Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 25.djvu/159

 FIFTIETH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 213. 1888. 113 CHAP. 213.-An act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Gros Ventre, May L 1888- Piegan, Blood, Blackfeet, and River Crow Indians in Montana. and for other pur- W POSGS. Wliereas, John V. Wriglit, Jared W. Daniels, and Charles F. Lara- Preamble. bee, duly appointed commissioners on the part of the United States, did, on the twenty-eighth and thirty-first days of December, anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-six, and the twenty-first day of January, anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, conclude an agreement with the various tribes or bands of Indians residing upon the Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfeet, and River Crow Reservation in Montana Territory, by their chiefs, head-men, and principal men, embracing a majority of all the male adult Indians occupying said reservation, which said agreement is as follows: Agreement concluded December twenty-eighth and thirty-first, d_As¤*>g¤§¤¤ witgiueighteen hundred and eighty-six, and January twenty—iirst, eight- mgm ixegifmgnogg; een hundred and eighty-seven, with the Indians of the Gros Ven- §*j;‘g’;§“°R:Sg§v,f:§;gf _ tre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfeet, and River Crow Reservation in ismmma. Montana, by John V. Wright, Jared W. Daniels, and Charles F. Larabee, Commissioners. This agreement, made pursuant to an item in the act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for the current and contingent ex enses of the Indian Deipartment, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various In ian tribes, for the year _ ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and V<>1·24,p.44. for other purposes," approved May fifteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, by J o n V. Wright, Jared W. Daniels, and Charles F. Larabee, duly appointed commissioners on the part of the United States, and the various tribes or bands of Indians residing upon the Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot, and River Crow Reservation, in the Territory of Montana, by their chiefs, head-men, and principal men, embracing a majority of all the male adult Indians occupying said reservation, witnesseth that- Whereas the reservation set apart by act of Congress approved V<>1.18, p.28. April nfteenth, eighteen hundred an seventy-four, for the use and occupancy of the Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot, River Crow, and such other Indians as the President might, from time to time, see fit to locate thereon, is wholly out of proportion to the number of Indians occupying the same, and greatly in excess of their present or prospective wants; and whereas the said Indians are desirous of disposing of so much thereof as they do not re uire, in order to obtain the means to enable them to become sellfasupporting, as a pastoral and agricultural eople, and to educate their children in the paths of civilization: l’l'herefore, to carry out such purpose, it is hereby agreed as follows: Anrrcrrz I. 4 Hereafter the permanent homes of the various tribes or bands I¤·ii¤tg¤¤> reside <>¤ of said Indians shall be upon the se arate reservations herein- ·s°p°m "°S°"“°°” after described and set apart. Said Indians acknowledging the rights of the various tribes or bands, at each of the existing agencies within their present reservation, to determine for themselves, with the United States, the boundaries of their separate reservation, hereby agree to accept and abide by such agreements and conditions as to the location and boundaries of such separate reservation as may be made and agreed upon by the United States and the tribes or bands for which such separate reservation ma be made, and as the said separate boundaries may be hereinafter set forth. STAT L——voL XXV-—-8