| OCR Text |
Show ALLOTMENTS. Seminole.-The Seminole agreement, approved by the act of July 1, 1898 (30 Stats., 567), declares t h a G All lands belonging to the Seminole tribe of Indians shall be divided into three el-, designatd as first, second, and third class; the first class to he appmised at five dollars, the second class at two dollars and fifty cents,'and the third class at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and the same shall he divided among the members of the tribe, so that each shall have an equal share thereof in value so far as may be, the location and fertility of the soil considered; giving to each the right to select his allotment so as to include any improvements thereon owned by him at the time. The Seminole agreement, approved by the act of June 22,1900 (31 Stats., 250), is in part as follows: First. That the Commiasion to the Five Civilized Tribes, in making the rolls of Seminole citizens, pursuant to the act of Congress approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall placeon saidrolls the namesof all children horn to Scminole citizens up to and including the thirty-first day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, md the names of all Seminole citizens then living, and the rolls so made, when approved by the Secretary of the Interior as provided in said act of Congress, shall constitute the final rolls of Seminole citizens upon which the allotments of lands and distribution of money and other property belonging to the Seminole Indians shall be made, and to no other persons. Second. If any member of the Seminole tribe of Indians shall die after the thirty-first day of Dezember, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, the lands, money, and other property to which he would he entitled, if living, shall deacend to his heirs who are Seminole citizens, according to the laws of descent and distribution of the State of Arkansas, and be allotted and distributed to them acwrdingly. The commission reported June 17, 1901, that the lands of the Semi-nole Nation had been appraised, and that the total appraised value thereof was $851,266.46, thus making the standard value of an allot-ment 8308.76. With that report were forwarded letters of May 29 and June 10, 1901, from the commission to Frederick T. Marr, chief of the commission's allotment o5ce at Wewoka, Seminole Nation, instructing him in the matter of making allotments to Seminole citi-zens. June 26, in transmitting the report, this o5cc approved the instructions given by the commission as to Seminole allotments and the Department concurred July 1. June 6 last the commission asked to be advised whether or not the Department considered it the duty of the commission to distribute among his heirs the land to which a deceased Seminole would be enti-tled if he were living. The commission gave it as its opinion that it was "reqnired to allot to the heirs, and hence must by a proper pro-ceeding first determine the heirs, meanwhile reserving the land to be disposed of." July 16 the office transmitted the commission's report to the Department, and expressed the opinion that whatever land any Seminole who died since December 31,1899, would be entitled to if |
