association of fathers are conducting the church, school, and farm on said lands; and Whereas by a certain agreement with the Absentee Shawnee Indians, in said Territory, made on the 26th day of June, 1890, said last-named Indians ceded, relinquished, and surrendered to the United States all their title and interest in and to the lands in said Territory, and particularly described in Article I of said agreement, provided that all allotments of lands theretofore made, or then being made, or to be made, to said Absentee Shawnees under the provisions of the general allotment act approved February 8, 1887, shall be confirmed; that in all allotments to be thereafter made no person shall have the right to select his or her allotment in sections 16 and 36 in any Congressional township, nor in any land heretofore set apart in said tract of country for any use by the United States, or for school, school-farm, or religious purposes; nor shall said sections 16 and 36 be subject to homestead entry, but shall be held by the United States for such purposes so long as the United States shall see fit to use them; and Whereas it is provided in the act of Congress accepting, ratifying, and confirming said agreements with the Citizen band of Pottawatomie Indians and the Absentee Shawnee Indians, approved March 3, 1891 (26 U. S. Statutes at Large, pp. 989-1044), section 16— foregoing That whenever any of the lands acquired by either of the agreements respecting lands in the Indian or Oklahoma Territory shall by operation of law or proclamation of the President of the United States be open to settlement they shall be disposed of to actual settlers only, under the provisions of the homestead and town-site laws, except section 2301 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which shall not apply: Provided, however, That each settler on said lands shall before making a final proof and receiving a certificate of entry pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, and within five years from the date of the first original entry, the sum of $1.50 per acre, one-half of which shall be paid within two years; but the rights of honorably discharged Union soldiers and sailors as defined and described in sections 2304 and 2305 of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not be abridged except as to the sum to be paid as aforesaid; and all the lands in Oklahoma are hereby declared to be agricultural lands, and proof of their nonmineral character shall not be required as a condition precedent to final entry. And whereas allotments of land in severalty to said Sac and Fox Nation, said Iowa tribe, said Citizen band of Pottawatomies, and said Absentee Shawnee Indians have been made and approved, and provisional patents issued therefor, in accordance with law and the provisions of the beforementioned agreements with them respectively, and an additional 10 acres of land has been selected for the use of said Iowa tribe, to be held by said tribe in common, in accordance with the provisions of supplemental Article XII of the agreement with them; and Whereas the lands acquired by the four several agreements hereinbefore mentioned have been divided into counties by the Secretary of the Interior, as required by said last-mentioned act of Congress before the same shall be open to settlement, and lands have been reserved for countyseat purposes, as therein required; and Whereas it is provided by act of Congress for temporary government of Oklahoma, approved May 2, 1890, that there shall be reserved public highways 4 rods wide between each section of land in said Territory, the section lines being the centers of said highways, but no deduction shall be made from cash payments from each quarter section by reason thereof; and Whereas all the terms, conditions, and considerations required by said several agreements made respectively with said tribes of Indians hereinbefore mentioned, and of the laws relating thereto, precedent to opening said several tracts of land to settlement, have been, as I hereby declare, provided for, paid, and complied with: Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested by the statutes hereinbefore mentioned, also an act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the year ending June 30, 1890, and for other purposes," approved March 2, 1889, and by other the laws of the United States, and by said several agreements, do hereby declare and make known that all of the lands acquired from the Sac and Fox Nation of Indians, the Iowa tribe of Indians, the Citizen band of Pottawatomie Indians, and the Absentee Shawnee Indians by the four several agreements aforesaid, saving and excepting the lands allotted to the Indians as in said agreements provided, or otherwise reserved in pursuance of the provisions of said agreements and the said acts of Congress ratifying the same and other the laws relating thereto, will, at and after the hour of 12 o'clock noon (central standard time), Tuesday, the 22d day of this the present month of September, and not before, be opened to settlement, under the terms of and subject to all the conditions, limitations, reservations, and restrictions contained in said agreements, the statutes above specified, and the laws of the United States applicable thereto. The lands to be so opened to settlement are for greater convenience particularly described in the accompanying schedule, entitled "Schedule of lands within the Sac and Fox, Iowa, Pottawatomie (and Absentee Shawnee) reservations, in Oklahoma Territory, opened to settlement by proclamation of the President dated September 18, 1891," and which schedule is made a part hereof. Each entry shall be in square form as nearly as practicable; and no other lands in the Territory of Oklahoma are opened to settlement under this proclamation or the agreements ratifying the same. Notice, moreover, is hereby given that it is by law enacted that until said lands are opened to settlement by proclamation no person shall be permitted to enter upon and occupy the same, and no person violating this provision shall be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire M P-VOL VIII—14 any right thereto. The officers of the United States will be required to enforce this provision. And further notice is hereby given that it has been duly ordered that the lands in the Territory of Oklahoma mentioned and included in this proclamation be, and the same are, attached to the Eastern and Oklahoma land districts in said Territory, severally, as follows: 1. All that portion of the Territory of Oklahoma commencing at the southwest corner of township 14 north, range 1 east; thence east on town line between townships 13 and 14 to the west boundary of the Creek country; thence north on said boundary line to the middle of main channel of the Cimarron River; thence up the Cimarron River, following the main channel thereof, to the Indian meridian; thence south on said meridian line to the place of beginning, is attached to the Eastern land district in Oklahoma Territory, the office of which is now located at Guthrie. 2. All that portion of said Territory commencing at the northwest corner of township 13 north, range 1 east; thence south on Indian meridian to the North Fork of the Canadian River; thence west up said river to the west boundary of the Pottawatomie Indian Reservation, according to Morrill's survey; thence south, following the line as run by O. T. Morrill under his contract of September 3, 1872, to the middle of the main channel of the Canadian River; thence east down the main channel of said river to the west boundary of the Seminole Indian Reservation; thence north with said west boundary to the North Fork of the Canadian River; thence east down said North Fork to the west boundary of the Creek Nation; thence north with said west boundary to its intersection with the line between townships 13 and 14 north of the Indian base; thence west on town line between townships 13 and 14 north to the place of beginning, is attached to the Oklahoma land district in said Territory,. the office of which is now located at Oklahoma City. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of September A. D. 1891, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth. By the President:" BENJ. HARRISON. WILLIAM F. WHARTON, Acting Secretary of State. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas it is provided by section 24 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to repeal the timber-culture laws, and for other purposes ' That the President of the United States may from time to time set apart and reserve in any State or Territory having public lands bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations; and the President shall by public proclamation declare the establishment of such reservation and the limits thereof. And whereas the public lands in the State of Colorado within the limits hereinafter described are in part covered with timber, and it appears that the public good would be promoted by setting apart and reserving said lands as a public reservation: Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested by section 24 of the aforesaid act of Congress, do hereby make known and proclaim that there is hereby reserved from entry or settlement and set apart as a public reservation all those certain tracts, pieces, or parcels of land lying and being situate in the State of Colorado and particularly described as follows, to wit: Beginning at a point between sections three (3) and four (4) on the north boundary of township five (5) south, range eighty-seven (87) west of the sixth principal meridian in Colorado; thence north 12 miles; thence east to the southeast corner of township two (2) south, range eighty-six (86) west; thence north between ranges numbered eighty-five (85) and eighty-six (86) west to the base line; thence west along the base line to the southwest corner of township one (1) north, range eighty-five (85) west; thence north between ranges numbered eighty-five (85) and eighty-six (86) west to a point between sections thirteen (13) and twentyfour (24) on the east boundary of township five (5) north, range eightysix (86) west; thence west through the middle of township five (5) north to the center of township five (5) north, range ninety-one (91) west; thence south to a point between sections three (3) and four (4) on the north boundary of township two (2) north, range ninety-one (91) west; thence west six (6) miles to a point between sections three (3) and four (4) on the north boundary of township two (2) north, range ninety-two (92) west; thence south to a point on the base line between sections thirty-three (33) and thirty-four (34) of township one (1) north, range ninety-two (92) west; thence west along the base line to a point between sections three (3) and four (4) on the north boundary of township one (1) south, range ninety-two (92) west; thence south to a point between sections three (3) and four (4) on the north boundary of township two (2) south, range ninety-two (92) west; thence west to the northwest corner of township two (2) south, range ninety-three (93) west; thence south to the southwest corner of township three (3) south, range ninetythree (93) west; thence east to the northeast corner of township four (4) south, range ninety-two (92) west; thence south to the southeast corner of township four (4) south, range ninety-two (92) west; thence east to the place of beginning. Excepting from the force and effect of this proclamation all land which may have been prior to the date hereof embraced in any valid entry or covered by a lawful filing duly made in the proper United States land office, and all mining claims duly located and held according to the laws of the United States and local rules and regulations not in conflict therewith. Provided, That this exception shall not continue to apply to any particular tract of land unless the entryman or claimant continues to comply with the law under which the entry, filing, or location was made. Warning is hereby expressly given to all persons not to enter or make settlement upon the tract of land reserved by this proclamation. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 16th day of October, A. D. 1891, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth. By the President: BENJ. HARRISON. WILLIAM F. WHARTON, Acting Secretary of State. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. It is a very glad incident of the marvelous prosperity which has crowned the year now drawing to a close that its helpful and reassuring touch has been felt by all our people. It has been as wide as our country, and so special that every home has felt its comforting influence. is too great to be the work of man's power and too particular to be the device of his mind. To God, the beneficent and the all-wise, who makes the labors of men to be fruitful, redeems their losses by His grace, and the measure of whose giving is as much beyond the thoughts of man as it is beyond his deserts, the praise and gratitude of the people of this favored nation are justly due. Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States. of America, do hereby appoint Thursday, the 26th day of November present, to be a day of joyful thanksgiving to God for the bounties of His providence, for the peace in which we are permitted to enjoy them, and for the preservation of those institutions of civil and religious liberty which He gave our fathers the wisdom to devise and establish and us the courage to preserve. Among the appropriate observances of the day are rest from toil, worship in the public congregation, the renewal of family ties about our American firesides, and thoughtful helpfulness toward those who suffer lack of the body or of the spirit. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 13th day of November, By the President: JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State. |