Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 31.djvu/917

 FIFTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 676. 1901. 865 "The Secretary of the Interior may in his discretion appoint a m§,Q$;§‘,g“‘; Qgfyglgfsé town-site commission consistin `of three members for eac of the sions. Creek and Cherokee nations, at%east one of whom shall be a citizen of the tribe and shall be §ppointed upon the nomination of the principal chief of the tribe. ach commission, under the sizpervision of the Secretary of the Interior, shall appraise and sell for e benefit of the tribe the town lots in the nation for which it is appointed, acting in conformity with the provisions of any then existing· Act of Congress or agreement with the tribe approved by Congress. The agreement of any two members of the commission as to the true value of any lot shall constitute a determination thereof, subject to the a proval of the Secretar of the Interior, and if no two members are able to agree the matter shall be determined by such Secretary. "Where in his judgment the public interests will be thereby sub- Sa$,hg§e?’;{_Y-af1,§‘g,§;‘rgj served, the Secretary of the Interior may appoint in the Choctaw, kcénamonis. _ Chickasaw, Creek, or Cherokee Nation a separate town-site commis- .,§$,{’°,§§‘}l§°Sil,‘§lY§"S}f,'$ sion for any town, in which event as to that town such local commission “’“’”5· may exercise the same authorit and perform the same duties which would otherwise devolve u on tlie commission for that Nation. Every APP°i”'m°“*· such local commission shall)be appointed in the manner provided in the Act approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety- V<>1-30.n-500. eight, entitled ‘An Act for the protection of the people of the Indian Territor . ’ "The 5Secretary of the Interior, where in his judgment the public S““'°"’ b"‘°"’“"· interests will be thereby subserved, may permit the authorities of any town in any of said nations, at the expense of the town, to survey, lay out, and plat the site thereof, subject to his supervision and approva, as in other instances. "As soon as the plat of any town site is approved, the p1‘0p€1' com- fgvgmiwi wd We mission shall, with all reasonable dispatch and within a limited time, ° ° ' to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, proceed to make the alppraisement of the lots and improvements, if any, thereon, and after _ t e approval thereof by the Secretary of the Interior, shall, under the , supervision of such Secretary, proceed to the disposition and sale of the lots in conformity with any then existing Act of Congress or agreement with the tribe approved by Congress, and if the proper commission shall not complete such appraisement and sale within the time limited by the Secretary of the Interior, they shall receive no pay for such additional time as may be taken by them, unless the Secretary of the Interior for good cause shown shall expressly direct · otherwise. "The Secretary of the Interior may, for good cause, remove any iR¤m¤~·¤¤¤f¤¤mmi¤· member of any townsite commission, tribal or local, in any of said S°°m’°t°° nations, and may fill the vacancy thereby made or any vacanc otherwise occurring in like manner as the place was originally iilledl— "It shall not be required that the townsite limits established in the cOES¤$l§ gyda fjgwglf course of the platting and disposing of town lots and the corporate sicizpiimm. ` limits of the town, if incor orated, shall be identical or coextensive, but such townsite limits andp corporate limits shall be so established as _ to best subserve_ the then present needs and the reasonable prospective growth of the town, as the same shall apépear at the times when such imits are respectively established: Pro/v ed further, That the exterior P¤‘¤1‘i¤v; limits of all townsites shall be designated and fixed at the earliest `r°g°1a“°“S` practicable time under rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. " Upon the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized ,,,§,‘§$§§,§§i§§m{,§;,’a”g Tribes the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized at any time ¤¢¤¤i<>¤¤- before allotment to set aside and_ reserve from allotment any lands in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, or Cherokee nations, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in any one tract, at such stations as are or vox. xxxr;55