Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-04-11
OFFICIAL,
LAWS OF TUE UNITED STATES
Passed at the Third Session of the Thrty-Seyent
Congress.

PUBLIC-NO. IS.
AN Act for the removal OF the Sisseton, Wah-
patton, Medawakanton, and Wahpakoota
bands of Sioux or Dakotah Indians, and for
the disposition of their lands in Minnesota
and Dakota.
Be in enacted by the senate and house OF
representatives of the United States of Amer
lea in congress assembled, that the president
is authorized and hereby directed to assign to
and set apart for the Slsseton, Wahpaton.
Medawakanton, and Wahpakoota bands Of
Sioux Indians a tract of unoecupied land out
side of the limits ofany state, sufficient in ex-
tent to enable him to assign to each member
of said bands (who are willing to adopt the
pursuit of agriculture) eighty acres of good
agricultural lands, the same to be well adapt
ed for agricultural purposes.
Sect. 2. And be it further enacted, that
the several tracts OF land within the reserva-
tlons of said Indians shall be surveyed, under
the direction Of the commissioner Of the gene
raj land office, into legal subdivisions, to con-
form to the surveys of other public lands.
And the secretary OF the interior shall cause
each legal subdivision of the said lands tC he
appraised by discreet persons, to be appoint
ed by him tor that purpose. And in each in
stance where there are improvements upon
any legal subdivision of said lands the inn
proVements shall be separately appraised.
But no portion of the said lands shall be sub
lect to presumption, settlement, entry, or To-
cation, under any act of congress, unless the
party pre- emptng, settling upon, or locating
any portion Of said lands shall pay therefor
the full appraised value thereof, including the
value Of the said improvements under such
regulations as hereinafter provided.
Sect. 3. And be it further enacted, that
al,
shall be open to pre-empton, entry, and set
tlement, in the same manner as other public
lands Provided, that befole any person shall
be entitled to enter any portion Of the said
lands, by presumption or otherwise, previous
to their exposure to sale to the highest bidder,
at public cutlery, he shall become an actual
bona fide settler thereon, and shall conform
to all the regulations now provided by law in
cases of presumption, and shall pay, within
the term of one year from the date OF his set
Element, the full appraised value of the land,
and the improvement thereon, to the land Off
GERS of the district where the SAID lands are
situated; and the portions of the said reserya-
tions which may not be settled upon as atore-,
said may be sold at public auction, as other
public lands are sold, after which they shall
be subject to sale Mt private entry, as other
public lands of the United States, but no por-
ton thereof shall be sold for sum less than
their appraised value, before the first Of Janu-
airy, ammo Domini eighteen hundred and sixty
five, nor for a less price than one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre, until otherwise
provided by law.
Sect. 4. And be it further enacted, that
the money arising from said sale shall be in
vested by the secretary OF the interior for the
benefit of said Indians in their new homes, in
the establishing them in agricultural pursuits ::
Provided, that it shall be lawful for said sec
rotary to locate any merltorious individual In
dian of said bands who exerted himself to save
the lives of the whites in the late massacre
upon said lands on which the improvements
are situated, assigning the same to him to the
extent of eighty acres, to be held by such
tenure as is or may be provided by law And
provided, further, that no more than eighty
acres shall be awarded to any one Indian, I'M
der this or any other act.
Sect. 5. And be it further enacted, that
the money to be annually appropriated for the
benefit of the said Indians shall be expended
in such manner as will, in the Judgment of
the secretary of the interior, best advance the
said Indians in agricultural and mechanical
pursuits, and enable them to sustain them
selves without the aid of the government;
but no portion of said appropriations shall be
paid in money to said Indians; and in such
expenditures said secretary may make rea-
sonable discrimination in favor of the chiefs
who shall be found faithful to the government
of the United States, and efficient in main
tanning its authority and the peace of the In.
dams. Said Indians shall be subject to the
laws of the United States, and to the criminal
laws of the state or territory in which they
may happen to reside. They shall also be
subjest to such rules and regulations for their
government as the secretary of the interior
may prescribe; but they shall be incapable
of making any valid civil contract with any
person other than native member of their
tribe, without the consent of the president
The secretary of the interior shall also make
reasonable provision for the education of said
Indians, according to their capacity and the
means at his command.
Approved, March 8, 1868.