358 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
later to December 1st. 1 But the Olierokees still held out, and it 
was not until December 19, 1891, that an agreement was finally 
ratified by their Council by which they were to receive eight 
and a half million dollars for their interest in the six million 
acres of the Outlet. Agreements had also been made with the 
Tonkawas or ISTez P'erces, October 21, 1891, and with the Paw¬ 
nees, November 21, 1891, for allotments and the cession of the 
surplus. These, together with the unassigned part of the Chero¬ 
kee Outlet, made 6,361,135 acres in all, to be opened to set¬ 
tlement. 
Oh March 3, 1893, Congress passed an act (26 Stats., 640) 
ratifying these agreements, with some slight changes in that 
with the Cherokees, and providing for the opening of the land 
to homesteaders at a price ranging from one dollar to two and 
a half dollars, according to location. This act contained an 
important innovation, in that it provided that “no person shall 
be permitted to occupy or enter upon any of the lands herein 
referred to, except in the manner prescribed by the proclama¬ 
tion of the President opening the same to settlement. 
The Secretary of the Interior shall, under the direction of 
the President, prescribe rules and regulations, not inconsist¬ 
ent with this act, for the occupation and settlement of said 
lands, to be incorporated in the proclamation of the President, 
which shall be issued at least twenty days before the time fixed 
for the opening of said lands.” The changes in their agree¬ 
ment were formally accepted by the Cherokees on the seven¬ 
teenth of May, and on August 19, 1893, the President 
issued his proclamation. 2 It provided for a system of certifi¬ 
cates for would-be settlers, by which speculators and un¬ 
qualified persons were to be kept from occupying claims and 
then selling them to homesteaders as had occurred in the other 
openings. 
A narrow strip all around the Outlet was to be open to tem¬ 
porary occupation beginning September 11, 1893, and on this 
strip nine booths were to be established, five on the north and 
1 Sec. Int. Rept., vol. 1, p. xxxvi; 1891, vol. 1, p. clvi. 
2 Ibid., 1893, vol. 1, p. x. 
