1075.]

[31 Stat., That hereafter the Secretary of the Interior may, Town-site whenever the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickacommissioner. saw Nation fails or refuses to appoint a town-site com

1077.]

missioner for any town, or to fill any vacancy caused by the neglect or refusal of the town-site commissioner appointed by the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nation to qualify or act, in his discretion, appoint a commissioner to fill the vacancy thus created.

[31 Stat., The rolls made by the Commission to the Five CivRolls of Five ilized Tribes, when approved by the Secretary of the InCivilized terior, shall be final, and the persons whose names are found thereon shall alone constitute the several tribes which they represent;

Tribes to be

final.

-time for closing.

Acts of Creeks

and Cherokee

and the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to fix a time by agreement with said tribes or either of them for closing said rolls, but upon failure or refusal of said tribes or any of them to agree thereto, then the Secretary of the Interior shall fix a time for closing said rolls, after which no name shall be added thereto.

That no act, ordinance, or resolution of the Creek or to be approved Cherokee tribes, except resolutions for adjournment, shall by the Presl be of any validity until approved by the President of the United States.

dent.

Publication of approved acts.

When such acts, ordinances, or resolutions passed by the council of either of said tribes shall be approved by the principal chief thereof, then it shall be the duty of the national secretary of said tribe to forward them to the President of the United States, duly certified and sealed, who shall, within thirty days after their reception, approve or disapprove the same.

Said acts, ordinances, or resolutions, when so approved, shall be published in at least two newspapers having a Return of dis- bona fide circulation in the tribe to be affected thereby, and when disapproved shall be returned to the tribe enacting the same. * *

approved acts.

Rights of way for telephones and

lands.

*

SEC. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby telegraph authorized and empowered to grant a right of way, in through Indian the nature of an easement, for the construction, operation, and maintenance of telephone and telegraph lines and offices for general telephone and telegraph business through an Indian reservation, through any lands held by an Indian tribe or nation in the Indian Territory, through any lands reserved for an Indian agency or Indian school, or for other purpose in connection with the Indian service, or through any lands which have been allotted in severalty to any individual Indian under any law or treaty, but which have not been conveyed to the allettee with full power of alienation, upon the terms and conditions herein expressed.

No lines un

No such lines shall be constructed across Indian lands, til approval. as above mentioned, until authority therefor has first been obtained from the Secretary of the Interior, and the maps of definite location of the lines shall be subject to his approval.

The compensation to be paid the tribes in their tribal Damages, how capacity and the individual allottees for such right of ascertained. way through their lands shall be determined in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may direct, and shall be subject to his final approval;

and where such lines are not subject to State or Territorial taxation the company or owner of the line shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior, for the use and benefit of the Indians, such annual tax as he may designate, not exceeding five dollars for each ten miles of line so constructed and maintained;

Annual tax.

struction and

and all such lines shall be constructed and maintained Rules for conunder such rules and regulations as said Secretary may maintenance. prescribe. But nothing herein contained shall be so construed as No exemption to exempt the owners of such lines from the payment of any tax that may be lawfully assessed against them by either State, Territorial, or municipal authority;

and Congress hereby expressly reserves the right to regulate the tolls or charges for the transmission of messages over any lines constructed under the provisions of this Act:

from State tax.

Regulating tolls reserved.

Rights of towns on line

Provided, That incorporated cities and towns into or through which such telephone or telegraphic lines may be of construcconstructed shall have the power to regulate the manner tion. of construction therein, and nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to deny the right of municipal taxation in such towns and cities.

tion for public use of lands al

lotted in sever

That lands allotted in severalty to Indians may be condemnacondemned for any public purpose under the laws of the State or Territory where located in the same manner as land owned in fee may be condemned, and the money awarded as damages shall be paid to the allottee.

*

*

**

**

*

alty.

heirs, payment

to Choctaw Na

For payment to the heirs of Albert Pike, deceased, to Albert Pike's be paid as hereinafter provided, out of any funds in the to, of claim for Treasury of the United States belonging to the Choctaw legal services Nation, seventy-five thousand dollars; which said sum tion. the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and 31 Stat., 1078. directed to pay immediately as follows: Thirty thousand dollars to Yvon Pike, surviving son and heir of Albert Pike; fifteen thousand dollars to Mrs. Lilian Pike Roome, surviving daughter and heir of Albert Pike; and thirty thousand dollars to Yvon Pike as administrator of the estate of Luther H. Pike, deceased, son of Albert Pike, upon execution by each of the said heirs and said administrator of a receipt in full for all their respective claims

against the Choctaw Nation for the services of Albert Pike in the collection from the United States of what is commonly known as the "net proceeds claim."

Mar. 3, 1901.

31 Stat., 1447.

accorded Indi

Territory.

CHAP. 868.—An act to amend section six, chapter one hundred and nineteen, United States Statutes at Large numbered twentyfour.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Citizenship assembled, That section six of chapter one hundred ans in Indian and nineteen of the United States Statutes at Large 1887, Feb. 8, numbered twenty-four, page three hundred and ninety, is hereby amended as follows, to-wit: After the words 1888, Aug. 9, "civilized life," in line thirteen of said section six, insert 71 Fed. Rep., the words "and every Indian in Indian Territory." Approved, March 3, 1901.

c. 119, s. 6.

R. S., 2119.

c. 818, s. 2.

576.

Feb. 24, 1902. CHAP. 28.-An act to authorize the construction of a bridge across the Arkansas River near Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. (Public, No. 18.)

32 Stat., 37.

River.

tral Ry. Co.

may

son, Ind. T.

Provisos.

Secretary of

War

etc.

to

ap

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assemArkansas bled, That the Ozark and Cherokee Central Railway Ozark & Company, a corporation incorporated under the laws Cherokee Cen of the State of Arkansas, its successors and assigns, are bridge, hereby authorized to construct, operate and maintain a near Fort Gib- bridge across the Arkansas River, in the northwest quarter of section twenty-one, township fifteen north, range nineteen east, Indian meridian. Said bridge shall be constructed in accordance with such plans as may be approved by the Secretary of War: Provided, That before the construction of any bridge herein authorized is comprove plans, menced the said company shall submit to the Secretary of War, for his examination and approval, a design and drawing of such bridge and map of the location, giving sufficient information to enable the Secretary of War to fully and satisfactorily understand the subject; and unless the plan and location of such bridge are approved by the Secretary of War the structure shall not be built; and should any change be made in said bridge before or after completion, such changes shall likewise be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War; and any changes in said bridge which the Secretary of War may at any time deem necessary and order in the interests of navigaLights, etc. tion shall be made by the owners thereof at their expense: Provided further, That for the safety of vessels passing at night the owners of said bridge shall maintain thereon,

Changes.

at their own expense, from sunset to sunrise, such lights or other signals as the Light-House Board may pre

scribe.

Use by other companies.

Compensa

etc., privileges.

SEC. 2. That all railroad companies desiring the use of said bridge shall have equal rights and privileges relative to the passage of railway trains or cars over the same and over the approaches thereto upon payment of a reasonable compensation for such use; and in case the owners of said bridge and any railroad company desiring ton. such use shall fail to agree upon the sums to be paid or the conditions to be observed, all matters at issue shall be decided by the Secretary of War upon hearing the allegations and proofs of the parties; and equal privileges Telegraph, in the use of said bridge shall be granted to telegraph and telephone companies. SEC. 3. That the bridge constructed, maintained, and Lawful strucoperated under this act and according to its limitations route. shall be a lawful structure, and shall be recognized and known as a post route, upon which also no higher charge shall be made for the transportation over the same of the mails, the troops, and the munitions of war of the United States than the rate per mile paid for transportation of said mails, troops, and munitions over the railroads and public highways leading to said bridge; and the United States shall have the right of way for a postal telegraph across said bridge.

SEC. 4. That this act shall be null and void if actual construction of the bridge herein authorized be not commenced within one year and completed within three years from the approval of this act.

ture and post

Postal telegraph.

Time of construction.

SEC. 5. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment. act is hereby expressly reserved.

Approved, February 24, 1902.

32 Stat., 43.

Enid & Anadarko Ry. Co.

CHAP. 134.-An act to grant the right of way through the Okla- Feb. 28, 1902. homa Territory and the Indian Territory to the Enid and Anadarko Railway Company, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Enid and Anadarko Railway Company, a corporation created under and by virtue of the laws of Right of way the Territory of Oklahoma, be, and the same is hereby, to, through Okinvested and empowered with the right of locating, con- dian structing, owning, equipping, operating, using, and main- ries. taining a railway and telegraph and telephone line through the Territory of Oklahoma and the Indian Ter

Territo

ritory, beginning at a point on its railway between Ana- Location. darko and Watonga, in the Territory of Oklahoma, thence in an easterly direction by the most practicable route to a point on the eastern boundary of the Indian Territory near Fort Smith, in the State of Arkansas, to

gether with such branch lines to be built from any point on the line above described to any other point in the Indian Territory as said railway company may at any time Construction. hereafter decide to construct, with the right to construct, use, and maintain such tracks, turn-outs, sidings, and extensions as said company may deem it to its interest to construct along and upon the right of way and depot grounds hereby granted.

Width.

SEC. 2. That said corporation is authorized to take and use for all purposes of a railway, and for no other purpose, a right of way one hundred feet in width through said Oklahoma Territory and said Indian Territory, and to take and use a strip of land two hundred feet in width, with a length of two thousand feet, in addition to right Stations, etc. of way, for stations, for every eight miles of road, with the right to use such additional ground where there are heavy cuts or fills as may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of the roadbed, not exceeding one hundred feet in width on each side of said right of way, or as much thereof as may be included in said cut or fill: Provided, That no more than said addition of land shall Reversion for be taken for any one station: Provided further, That no part of the lands herein authorized to be taken shall be leased or sold by the company, and they shall not be used except in such manner and for such purposes only as shall be necessary for the construction and convenient operation of said railway, telegraph, and telephone lines; and when any portion thereof shall cease to be so used such portion shall revert to the nation or tribe of Indians from which the same shall have been taken.

Provisos.
Limit.

nonuser.

Damages to individuals.

on

Appraisal.
Referees.

SEC. 3. That before said railway shall be constructed through any lands held by individual occupants according to the laws, customs, and usages of any of the Indian nations or tribes through which it may be constructed, full compensation shall be made to such occupants for all property to be taken or damage done by reason of the construction of such railway. In case of failure to make amicable settlement with any occupant, such compensation shall be determined by the appraisement of three disinterested referees, to be appointed, one (who shall act as chairman) by the Secretary of the Interior, one by the chief of the nation to which said occupant belongs, and one by said railway company, who, before entering upon the duties of their appointment, shall take and subscribe, before a district judge, clerk of a district court, or United States commissioner, an oath that they will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of their appointment, which oath, duly certified, shall be returned with their award to and filed with the Secretary of the Interior within sixty days from the completion thereof; and a majority of said referees shall be competent to act in case of the absence of a member, after due notice. And Substitution upon the failure of either party to make such appointment within thirty days after the appointment made by

failure

appoint.

to