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Show 56 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. Helena, Mont., land district.-Having concluded his work in Minne-sotaand Wisconsin, so far as was deemed practicable, Special Allotting Agent Keepers was instructedApril26,1900, to proceed to the Helena, Mont., land district to investigate 52 applications for allotments of lands therein. He found that with the exception of a few cases the applicants or beneficiaries named in the applications were Indian women married to white men and their half-blood children, and that they were not therefore entitled to allotments under the rulings and decisions of the Department. He also found that in a number of instances the women and children are enrolled at the Blackfeet Agency, and are drawing annuities as Indians of that agency, although living on the public domain with their white husbands and fathers. Mr. Keepers recommended the cancellation of a11 such applications, and the same have been reported to the General Land 05ce with the request that steps be taken to effect their cancellation. Mr. Keepers completed this work about August 15, 1900. On account of the reduced state of the appropriation for making allotments to Indians, upon the recommendation of this office the Department directed that Mr. Keepers be furloughed without pay on August 10, 1900. until such time as it may be deemed advisable to recall him to duty. He was ordered to his home, Beallsville, Ohio, August 13,1900. As soon as the condition of the allotment funds will permit, the o5ce expects to recommend his return to the field. Washington.-Special Allotting Agent William E. Casson was en-gaged in allotment work on the north half of the Colville Reservation from July, 1899, until early in January of the present year. January 29, 1900, he was instructed to proceed to Wenatchee, Wash., for tho purpose of making allotments to the Indians in that locality. Very little suitable vacant land for allotments was found there, and but 18 allotments were made. A detailed account of his .work among those Indians will be found under the head of " Wenatchi Indians," page 174. Case of Mike Williams.-June 23, 1900, the Assistant Attorney- General for the Interior Department rendered an opinion in the matter of the application of Susan Williams, a Manache Indian, for an allot-ment for her minor child, Mike Williams, of certain unsurveyed pub-lic lands in T. 25 S., R. 27 E., Independence, California, land district, under section 4 of the act of February 8, 1887 (24 Stat., 388), as amended by act of February 28, 1891 (26 Stat., 794). The opinion states that the Commissioner of the General Land O5ce had asked for instructions in this case, the facts being as follows: Susan Williams made application August 13, 1891, for her minor son, Mike Williams, 15 years of age. October 16,1899, a special agent of the Gen-eral Land O5ce reported that he had made an investigation of the facts |