OCR Text |
Show 54 REPORT OF THE OOMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. During the season of 1887 he made some 469 and during the summer and fall of 1888 some 583 allotments, which included those made under the agreement. April 5,1890, Special Allotting Agent James G. Hatchittwas assigned the duty of allotting the Crow Indians as soon as the further surveys contracted for should be sufficiently advanced, and on June 3d of that year the Department approved instructions for his guidance. December 8, 1890, an agreement was concluded with the Crow Indians by which they ceded a considerable portion of their reserva-tion, which agreement was ratified by Congress March 3, 1891 (26 Stats., 989). The act ratifying the agreement provided that any per-son who might be entitled to the privilege of selecting land in sever-alty under the provisions of the sixth article of the treaty of May 7, 1868 (15 Stats., 6 and 9), or under any other act or treaty, should have the right for a period of sixty days to make such selections in any part of the territory ceded by the agreement. April 14, 1891, Special Allotting Agent Hatchitt was directed to assist such of the Crow Indians as desired to make selections under the foregoing provision. Some 60% allotments were made by him on the Crow Reservation, a considerable number being on the ceded lands. August 27, 1892, a supplemental agreement was concluded with the Crow Indians, by which it was agreed that the persons named in Sched-ule A attached thereto included all the members of the tribe who were entitled to retain allotments made to them on the ceded lands before the date of the agreement, and that Schedule B included all the mem-bers of the tribe who were entitled to the benefits of the thirteenth section of the agreement of December 8, 1890 (see Annual Report for 1891, p. 669), and the provision in the act of ratification above referred to. Schedule A c~ntained 219 allotments and Schedule B 117; total, 336. A large number of the allottees on each schedule subsequently relinquished thelr allotments, retaining their rights on the diminished reservation. The agreements of December 8, 1890, and August 27, 1892, con-tained provisions for extensive systems of irrigation, the construction of which was commenced in.1891. During the progress of this work, the approval of the allotments already made and the continuance of allotment work was not deemed advisable. Irrigation work having become sufficiently advanced, Dlarch 25, 1901, the President canceled the order of May 12,1887, and authorized the making of allotment^ to the Crow Indians as provided by the act of April 11,1882 (supra), and the surveys and resurveys necessary to complete them. June 8,1901, he modified th.4 order of March 25, so as to authorize the allotments to be made under the acts of February 8, 1887 (24 Stab., 388), and February 28, 1891 (26, Stats., 794), in quantities as specified in the act of April 11,1889. |