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Show 32 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. term of 10 years. The. act of March 3, 1905 (33 Stat. L., .1061), ex-tended the lease for the period of 10 years from March 16,1906, but reduced the area to 680,000 acres; and operations have been conducted with more or less success by the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Go., which succeeded by assignment to the rights of Edwin B. Foster, and by the sublessees of that company. About two years ago the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Co. and its sublessees app1.ied for a renewal of the lease or for a new lease on the lands, to take effect upon the expiration of theexisting lease. Since the app'lication was submitted the question has been discussed and various investigations conducted with a view .to ascertaining the extent of the development work and the conditions upon which new leases niight be made. On March 8 tp 11, inclusive, a series of hearings was held at which theinterested persons were given an op-portunity to present their reasons for requesting new leases, as well as to sub& plans for the leasing of these lands upon the expiration of the present lease. These hearings were continued. on March 22 and 23, with the Oege tribal council present. The council, after 10 days' deliberation, on June 17,1915, adopted resolutions, which were approved by the Secretary of the Interior on the same date. 1. That the Congress of the United States he asked to extend the trust period whicll, under existing law,will expire on April 8, 1931. 2. In all oil leases provision shall he made 'for the Government to have the option to purchase the oil or any part thereof at the highest posted market price on the date of sale. 3. The Indian Territdry Illuminating Oil Co. shall be eliminated as an, in-termediary. . , 4. Oil and gas rights shall beleased separately, and oil leases shall bemade for a term of five years from date of approval by the Secretary of the Interior and as much longer thereafter as oil is found in paying quantities, but the term of leases shall not extend beyond the time the title to the minerals remains in the Osage Tribe. 5. Oil leases shall be made direct to the present sublessees coverlng,thetr present holdings in quarter-section units not exceeding 4,800 acres each in the aggregate, except such qu~er%eetiouu nits the producing wells of which are capable of averaging 25 or more barrels per day on July 1, 1915, which units shall he retained by the tribe ana offered for lease at publlc auction to the . highest bidder, subject to the approval of and under such rules and regulation8 as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; the average daily production to he ascertained under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior. 8. The rate of royalty on oil to he l/8, except where the average daily prc-duction of producing wells on any quarter-section unit shall equal or exceed 100 barrels for calendar month perlods, the royalty on such wells to be U5. 7. Oil lessees shall, wlthin 12 months after the approval of a lease by the Secretary of the Interior, drill a well on each nonproducing quarter-section nuit or pay in lieu thereof a rental of $1 per acre per year. 8. All producing lands not leased to present lessees shall be offered for lease to highest bidders upon the expiration of present leases and under meh rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the.Seeretary of the Interior. |