extended them of making a showing under their claims to these lands, it is directed that a notice, which should contain a copy of the act in full, be given and published in a newspaper having general circulation in the vicinity of the lands in question, and if necessary two papers should be selected, advising all persons who settled upon or entered any of these lands under the permission of this Department, that they may appear at the local land office at a date to be fixed in the notice, which should be not less than forty days from the date of the first publication, and make proof of their claims within the scope of the investigation directed by the act of February 26, 1904. Special notice should be issued to all those having made entry of any portion of these lands, or referred to in special agent Loomis's report, the same to be given by the local officers either personally or by registered mail addressed to the last-known address of such persons as shown by the records or known to those officers, and the special agent detailed for this investigation should also be instructed while making his investigation in the field, to advise the parties, so far as within his power, of the opportunity extended them and give them all possible aid in making showing of settlement and improvements under the investigation directed, either before himself in the field or at the local land office. The local officers should be specially advised to see that such examinations as may be had before their office are conducted within the scope of the inquiry directed to be made by the act of February 26, 1904, and at the conclusion of the investigation, should forward all showings to your office, together with the report of the special agent in the premises, when the data will be compiled in convenient shape for report to Congress. A further branch of inquiry is directed by the legislation, namely, with regard to negotiations with the Eastern Oregon Land Company for the purpose of ascertaining at what price and on what terms said. company will relinquish the lands settled upon, together with improvements thereon, but this branch of the investigation will be conducted independently and under the immediate direction of the Department. HOMESTEAD ENTRIES-ALIENS-VOID DECLARATIONS OF INTENTION- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., May 13, 1904. Registers and Receivers, United States Land Offices. GENTLEMEN: Your attention is called to the following act of Congress, entitled "An act to validate certain original homestead entries and extend the time to make proofs thereon," approved April 23, 1904 (33 Stat., 298): Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where aliens have heretofore made original homestead entries, based upon void declarations of intention to become citizens of the. United States made before United States Commissioners, such original entries are hereby validated, and the time of such entrymen in which to make final proof on their entries is hereby extended for a period of two years, to enable such entrymen to legally secure final naturalization papers: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be held to affect existing adverse claims to land embraced in such enteries. SEC. 2. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. The act validates all original homestead entries which were made prior to the passage of the act by persons of foreign birth who had theretofore declared their intention to become citizens of the United States before United States Commissioners, provided no adverse claim had attached to the land covered by any such entry. Said act also extends the time for the submission of final proof on all such entries for a period of two years. Persons having entries affected by this act will, therefore, be entitled to nine years from the date of the entry within which to legally secure final naturalization papers and submit final proof in support of their entries. You will observe, however, that the act does not dispense with proof of final naturalization when proof is made on any such entry. Very respectfully, Approved: J. H. FIMPLE, Acting Commissioner. E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary. SETTLERS UPON WISCONSIN CENTRAL RAILROAD AND THE DALLES MILITARY WAGON ROAD LAND GRANTS. CIRCULAR. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., May 13, 1904. Registers and Receivers, United States Land Offices. GENTLEMEN: The act of April 19, 1904 (33 Stat., 184), reads as follows: That all qualified homesteaders who, under an order issued by the land department, bearing date October twenty-second, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and taking effect November second, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, made settlement upon and improved any portion of an odd-numbered section within the conflicting limits of the grants made in aid of the construction of the Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway and the Wisconsin Central Railroad, and were thereafter prevented from completing title to the land so settled upon and improved by reason of the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Wisconsin Central Railroad Company against Forsythe, One hundred and fifty-ninth United States, page forty-six; and all qualified homesteaders who made settlement upon and improved any portion of an odd-numbered section within the conflicting limits of the grants made in aid of the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad and The Dalles military wagon road, under orders issued by the land department treating such lands as forfeited railroad lands, and were thereafter prevented from completing title to the land so settled upon and improved by reason of the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Wilcox against Eastern Oregon Land Company, One hundred and seventy-sixth United States, page fifty-one, shall, in making final proof upon homestead entries made for other lands, bę given credit for the period of their bona fide residence upon and the amount of their improvements made on the lands for which they were unable to complete title: Provided, That no such person shall be entitled to the benefits of this act who shall fail to make entry within two years after the passage of this act: And provided further, That this act shall not be considered as entitling any person to make another homestead entry who shall have received the benefits of the homestead law since being prevented, as aforesaid, from completing title to the lands as aforesaid settled upon and improved by him. To entitle a homestead claimant to the benefits intended to be conferred by this act, he must have been a qualified homesteader at the time of his settlement and residence upon his original claim, and his entry must be made within two years from the date of the approval of this act to wit, on or before April 19, 1906-and those persons who have received the benefits of the homestead law since being prevented from completing title to the lands settled upon and improved by them within the limits of the grants named, for the reasons set forth in the act, are excluded from its benefits. Therefore, when any homestead claimant in making final proof on his entry claims credit, under the provisions of this act, for the period of his residence upon and the amount of his improvements made on his original claim, you will require him to make affidavit describing such claim by legal subdivisions and setting forth the facts relative to his settlement, residence, and improvements thereon, which must be corroborated by the affidavits of at least two witnesses having knowledge of such facts, and said affidavits must satisfactorily show compliance with the law to the extent claimed, as they will form a part of the final proof for the land, title to which is sought. You will also require the claimant to make affidavit that he has not received the benefits of the homestead law since being prevented from completing title to the land originally settled upon and claimed. Very respectfully, Approved: J. H. FIMPLE, Acting Commissioner. E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary. OPENING OF SIOUX INDIAN LANDS OF THE ROSEBUD RESERVATION, SOUTH DAKOTA. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas, by an agreement between the Sioux tribe of Indians on the Rosebud Reservation, in the State of South Dakota, on the one part, and James McLaughlin, a United States Indian inspector, on the other part, amended and ratified by act of Congress approved April 23, 1904 (33 Stat., 254), the said Indian tribe ceded, conveyed, transferred, relinquished, and surrendered, forever and absolutely, without any reservation whatsoever, expressed or implied, unto the United States of America all their claim, title, and interest of every kind and character in and to the unallotted lands embraced in the followingdescribed tract of country now in the State of South Dakota, to wit: Commencing in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri River at the intersection of the south line of Brule County; thence down said middle of the main channel of said river to the intersection of the ninety-ninth degree of west longitude from Greenwich; thence due south to the forty-third parallel of latitude; thence west along said parallel of latitude to its intersection with the tenth guide meridian; thence north along said guide meridian to its intersection with the township line between townships one hundred and one hundred and one north; thence east along said township line to the point of beginning. The unallotted and unreserved land to be disposed of hereunder approximates 382,000 acres, lying and being within the boundaries of Gregory County, South Dakota, as said county is at present defined and organized; And whereas, in pursuance of said act of Congress ratifying the agreement named, the lands necessary for subissue station, Indian day school, Catholic and Congregational missions, are by this proclamation, as hereinafter appears, reserved for such purposes, respectively; And whereas, in the act of Congress ratifying the said agreement, it is provided: SEC. 2. That the lands ceded to the United States under said agreement, excepting such tracts as may be reserved by the President, not exceeding three hundred and ninety-eight and sixty-seven one-hundredths acres in all, for subissue station, Indian day school, one Catholic mission, and two Congregational missions, shall be disposed of under the general provisions of the homestead and townsite laws of the United States, and shall be opened to settlement and entry by proclamation of the President, which proclamation shall prescribe the manner in which these lands may be settled upon, occupied, and entered by persons entitled to make entry thereof; and no person shall be permitted to settle upon, occupy, or enter any of said lands, except as prescribed in such proclamation, until after the expiration of sixty days from the time when the same are opened to settlement and entry: Provided, That the rights of honorably discharged Union soldiers and sailors of the late civil and the Spanish war or Philippine insurrection, as defined and described in sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of March first, nineteen hundred and one, shall not be abridged: And provided further, That the price of said lands entered as homesteads under the provisions of this act shall be as follows: Upon all lands entered or filed upon within three months after the same shall be opened for settlement and entry, four dollars per acre, to be paid as follows: One dollar per acre when entry is made; seventy-five cents per acre within two years after entry; seventy-five cents per acre within three years after entry; seventy-five cents per acre within four years after entry, and seventy-five cents per acre within six months after the expiration of five years after entry. And upon all land entered or filed upon after the expiration of three months and within six months after the same shall be opened for settlement and entry, three dollars per acre, to be paid as follows: One dollar per acre when entry is made; fifty cents per acre within two years after entry; fifty cents per acre within three years after entry; fifty cents per acre within four years after entry, and fifty cents per acre within six months after the expiration of five years after entry. After the expiration of six months after the same shall be opened for settlement and entry the price shall be two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be paid as follows: Seventy-five cents when entry is made; fifty cents per acre within two years after entry; fifty cents per acre within three years after entry; fifty cents per acre within four years after entry, and twenty-five cents per acre within six months after the expiration of five years after entry; Provided, That in case any entryman fails to make such payment or any of them within the time stated, all rights in and to the land covered by his or her entry shall at once cease, and any payments theretofore made shall be forfeited, and the entry shall be forfeited and held for cancellation and the same shall be canceled: And provided, That nothing in this act shall prevent homestead settlers from commuting their entries under section twenty-three hundred and one, Revised Statutes, by paying for the land entered the price fixed herein, receiving credit for payments previously made. In addition to the price to be paid for the land, the entryman shall pay the same fees and commissions at the time of commutation or final entry, as now provided by law, where the price of the land is one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre: And provided further, That all lands herein ceded and opened to settlement under this act, remairing undisposed of at the expiration of four years from the taking effect of this act, shall be sold and disposed of for cash, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, not more than six hundred and forty acres to any one purchaser. SEC. 4. That sections sixteen and thirty-six of the lands hereby acquired in each township shall not be subject to entry, but shall be reserved for the use of the common schools and paid for by the United States at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, and the same are hereby granted to the State of South Dakota for such purpose; and in case any of said sections, or parts thereof, of the land in said county of Gregory are lost to said State of South Dakota by reason of allotments thereof to any Indian or Indians now holding the same, or otherwise, the governor of said State, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, is hereby authorized, in the tract herein ceded, to locate other lands not occupied not exceeding two sections in any one township, which shall be paid for by the United States as herein provided in quantity equal to the loss, and such selections shall be made prior to the opening of such lands to settlement. And whereas all of the conditions required by law to be performed prior to the opening of said tracts of land to settlement and entry have been, as I hereby declare, duly performed; Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power vested in me by law, do |