THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 839 



ing treaties with said Indians and such change of their reservations as may be deemed 

 desirable by the said Indians and the Secretary of the Interior, and as to what sums 

 shall be a just and equitable liquidation of all claims which any of said tribes now 

 have upon the Government; and also to enable said Secretary to negotiate with the 

 various bands or tribes of Indians in Northern Montana and at Fort Berthold, in 

 Dakota, for a reduction of their respective reservations, or for removal therefrom to 

 other reservations ; and also to enable said Secretary to negotiate with the Upper 

 and Middle bands of Spokane Indians and Pend d'Oreilles Indians, in Washing- 

 ton and Idaho Territories, for their removal to the Colville, Jocko, or Cceur d'Alene 

 Reservations, with the consent of the Indians on said reservations ; and also to enable 

 said Secretary to negotiate with said Indians for the cession of their lands to the 

 United States ; and also to enable said Secretary to negotiate with the Coeur d'Alene 

 Indians for the cession of their lands outside the limits of the present Coeur d'Alene 

 Reservation to the United States, $15,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to 

 be immediately available ; but no agreement shall take effect till ratified by Congress. 



With a view to carrying out the provisions of this act, a commission 

 composed of Hon. John V. Wright, Et. Eev. H. B. Whipple, and Charles 

 F. Larrabee, esq., was appointed to negotiate with the several bands 

 and tribes named in the act ; they are now in the field, under instruc- 

 tions dated July 27, 1886. It is confidently hoped that the labors of this 

 commission will result in settling all matters of dispute between the 

 various tribes and bands and the Government, and in the adoption of 

 measures that will go far towards their civilization, education, and gen- 

 eral advancement and welfare. A Congressional reservation lives at 

 the pleasure of Congress. 



By a clause in the Indian appropriation act approved March 3, 1871 

 (16 Stat., p. 566), it is declared that no Indian nation or tribe within the 

 territory of the United States shall thereafter be acknowledged or 

 recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the 

 United States may contract by treaty ; hence, since that time mere 

 agreements have been entered into, subject to ratification by Congress 

 and the President, such agreements being sometimes entered into under 

 authority of a prior act of Congress, and sometimes, as in the case of 

 the last Ute agreement, agreed upon and then submitted to Congress. 

 In a case like the last mentioned, the agreement, as ratified by Con. 

 gress, still remains to be ratified by a certain proportion of the Indians 

 affected by such agreement, before it becomes valid. 



RAILROADS THROUGH INDIAN LANDS. 



Where Indians occupy reservations through which railroads are to 

 run conferences are had with them and compensation paid them, after 

 agreement, for lands to be used or taken by the railroad companies. 

 These agreements are made with the sanction of Congress, under the 

 direction of the Interior Department, and are reported each year. They 

 can be found, when made, in the annual report of the Commissioner 

 of Indian Affairs. The compensation paid them is usually deposited in 

 the United States Treasury and becomes a trust fund. 



