The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-03-16
COMPUTATION PROOF IS APPLl-
CABLE TO VALLEY COUNTY
IT Is EXPECTED NEW LAW WILL BE CONDUCIVE TO RAPID
SETTLEMENT OF THIS SECTION OF THE STATE

Many inquiries have reached '.,'s .,'s
ettice regarding the passage OF 'ns
Communication bill by Congress anu
while the official instructions reia-
tive to the bill have not been sent
out. we quote from the last issue OF
the Valley County News. wh'ch
through the courtesy of Attorney
n NJ. Lewis, gave it's readers the
substance of the bill and all unofl'c-
ial explanation of it:
The act is entitled "A bill amend
Section Three of the Act OF Congress
of May i, 1888, and extend the pro-
visions of section twenty-three nun
dred and one of the Revised statutes
of the United States TO certain lahos
in the State of Montana embraced
within the provisions OF sara ace'
and for other purposes.
The act OF May !, 1888, referred 70
shove. is an act which ratlhes anu
confirms all agreement with the var
inns tribes or bands of Indians re-
siding upon the Gros-V entre' f'egah'
Blood, Blackfoot, and River Crow
reservations, in Montana Terrltory'
and no further attention need be
maid to it than to note that hefeto-
fore the communication act did not ap-
ply thereto.
The bill making the commutatloh
act applicable to the lands between
the Canadian boundary, the Monta-
na-Dakota line and the Missouri rlv-
er. speaking roughly, is as follows;
A bill. to amend section three OF
The Act OF Congress Of May first,
eighteen hundred and eighty-elght,
and extend the provisions OF section
twenty-three hundred and one o1 he-
vised Statutes Of the United States
Ia certain lands in the state OF Mon
tana embraced within the PROVISIONS
of said act, and for other purposes.
Re it enacted by the Senate and
House Of Representatives ofthe Unit
Cd States Of America, in Congress as
sembled. that section three OF the
Actof May first, eigh,ee hundred
and lightweight, ratifying ana con-
hrminp All agreement with the var
ions tribes or bands of Indians res'd-
inc upon the G,os Ventre, Piegan,
Blood, Blackfoot, and River Crow
reservations, in Montana terf'tory,
be, and the same is hereby amended
10 as to read as follows:
Sec. 8. That lands to which the
right Of the Indians is extinguished
under the foregoing agreement are a
mart of the public domain OF the
United States are open to the opera
tion of laws regulating the entry,
sale, or disposal of the same: Pro-
yided, Thatn patent shall be de-
MED to entries heretofore made in
GOOD faith under any of the laws reg
ulating entry, sale or disposal of
public lands
If said entries are in other respects
reonlar and the laws relating there
to have been complied with.
COMPUTATION
Section ntwenty-thlee hundred and
one Of the Revised Statutes is as fol-
lows:
"Nothing in this chapter shall be
80 constructed as to prevent any
person who shall hereafter avail
himself of the benefits of section
twenty-five hundred and eighty-nine
1.-THE Homestead Act] from paying
the minimum price for the quantity
of land 80 entered at any time aft er
the expiration Of fourteen calendar
months from the date of such entry
and obtaining q patent therefor. upon
making proof of settlement and of
residence and cultivation for such per-
iod of fourteen months, and the pro-
vision Of this section shall apply to
lands on the ceded portion of the
Sioux Reservation by act approved
March second, eighteen hundred and
eighty-nine in South Dakota and in
the State Of Nebraska but shall not
relieve said settlers from any pay
1aents now required by law"
The question Immediately arises as
to the time of actual residence re-
uuired under the communication act.
This has been held to be the full per-
iod of fourteen months actual resi-
dence upon the lands; that is, if the
entryman has not established resi-
dence upon the land until just be-