Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1873.djvu/16

696 will be prepared to recommend to Congress the passage of a law providing in substance as follows:

First. For the appointment of a commission to make, and report to the Secretary of the Interior, a list of the British subjects within said territory at the date of the treaty of June 15, 1846, with a description of the lands actually occupied by each at that time.

Second. That such parties shall have one year from the date of the filing of such report with the Secretary of the Interior in which to enter and pay for the lands so occupied by them, at the ordinary minimum price per acre where the lands are outside of railroad limits, and at double minimum price where the lands are within railroad limits. The entry to be according to legal subdivisions so as to include the improvements of occupants, and where two or more parties shall have improvements on the same smallest legal subdivision, that they may be entitled to make joint entry.

Third. That in case entry and payment are not made within one year from the time when the report of the commission is filed in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, all possessory rights under the treaty shall be considered forfeited, and the lands shall thereafter be deemed and treated as part of the public domain, to be disposed of as other public lands.

I have therefore respectfully to recommend the adoption by Congress of some measure which will embody the principles contained in my communication to the Secretary of State herein referred to.

Should Congress be of opinion that the construction of the third article of the treaty of 1846 which I have adopted is incorrect, and that it should be so interpreted as to embrace the possessory rights of all persons who were occupants of land or other property, lawfully acquired, at the date of the award of the Emperor of Germany, before referred to, it will be in their power to enlarge the scope of the measure which I here recommend so as to include this class of persons.

If grave doubts are found to exist in regard to the interpretation of this article, and if, in view of such doubts, it shall appear to Congress that some equitable provision should be made for such persons as may have acquired possessory rights within the territory after the date of the treaty of 1846, it will be in the power of Congress to make such provision for these equitable rights as in its wisdom may be deemed advisable.

Should such doubts arise, it may be proper, if any legislation is had for the protection of the equitable rights of persons coming into the territory after the date of the treaty, that it be limited so as to prevent any occupant of this class acquiring more than one quarter-section of land.

On the 3d of March last an act was approved entitled "An act to encourage the growth of timber on western prairies," the first section