municipal corporations are hereby authorized to vacate streets and alleys, or parts thereof, and said