University of Oklahoma College of Law University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817-1899 1-27-1894 In the Senate of the United States. Letter from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting an agreement with the Nez Perce Tribe of Indians in Idaho, together with the report of the commissioner appointed to negotiate with said Indians, and a draft of a bill to confirm and ratify said agreement. Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/indianserialset Part of the Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons Recommended Citation S. Exec. Doc. No. 31, 53rd Cong., 2nd Sess. (1894) This Senate Executive Document is brought to you for free and open access by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817-1899 by an authorized administrator of University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SEN.A.TE. Ex.Doc~ 53D 00NGH,ESS7 } 2d Session. { No. 31. IN THE SENATE. OF THE UNITED ..STATES. ·1 E i 1 TE R FROM THE SECRETARY OF T·H-E INTERIOR, TRANSMITTING An agree1nent with the Nez Perce tribe of Indians in Idaho, together 'With the report of the commissioner appointed to negotiate with said Indians~ a,nd a draft of a bill to conjirui cind ratify said agreement. JANUARY 29, 1894:.-Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be printed. DEP.A.R'l'MENT OF THE IN'.rERIOR, Washington, January 27, 1894; Sm: I have the honor to transmit an agreement with the Nez Perce tribe of Indians in Idaho, together with the report of the commission appointed to negotiate with said Indians, and a draft of a bill to con­ firm and ratify said agreement and to carry the same into effect. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, HOKES-MITH, Secretary. The PRESIDEN'l' OF THE UNITED ST.A.TES SENATE. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washi.ngton, D. O., January 13, 1894. Sm I I have had the honor to receive, by reference from the Hon. Wm. H. Sims, Acting Secretary, of the 26th ultimo, a letter from the honorable Commissioner of Iudian Affairs, dated the 14th ultimo, rela­ tive to an agreement made with the Nez Perce Indians, in Idaho, for a cession of their surplus lands, etc., .and submitting the draft of a bill for the ratifi.cation of the agreement and for giving effect thereto, together with other papers, the same being referred to me for eonsider­ ation and report, and for the return of the papers to the Department. I have, therefore, to return the papers herewith, and to report as follows, viz : · The letter of the commissioner and accompanying papers above mentioned set forth the circumstances under which the agreement was 2 AGREEMENT WI'l'H THE NEZ PERCE INDIANS. made, and explain the stipulations tbereof: He concludes by stating that he sees no objection to any of its provisions, and recommends that it be submitted for the consideration of Congress. He transmits there­ with a draft of a bill, and in reference thereto says: .Although it is probably not the duty of this office to draft a provision for the opening of the lands to settlement, I have incorporated a section for tliat purpose, and suggest a reference to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for his views thereon. The section referred to is the third, which reads as follows, viz: That the lands by said agreement ceded, sold, relinquished, and conveyed to the United States, shall, as soon as practicable after tbe completion of the first payment to said Indians and the issuance and receivjng of trust patents for the allotted lands, as provided for in said agreement, upon proclamation by th~ President, be subject only to settlement and entry under the homestead and town site laws of the United States, ( except section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which shall not apply), excepting the sixteenth and thirty­ sixth sections in each Congressional township, which shall be reserved for common school purposes, and be subject to the laws of the State of Idaho: Provi.ded, ·rhat each settler on said lands shall, before making a :final proof and receiving a certifi­ cate of ent.ry, pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, and within :five years from the date of the first original entry, the sum of three dollars per acre, one-half of which shall ue pa.id within two years, but the rights of honorably discharged Union soldiers and sailors as defined and described in sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not be abridged except as to th13 sum to be paid as aforesaid. The price proposed to be required of the settlers for the land, $3 per acre, is the same price stipulated in the agreement to be paid the Indians for the cession of the land. The purpose appears to be to reimburse the Treasury by means of the payments by the settlers for the money to be paid the Indians. In reference to the price the com­ missioner in bis report quotes a remark of the commission by which the agreement was negotiated as follows, viz: Much of the land, however, is fine agricultural land, worth perhaps $8 or $10 per acre, while from one-third to one-half is of little value. We therefore think that this price, while liberal, is fair and equitable, both to the Indians and the Govern­ ment. A urning this to be correct, it would appear possible that while the portion of the land worth $8 or $10 per acre would be eagerly sought by ettlers at 3 per acre, the remainder, being from one-third to one­ half, which is of little value, would not be taken by settlers at the price propo ed. If this is so, it occurs to me that it would be expedient to make the price vary by appraisement or otherwise, as nearly as practi- able, according to the actual value of the land, with a view to render­ ing the propo ed reimbursement of the Treasury more secure by obtain­ in for the one-third to one-half which is of little value, whatever it will bring, perbap less than $3 per acre, and compensating for the deficiency in the price thereof by a greater price to be obtained for that portion whi h i estimated at from $8 to $10 per acre. This is pre­ sented rather a a sugge tion than as a serious objection to the proposi­ tion cominO' from the Indian office, to whose opinion I am inclined to defer in regard to matters affecting in any manner the rights or inter­ e t of the Indian . The aid third ection provides that the settlers shall pay the price of th ;land before making a fi.nalproofandreceivingacertifi.cate of entry, whi h may b don under the general home te~d law at any time after fl. ar and witllin ev n y ar from the date of entry, and at the am ime 1 rovide tllat uch payment hall be made within :five ear from the date of tlrn fir t original entry. I suggest that the words AGREEMENT WITH THE NEZ PERCE INDIANS. 3 "and within :five years from the date of the first original entry," where they occur therein, be stricken out, and that after the words '-one-half of which shall be paid within two years," occurring therein, there be inserted the words, "from the date of this entry." It is suggested in the commissioner's report that this office '' consider the propriety of asking an appropriation for completing the survey of the ceded lands." In connection therewith I would state that the exist­ ing appropriation for the survey of the public lands for the current fiscal year would be considered available for completing the survey of the ceded lands, but it appears to be limited by the act of March 3, 1893 (27 Stats., 592), making the appropriation, in the words following, viz: Provided, That in expending this appropriation preference shall be given in favor of surveying townships occupied in whole or in part by actual settlers ancl of lands granted to the States by the acts approved February 22, 1889, and the acts approved July 3 ancl July 10, 1890, ancl other surveys shall be confined to lands adapted to agriculture and lines of reservations. And to avoid any question of its applicability to the survey of all of these lands, none of which are yet occupied by settlers, and some of which may possibly not be adapted to agriculture, I suggest that an additional prov_ision be inserted in the draft of the bill, making a special appropriation of $8,000 for completing the survey of the ceded lands. The Commissioner further states in his report as follows, viz: In cQnnection with this matter, I have the honor to state that I am in receipt, by reference from Hon. Fred. L. Dubois, of a communication from F. A. Fenn, chief clerk of the Idaho State board of land commissioners, dated May 3, 1893, in which he requests the Senator to ascertain the policy of the Administration regarding selections of land by the State within the limits of the reservation when opened to settlement, and states that it is of very great importance that the State should b9 allowed to select lands within the present limits of reservations, when opened to settlement; that the Nez Perce Reservation probably contains the largest body of valuable unoccupied agricultural lands that can be found anywhere; that the State might easily secure 150,000 or 200,000 acres there, but if it be debarred from that privilege just that much land of second quality will have to be taken instead.