G42 INDIAN LAND CESSION^ IN THE UNITED STATES (eih.ann. 18 



"tlie tenure has been materially cliauged aiul all reservatious, wbetber 

 by Executive order, act of Congress, or treaty, aie held permanent." 



Keservations by Executive order under authority of an act of Con- 

 gi'ess are those. which have been authorized or established by acts of 

 Congress and their limits defined by Executive order, or have been first 

 established by Executive orderand subsequently confirmed by Congress. 



Other respects in which the power of Congress intervenes in refer- 

 ence to Indian lands, or is necessary to enable the Indians to carry out 

 their desires in regard thereto, are the following: 



Allotments of land in severalty, previous to the act of February 8, 

 1887, could only be made by treaty or by virtue of an act of Congress, 

 but by this act general authority is given to the Commissioner of 

 Indian Affairs for this purpose. 



Leases of land, sale of standing timber, granting of mining privileges, 

 and right of way to railroads are all pi'ohibited to the Indians without 

 some enabling act of Congress. On the other hand, it is obligatory 

 uiwn the government to prevent any intrusion, trespass, or settlement 

 on the lauds of any nation or tribe of Indians except where the tribe 

 or nation has given consent by agreement or treaty. 



The difi'erent titles held by Indians which Lave been recognized by 

 the government appear to be as follows: The original right of occu- 

 pancy, which has been sufficiently referred to. The title to reserva- 

 tions difters from the original title chiefly in the fact that it is derived 

 from the United States. The tenure since the act of 1887 is the same, 

 and the inability to alienate or transfer is the same, the absolute right 

 being in the government. A third class is that where reservations 

 have been patented to Indian tribes. According to the report of the 

 Commissioner of Indian Afl'airs,^ patents to the Cherokee, Choctaw, 

 and Creek nations for the tracts respectively defined by the treaty 

 stipulations were as follows : 



December 31, 1838, to the Cherokee Nation, forever, upon conditions, one of which 

 is "that the lands hereby granted shall revert to the United States if the said Chero- 

 kees become extinct or ab.andon the same." 



March 23, 1842, to the Choctaw Nation, in fee simple to them and their ilesceud- 

 ants, '• to inure to them while they shall exist as a nation and live on it, liable to no 

 transfer or alienation, except to the United States or with their consent.'' 



August 11, 1852, to the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians "so long as they shall 

 exist as a nation and continue to occupy the countr.v hereby conveyed to them." 



The construction given to these titles by the Indian bureau and the 

 courts is that they are not the same as the ordinary title by occupancy; 

 but "a base, qualified, or determinable fee, with only a possibility of 

 reversion to the United States, and the authorities of these nations 

 may cut, sell, and dispose of their timber, and may i>ermit mining and 

 grazing within the limits of their respective tracts bi/ their oirn citizens." 

 However, the act of March 1, 1880, establishing a United States court 

 in Indian Territory, repeals all laws having the effect to prevent the 

 five civilized tribes in said territory from entering into leases or con- 



' 1890. page XXXV. 



