II
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5200
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
OCTOBER 7 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994
Received
AN ACT
To resolve the 107th meridian boundary dispute between
the Crow Indian Tribe and the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crow Boundary Settle-
ment Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
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(1) Under the treaty between the United States
of America and the Crow Tribe of Indians concluded
May 7, 1868 (commonly known as the ‘‘Fort Lara-
mie Treaty of 1868’’; 15 Stat. 649), the eastern
boundary of the Crow Indian Reservation was estab-
lished as the 107th meridian for approximately 90
miles from the Yellowstone River to the boundary
between Montana and Wyoming.
(2) Under Executive orders issued in 1884 and
1900, the western boundary of the Northern Chey-
enne Reservation was established as the 107th me-
ridian. The 107th meridian was intended to be the
common boundary between the Crow Reservation
and Northern Cheyenne Reservation for approxi-
mately 25 miles.
(3) From 1889 through 1891, a survey was
conducted of the eastern boundary of the Crow Res-
ervation. The 1891 survey line strayed to the west,
and resulted in the exclusion from the Crow Indian
Reservation of a strip of land of approximately
36,164 acres. Approximately 12,964 acres of such
strip of land were included in the Northern Chey-
enne Reservation. Deposits of low sulphur coal un-
derlie the land excluded from the Crow Indian Res-
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ervation, including the land included in the Northern
Cheyenne Indian Reservation.
(4)(A) The erroneous nature of the survey was
not discovered for several decades. Meanwhile, the
areas along the 107th meridian to the north and
south of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation
were opened to settlement in the late nineteenth cen-
tury and early part of the twentieth century. Patents
were issued to non-Indian persons and to the State
of Montana for most of the surface land and a sig-
nificant portion of the minerals in these areas be-
tween the 107th meridian and the 1891 survey line.
(B) The 12,964 acres included in the Northern
Cheyenne Reservation have been treated as part of
the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and occupied by
the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the Northern
Cheyenne allottees, and their successors in interest.
(5) Legislation to resolve the 107th meridian
boundary dispute was introduced in Congress in the
1960’s and 1970’s, and again in 1992, but no such
legislation was enacted into law.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to settle
the 107th meridian boundary dispute created by the erro-
neous survey of the eastern boundary of the Crow Indian
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Reservation made by the Federal Government described
in subsection (a)(3).
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) CROW
TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Crow Tribe’’
means the Crow Tribe of Indians, the duly recog-
nized governing body of the Crow Indian Reserva-
tion.
(2) DISPUTED
AREA.—The term ‘‘disputed
area’’ means the approximately 36,164 acres of
land, including the minerals, located between the
107th meridian on the east and the 1891 survey line
on the west from the Yellowstone River on the north
to the boundary between the State of Wyoming and
the State of Montana on the south.
(3) 1891 SURVEY.—The term ‘‘1891 survey’’
means the survey of the eastern boundary of the
Crow Reservation conducted by the United States
Government from 1889 through 1891.
(4) 1891 SURVEY LINE.—The term ‘‘1891 sur-
vey line’’ means the erroneous boundary line result-
ing from the survey of the 107th meridian which
was completed in 1891.
(5) NORTHERN CHEYENNE TRIBE.—The term
‘‘Northern Cheyenne Tribe’’ means the Northern