Proclamation 305—Fort Berthold Reservation in the State of North Dakota

Whereas, pursuant to an act of Congress approved May 15, 1886, entitled "An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various tribes for the year ending June 30, 1887, and for other purposes," an agreement was entered into on the 14th day of December, 1886, by John V. Wright, Jared W. Daniels, and Charles F. Larrabee, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Arickaree, Gros Ventre, and Mandan tribes of Indians, residing on the Fort Berthold Reservation, in the then Territory of Dakota, now State of North Dakota, embracing a majority of all the male adult members of said tribes; and

Whereas by an act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, entitled "An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the year ending June 30, 1892, and for other purposes," the aforesaid agreement of December 14, 1886, was accepted, ratified, and confirmed, except as to article 6 thereof, which was modified and. changed on the part of the United States so as to read as follows:

That the residue of lands within said diminished reservation, after all allotments have been made as provided in article 3 of this agreement, shall be held by the said tribes of Indians as a reservation.

And whereas it is provided in said last above-mentioned act--

That this act shall take effect only upon the acceptance of the modification and changes made by the United States as to article 6 of the said agreement by the said tribes of Indians in manner and form as said agreement was assented to, which said acceptance and consent shall be made known by proclamation by the President of the United States, upon satisfactory proof presented to him that the said acceptance and consent have been obtained in such manner and form.

And whereas satisfactory proof has been presented to me that the acceptance of and consent to the provisions of the act last named by the different bands of Indians residing on said reservation have been obtained in manner and form as said agreement of December 14, 1886, was assented to:

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested, do hereby make known and proclaim the acceptance of and consent to the modification and changes made by the United States as to article 6 of said agreement by said tribe of Indians as required by the act, and said act is hereby declared to be in full force and effect, subject to all provisions, conditions, limitations, and restrictions therein contained.

All persons will take notice of the provisions of said act and of the conditions and restrictions therein contained, and be governed accordingly.

I furthermore notify all persons to particularly observe that a certain portion of the said Fort Berthold Reservation not ceded and relinquished by said agreement is reserved for allotment to, and also as a reservation for, the said tribes of Indians; and all persons are therefore hereby warned not to go upon any of the lands so reserved for any purpose or with any intent whatsoever, as no settlement or other rights can be secured upon said lands, and all persons found unlawfully thereon will be dealt with as trespassers and intruders; and I hereby declare all the lands sold, ceded, and relinquished to the United States under said agreement, namely, "all that portion of the Fort Berthold Reservation, as laid down upon the official map of the" (then) "Territory of Dakota published by the General Land Office in the year 1885, lying north of the forty-eighth parallel of north latitude, and also all that portion lying west of a north and south line 6 miles west of the most westerly point of the big bend of the Missouri River, south of the forty-eighth parallel of north latitude," open to settlement and subject to disposal as provided in section 23 of the act of March 3, 1891, aforesaid (26 U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 1035).

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of May, A. D. 1891, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.

BENJ. HARRISON

By the President:

WILLIAM F. WHARTON,

Acting Secretary of State.