OCR Text |
Show to the settlement of the claims of such white settlers as have gone upon said reser-vation nuder circumstanoes which give them an equitable right thereon. He sball investigate the subject of fencing in the said reservation, and shall indi-cate the lines such fence should follow and the estimated cost of some, and shall report upon the n~lmher of csttle and sheep which may safely be pastured within the limits recommended to be fenced. He shall furthar report upon and make recommendations with reference to any and all matters which in his judgment have any hearing upon the question of securing an equitable adjustment of the diffioul-ties now existing upon said reservation, and with especial reference to bringing about a satisfactory settlement with the white settlers, both as to the sale of their l a d s to the Government and the adjustment of the reservation liluits. July 29,1898, this office submitted to the Department for approval a draft of instructions for the guidance of an Indian inspector in the investigation of matters pertaining to the Northern Cheyenne Indians under the provisions of the above sectiou. On August 3, 1898, this office was advised that they had been forwarded to United States Inspector James McLaughlin, with directions to make the contemplated investigations. PUEBLOS IN NEW MEXICO. Znei Orant.-By reference to the annual report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office for the year 1880, page 658, it appears that tho 5uEi pueblo was granted to the inhabitants of the pueblo in 1689, by Spain, and the claim therefor was approved by the surveyor-general of New Mexico, September 25, 1879, and a survey made of its exterior boundaries in 1880. Its area was found to be 17,581.25 acres, and its location in Valencia County, N. Mex. It does not appear that the grant was approved by the Department or by Congress, although the matter was referred to Congress by the Department December 7,1880, and no patent has ever been issued for that grant. By an act of Oongress entitled LgAn act to establish a Court of Pri-vate Land Claims, and to provide for the settlement of private laud claims for certain States md Territories," approved March 8,1891 (28 Stats., p. 854), provision was made in the sixth section of the act for the confirmation of title to all lands under Spauish grant in New Mexico that bad not been confirmed by Congress or decided upon legal author-ity. By the twelfth section all such claims were to be presented within two years from the date upon which the act took effect, otherwise to be considered as abandoned and forever barred. As no petition was filed by the Indians for this pueblo, or by the Government in their behalf, it would appear that their claim to title in said pueblo is forever barred unless the second clause of the thirteenth section shall protect them in that title. It provides that '"0 claim sball be allowed that shall inter-fere with or overthrow any just or nnextinguisbed Indian title or right to any land or piece." Capt. J. L. Bullis, acting as Indian agent for the Pueblo and Jicarilla Agency, advieed this office, September 22,1896, that he had aslcertained from the governor of the Zuiii pueblo that all their deeds, documents, |