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30 STAT. 62, pp. 85, 87, 2 SUPP. R. S. 629, p. 631, JUNE 7, 1897.

LEASES FOR MINING.

AN ACT Making appropriations for expenses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted, etc., * * *

To enable the President to cause, under the provisions of the act of February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. 388), entitled "An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians," such Indian reservations as in his judgment are advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes to be surveyed or resurveyed, for the purposes of said act, and to complete the allotment of the same, including the necessary clerical work incident thereto in the field and in the office of Indian Affairs, and delivery of trust patents, so far as allotments shall have been selected under said act, $30,000: Provided, That hereafter whenever it shall be made to appear to the Secretary of the Interior that by reason of age or disability any allottee of Indian lands under this or former acts of Congress can not personally and with benefit to himself occupy or improve his allotment or any part thereof the same may be leased, in the discretion of the Secretary, upon such terms, regulations, and conditions as shall be prescribed by him, for a term not exceeding 3 years for farming or grazing purposes, or 5 years for mining or business purposes.

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The Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to allot agricultural lands in severalty to the Uncompahgre Ute Indians now located upon or belonging to the Uncompahgre Indian Reservation in the State of Utah, said allotments to be upon the Uncompahgre and Uintah reservations or elsewhere in said State. And all the lands of said Uncompahgre Reservation not theretofore allotted in severalty to said Uncompahgre Utes shall, on and after the first day of April, 1898, be open for location and entry under all the land laws of the United States; excepting, however, therefrom all lands containing gilsonite, asphalt, elaterite, or other like substances.

And the title to all of the said lands containing gilsonite, asphaltum, elaterite, or other like substances is reserved to the United States.

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SEC. 10. That section 8 of an act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897 (29 Stat. 321, p. 353), and for other purposes, be amended by striking out from the last paragraph of said section the following proviso, to wit: "Provided, however, That any person who, in good faith, prior to the passage of this act, had discovered and opened or located a mine of coal or other mineral shall have a preference right of purchase for 90 days from and after the official filing in the local land office of the approved plat of survey provided for by this section."

56974-Bull. 94, pt 2-15—12

A. INDIAN LANDS-LEASE FOR MINING PURPOSES.

1. LIMITATION ON POWER OF INDIANS TO LEASE.

2. INDIANS MAY LEASE LANDS FOR MINING SUBJECT TO APPROVAL. 3. OVERLAPPING LEASES-VALIDITY.

4. ASSIGNMENT OF ROYALTIES.

5. LEASE FOR MINING PURPOSES-MINERALS EXCEPTED.

6. RIGHT OF GOVERNMENT TO SUE TO CANCEL LEASE.

7. FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE LEASE-EFFECT.

1. LIMITATION ON POWER OF INDIANS TO LEASE.

This act in making an Indian allottee a citizen and vesting him with power to lease for a particular purpose and not beyond a stated term for such consideration as may be agreed upon between him and his lessee, was intended by Congress that in all other respects, save as to the purposes, which must be either grazing, farming, or mining, the allottee is clothed with as full and complete power to lease his land as any white man; and if he is imposed upon by the lessee as to any such other feature in such a way as will give a white citizen a right of action for legal redress, then he and not the Government must sue.

United States v. Abrams, 181 Fed. 847, p. 852.

2. INDIANS MAY LEASE LANDS FOR MINING SUBJECT TO APPROVAL.

This act modified the restrictions placed upon Quawpaw Indians under the act of March 2, 1895 (28 Stat. 907), so as to permit members of the tribe to lease their allotted lands for terms not exceeding three years for farming and grazing purposes, and not exceeding 10 years for mining or business purposes.

Wah-tah-noh-zhe v. Moore, 36 Okla. 631.
Tidwell v. Dobson, 37 Okla. 180, p. 181.

This act provides that leases for mining purposes shall not exceed 10 years, and a lease for a longer term is invalid.

United States v. Abrams, 181 Fed. 847, p. 851.

The authority given by this act to the tribes of Indians named to lease their lands for farming or grazing purposes does not revoke the existing statutory authority requiring leases for mining purposes to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Sisseton, etc., Indian Lands, In re, 25 L. D. 364.

3. OVERLAPPING LEASES-VALIDITY.

This act does not prevent what is styled overlapping leases for mining purposes, and overlapping leases for 10 years are not void, though the latter leases did not in fact cancel the earlier ones.

United States v. Noble, 197 Fed. 292, p. 293.

An Indian allottee may while he has a valid outstanding lease under this act make another lease to another lessee which does not exceed the lawful term so that the second lessee may enjoin that portion of his term beyond the termination of the first lease.

Unites States v. Abrams, 181 Fed. 847, p. 853.

4. ASSIGNMENT OF ROYALTIES.

An Indian allottee making a valid lease for mining purposes, providing for the payment of stipulated royalties for the maximum period permitted by the statute, may make a valid assignment of such royalties.

United States V. Abrams, 181 Fed. 847, p. 856.

Royalties due an Indian allottee under a mining lease can be legally assigned.

Tidwell v. Dobson, 37 Okla. 180,
P. 182.
Wah-tah-noh-zhe v. Moore, 36 Okla. 631.
See United States v. Noble, 197 Fed. 292.

5. LEASE FOR MINING PURPOSES-MINERALS EXCEPTED.

This act recognizes the validity of the reservation and also expressly excepts all lands containing gilsonite, asphaltum, elaterite, or other like substances, and provides that the title to all such lands is reserved to the United States.

Meeks, In re, 29 L. D. 456, p. 458.

6. RIGHT OF GOVERNMENT TO SUE TO CANCEL LEASE.

Where Congress has extended the right to lease Indian lands for mining purposes with no conditions except that for a particular purpose the term shall not exceed a stated number of years, and where a lease is expressly for a purpose contemplated in the act and does not exceed the term permitted, then the Government of the United States can not maintain an action in its own name to cancel such a lease.

United States v. Abrams, 181 Fed. 847, p. 852.

If an Indian allottee has power to make a lease for the purpose and within the period specified by law, he could agree with the lessee that it might be canceled and annulled, and the fact that he has made a lease for the term of ten years ties his hands and he is powerless to enter into an agreement modifying or canceling his lease during its term.

United States v. Abrams, 181 Fed. 847, p. 853.

If any contract or lease made by an Indian allottee is in violation of the conditions or limitations imposed by acts of Congress, under which the allottee has taken his allotment, then the United States has such an interest as entitles it to maintain an action to cancel.

United States v. Abrams, 181 Fed. 847, p. 849.

See United States v. Allen, 179 Fed. 13.

7. FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE LEASE-EFFECT.

The fact that an Indian lease of land for mining purposes was not acknowledged does not affect its validity as between the parties.

United States v. Noble, 197 Fed. 292, p. 295.

30 STAT. 495, p. 497, 2 SUPP. R. S. 814, p. 816, JUNE 28, 1898.

LEASING BY ALLOTTEES.

AN ACT For the protection of the pepole of the Indian Territory.

Be it enacted, etc.,

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SEC. 11. That when the roll of citizenship of any one of said nations or tribes is fully completed as provided by law, and the survey of the lands of said nation or tribe is also completed, the commission

heretofore appointed under acts of Congress, and known as the "Dawes Commission," shall proceed to allot the exclusive use and occupancy of the surface of all the lands of said nation or tribe susceptible of allotment among the citizens thereof, as shown by said roll, giving to each, so far as possible, his fair and equal share thereof, considering the nature and fertility of the soil, location, and value of same; but all oil, coal, asphalt, and mineral deposits in the lands of any tribe are reserved to such tribe, and no allotment of such lands shall carry the title to such oil, coal, asphalt, or mineral deposits; and all town sites shall also be reserved to the several tribes, and shall be set apart by the commission heretofore mentioned as incapable of allotment.

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SEC. 13. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed from time to time to provide rules and regulations in regard to the leasing of oil, coal, asphalt, and other minerals in said territory, and all such leases shall be made by the Secretary of the Interior; and any lease for any such minerals otherwise made shall be absolutely void. No lease shall be made or renewed for a longer period than 15 years, nor cover the mineral in more than 640 acres of land, which shall conform as nearly as possible to the surveys. Lessees shall pay on each oil, coal, asphalt, or other mineral claim at the rate of $100 per annum, in advance, for the first and second years; $200 per annum, in advance, for the third and fourth years, and $500, in advance, for each succeeding year thereafter, as advanced royalty on the mine or claim on which they are made. All such payments shall be a credit on royalty when each said mine is developed and operated and its production is in excess of such guaranteed annual advanced payments; and all lessees must pay said annual advanced payments on each claim, whether developed or undeveloped; and should any lessee neglect or refuse to pay such advanced annual royalty for the period of 60 days after the same becomes due and payable on any lease, the lease on which default is made shall become null and void, and the royalties paid in advance shall then become and be the money and property of the tribe. Where any oil, coal, asphalt, or other mineral 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 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: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall impair the rights of any holder or owner of a leasehold interest in any oil, coal rights, asphalt, or mineral which have been assented to by act of Congress, but all such interests shall continue unimpaired hereby, and shall be assured to such holders or owners by leases from the Secretary of the Interior for the term not exceeding 15 years, but subject to payment of advanced royalties as herein provided, when such leases are not operative, to the rate of royalty on coal mined, and the rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and preference shall be given to such parties in renewals of such leases: And provided further, That when, under the customs and laws heretofore existing and prevailing in the Indian Territory, leases have been made of different groups or parcels of oil, coal, asphalt, or other mineral deposits, and possession has been taken thereunder

and improvements made for the development of such oil, coal, asphalt, or other mineral deposits, by lessees or their assigns, which have resulted in the production of oil, coal, asphalt, or other mineral in commercial quantities by such lessees or their assigns, then such parties in possession shall be given preference in the making of new leases, in compliance with the directions of the Secretary of the Interior; and in making new leases due consideration shall be made for the improvements of such lessees, and in all cases of the leasing or renewal of leases of oil, coal, asphalt, and other mineral deposits preference shall be given to parties in possession who have made improvements. The rate of royalty to be paid by all lessees shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 15. * ** The person authorized by the tribe or tribes may execute or deliver to any such purchaser, without expense to him, a deed conveying to him the title to such lands or town lots; and thereafter the purchase money shall become the property of the tribe; and all such money shall, when title to all the lots in the town belonging to any tribe have been thus perfected, be paid per capita to the members of the tribe: Provided, however, That in those town sites designated and laid out under the provisions of this act where coal leases are now being operated and coal is being mined there shall be reserved from appraisement and sale all lots occupied by houses of miners actually engaged in mining, and only while they are so engaged, and in addition thereto a sufficient amount of land, to be determined by the appraisers, to furnish homes for the men actually engaged in working for the lessees operating said mines and a sufficient amount for all buildings and machinery for mining purposes: And provided further, That when the lessees shall cease to operate said mines, then, and in that event, the lots of land so reserved shall be disposed of as provided for in this act.

SEC. 16. That it shall be unlawful for any person, after the passage of this act, except as hereinafter provided, to claim, demand, or receive, for his own use or for the use of anyone else, any royalty on oil, coal, asphalt, or other mineral, or on any timber or lumber, or any other kind of property whatsoever, or any rents on any lands or property belonging to any one of said tribes or nations in said territory, or for anyone to pay to any individual any such royalty or rents or any consideration therefor whatsoever; and all royalties. and rents hereafter payable to the tribe shall be paid, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the tribe to which they belong: * * *

SEC. 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.

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