II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1817

To validate a conveyance of certain lands located in Carlton County,

Minnesota, and to provide for the compensation of certain original heirs.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 28, 1999

Mr. GRAMS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To validate a conveyance of certain lands located in Carlton

County, Minnesota, and to provide for the compensation

of certain original heirs.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. VALIDATION OF CONVEYANCE OF LANDS.

4 (a) VALIDATION.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The conveyance of the lands

6 described in subsection (b) shall be deemed to be

7 valid. Any interest in those lands of the United

8 States, including any interest held in those lands

9 that is held in trust by the United States shall be

10 treated as if those lands had been held by the
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1 United States on the date of that conveyance under

2 absolute fee simple title.

3 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall

4 take effect on the date that is 180 days after the

5 date of enactment of this Act.

6 (b) CONVEYANCE.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The conveyance of lands de8 scribed in paragraph (2) is the issuance of a patent

9 by the Director of the Bureau of Land Management

10 on February 17, 1955, and recorded in the Office of

11 the County Recorder for Carlton County on April

12 28, 1955, in Book 137 of Deeds, page 243.

13 (2) DESCRIPTION OF LANDS.—The lands de14 scribed in this paragraph are as follows: The North

Half of the Southwest Quarter (N1⁄2SW1 15 ⁄4) of Sec16 tion Fifteen (15), Township Forty-nine (49), Range

17 Seventeen (17), LESS AND EXCEPT A tract of

18 land in the North Half of the Southwest Quarter

(N1⁄2SW1 19 ⁄4) of Section Fifteen (15), Township

20 Forty-nine (49), Range Seventeen, described as fol21 lows: commencing at the Northeast corner of said

North Half of the Southwest Quarter (N1⁄2SW1 22 ⁄4)

23 thence South along the East line of said North Half

of the Southwest Quarter (N1⁄2SW1 24 ⁄4) a distance of

25 626.13 feet, thence West on a line parallel with the
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1 North Line of said North Half of the Southwest

Quarter (N1⁄2SW1 2 ⁄4) a distance of 417.42 feet,

3 thence North on a line parallel with the East line of

4 said North Half of the Southwest Quarter

(N1⁄2SW1 5 ⁄4) a distance of 626.13 feet, more or less,

6 to the North line of said North Half of the Southwest Quarter (N1⁄2SW1 7 ⁄4), thence East along said

8 North line a distance of 417.42 feet, more or less to

9 the point of commencement, containing 6 acres of

10 land, more or less.

11 SEC. 2. COMPENSATION OF ORIGINAL HEIRS.

12 (a) NOTIFICATION.—As soon as practicable after the

13 date of enactment of this Act, and in such manner as to

14 ensure that compensation may be made under subsection

15 (b) by the date specified in that subsection, the Secretary

16 of the Interior (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec17 retary’’) shall provide, for the 46 heirs of the original

18 alottee of the lands described in section 1(b)(2) (Ka ba

19 ga a ko kwe (aka Louis Bellanger) of the Fond du Lac

20 Band of Chippewa Indians) notice of—

21 (1) the right of those heirs to appropriate com22 pensation for the conveyance of lands referred to in

23 section 1(a); and

24 (2) procedures (which the Secretary shall estab25 lish) for applying to receive that compensation.
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1 (b) COMPENSATION.—Not later than 180 days after

2 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall take

3 such action as may be necessary to ensure that reasonable

4 efforts have been made to compensate the heirs referred

5 to in subsection (a) in accordance with the procedures es6 tablished by the Secretary under paragraph (2) of that

7 subsection.

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