25 U.S.C. § 348 : US Code - Section 348: Patents to be held in trust; descent and partition

Search 25 U.S.C. § 348 : US Code - Section 348: Patents to be held in trust; descent and partition

Upon the approval of the allotments provided for in this act by
the Secretary of the Interior, he shall cause patents to issue
therefor in the name of the allottees, which patents shall be of
the legal effect, and declare that the United States does and will
hold the land thus allotted, for the period of twenty-five years,
in trust for the sole use and benefit of the Indian to whom such
allotment shall have been made, or, in case of his decease, of his
heirs according to the laws of the State or Territory where such
land is located, and that at the expiration of said period the
United States will convey the same by patent to said Indian, or his
heirs as aforesaid, in fee, discharged of said trust and free of
all charge or incumbrance whatsoever: Provided, That the President
of the United States may in any case in his discretion extend the
period. And if any conveyance shall be made of the lands set apart
and allotted as herein provided, or any contract made touching the
same, before the expiration of the time above mentioned, such
conveyance or contract shall be absolutely null and void: Provided,
That the rules of intestate succession under the Indian Land
Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) (including a tribal
probate code approved under that Act or regulations promulgated
under that Act) shall apply to that land for which patents have
been executed and delivered: And provided further, That at any time
after lands have been allotted to all the Indians of any tribe as
herein provided, or sooner if in the opinion of the President it
shall be for the best interests of said tribe, it shall be lawful
for the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate with such Indian
tribe for the purchase and release by said tribe, in conformity
with the treaty or statute under which such reservation is held, of
such portions of its reservation not allotted as such tribe shall,
from time to time, consent to sell, on such terms and conditions as
shall be considered just and equitable between the United States
and said tribe of Indians, which purchase shall not be complete
until ratified by Congress, and the form and manner of executing
such release shall also be prescribed by Congress: Provided,
however, That all lands adapted to agriculture, with or without
irrigation so sold or released to the United States by any Indian
tribe shall be held by the United States for the sole purpose of
securing homes to actual settlers and shall be disposed of by the
United States to actual and bona fide settlers only in tracts not
exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one person, on such
terms as Congress shall prescribe, subject to grants which Congress
may make in aid of education: And provided further, That no patents
shall issue therefor except to the person so taking the same as and
for a homestead, or his heirs, and after the expiration of five
years' occupancy thereof as such homestead; and any conveyance of
said lands so taken as a homestead, or any contract touching the
same, or lien thereon, created prior to the date of such patent,
shall be null and void. And the sums agreed to be paid by the
United States as purchase money for any portion of any such
reservation shall be held in the Treasury of the United States for
the sole use of the tribe or tribes of Indians; to whom such
reservations belonged; and the same, with interest thereon at 3 per
centum per annum, shall be at all times subject to appropriation by
Congress for the education and civilization of such tribe or tribes
of Indians or the members thereof. The patents aforesaid shall be
recorded in the Bureau of Land Management, and afterwards
delivered, free of charge, to the allottee entitled thereto. And if
any religious society or other organization was occupying on
February 8, 1887, any of the public lands to which this act is
applicable, for religious or educational work among the Indians,
the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to confirm such
occupation to such society or organization, in quantity not
exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in any one tract, so long as
the same shall be so occupied, on such terms as he shall deem just;
but nothing herein contained shall change or alter any claim of
such society for religious or educational purposes heretofore
granted by law. And in the employment of Indian police, or any
other employees in the public service among any of the Indian
tribes or bands affected by this act, and where Indians can perform
the duties required, those Indians who have availed themselves of
the provisions of this act and become citizens of the United States
shall be preferred.
Provided further, That whenever the Secretary of the Interior
shall be satisfied that any of the Indians of the Siletz Indian
Reservation, in the State of Oregon, fully capable of managing
their own business affairs, and being of the age of twenty-one
years or upward, shall, through inheritance or otherwise, become
the owner of more than eighty acres of land upon said reservation,
he shall cause patents to be issued to such Indian or Indians for
all of such lands over and above the eighty acres thereof. Said
patent or patents shall be issued for the least valuable portions
of said lands, and the same shall be discharged of any trust and
free of all charge, incumbrance, or restriction whatsoever; and the
Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to ascertain,
as soon as shall be practicable, whether any of said Indians of the
Siletz Reservation should receive patents conveying in fee lands to
them under the provisions of this Act.