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Show c 0 p Y COLORADO RESTORATION OF LANDS FORMERLY INDIAN TO TRIBAL OWNERSHIP ( Instructions) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS Washington, D. C , August 10, 1934 The Commissioner of Indian Affairs To the Secretary of the Interior, ( Through the Commissioner of the General Land Office) : Section 3 of the Act of June 18, 1934 ( 48 Stat. 984), enacted to conserve and develop Indian lands and resources and for other purposes, contains the following provision: The Secretary of the Interior, if he shall find it to be in the public interest, is hereby authorized to restore to tribal ownership the remaining surplus lands of any Indian reservation heretofore opened, or authorized to be opened, to sale, or any other form of disposal by Pres-* derttia 1. nrocTarnation, or by ?. nv of the nubile I.*? nd I:, T, TS of th*? United States: Provided, however. That valid rights or claims of any persons to any lands so withdrawn existing on the date of the withdrawal shall not be affected by this Act: Provided further, That* this section shall not apply to lands within any reclamation project heretofore authorized in any Indian reservation. During the early years of our dealings with the Indians, the custom was to have individual or combined nations, tribes, or bands relinquish or cede to the United States large areas claimed by them, for which there was usually a cash or other consideration, and also the setting apart or reserving of certain lands within such ceded areas or from lands belonging to the United States and located elsewhere. These reserved lands thereafter became the recognized reservation of a tribe or band. In this way the Indians lost all identity with the ceded areas and their rights and interest therein were recognized as. having been completely extinguished. In many instances cessions, taken as a whole, embraced practically all of the lands now comprising many of the States of the west. In years following, for reasons varying on the different reservations, portions of these diminished or newly established reservations were also ceded to the United States, the Indians receiving from the Government in lieu thereof a cash consideration and other benefits. Such |
