Proclamation 1333—Opening of Lands Within the Diminished Colville Indian Reservations

I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Act of Congress approved March 22, 1906 (34 Stat. L., 80) do hereby prescribe, proclaim, and make known, that all the non-mineral, unallotted and unreserved lands within the diminished Colville Indian Reservation, in the State of Washington, classified as irrigable lands, grazing lands, or arid lands, shall be disposed of under the general provisions of the homestead laws of the United States and of the said Act of Congress, and shall be opened to settlement and entry and settled upon, occupied, and entered only in the manner herein prescribed: Provided, That all lands classified as timber or mineral, all lands designated for irrigation by the Government, and all lands within the following townships and parts of townships shall not be disposed of under this proclamation:

Townships 31, 32, 33, and 34 north, range 35 east; township 30 north, range 31 east; township 31 north, range 30 east; north half of township 31 north, range 28 east; townships 32, 33, and 34 north, range 28 east; south half and south half of north half of township 33 north, range 27 east; and fractional part north and east of Lake Omache of township 32 north, range 27 east.

1. A registration for the lands will be conducted at the cities of Spokane, Wenatchee, Colville, Wilbur, Republic and Omak, Washington, beginning July 5, and ending July 22, 1916, Sunday excepted, under the supervision of John McPhaul, Superintendent of the opening. Any person qualified to make entry under the general provisions of the homestead law may register.

2. Any person who was honorably discharged after at least ninety days' service in the United States Army, Navy or Marine Corps, during the Civil War, the Spanish-American War or the Philippine Insurrection (or the widow or minor orphan children of such person) may register either in person or by agent. Other persons will not be permitted to register by agent. No person shall present more than one application in his own behalf and one as agent.

Each application for registration must show the applicant's name, postoffice address, age, height and weight, and must be inclosed in an envelope bearing no distinctive marks or any paper other than the application. No envelope shall contain more than one application.

3. Each applicant must himself sign and swear to his application on or after July 5, and not later than July 22, 1916, at Spokane, Wenatchee, Colville, Wilbur, Republic or Omak, Washington, before a notary public designated by the Superintendent: Except A soldier's or sailor's application and power of attorney appointing an agent may be signed and sworn to by the applicant at any time after the date hereof and prior to the close of the registration, but the agent must sign and swear to the application during the time, at one of the places and in the manner herein prescribed for the execution of other applications. After applications have been properly executed they must be delivered to the Superintendent or to some person designated by him to receive them.

4. Beginning at 10 o'clock a.m. on July 27, 1916, at the said city of Spokane and continuing thereafter from day to day, Sundays excepted, as long as may be necessary, there shall be impartially taken and selected indiscriminately from the whole number of envelopes presented, such number thereof as may be necessary to carry the provisions of this proclamation into effect, and the applications for registration contained in the envelopes so selected, shall, when correct in form and execution, be numbered serially in the order in which they were selected, beginning with number one, and the numbers thus assigned shall fix and control the order in which the persons named therein may make entry of the lands.

5. A list of the successful applications showing the number assigned to each will be conspicuously posted and furnished to the press for publication as a matter of news and a proper notice will be promptly mailed to each of these applicants.

6. Beginning at 9 o'clock, a.m., on September 5, 1916, and continuing thereafter on such dates as may be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior, persons holding numbers assigned to them under this proclamation will be permitted to select and enter the tracts they desire as follows: A map room will be established at such place as shall be decided upon by the Secretary of the Interior, where numbers assigned will be called in their numerical order. When an applicant's number is called, he must at once select the tract he desires to enter and will be allowed ten days following the date of selection within which to complete entry at the proper land office.

During such period he must file a homestead application at the land office, accompanying the same with the usual filing fees and commissions and in addition thereto one-fifth of the appraised value of the tract selected. If the lands are in the Spokane, Washington, land district, entry must be made at the Spokane land office; if in the Waterville, Washington, land district, entry must be made at the Waterville land office. To save the expense incident to a trip to the land and to return to the land office, he may, following his selection, execute his homestead application for the tract selected within the land district and file same in the land office, where it will be held awaiting the payment of the fees and commissions and one-fifth of the appraised value of the land. In that event, the payment must be made within ten days following the date of selection. Payments can be made only in cash, by certified checks on national and state banks and trust companies, which can be cashed without cost to the Government, or by postoffice money orders made payable to the receiver of the land office. These payments may be made in person, through the mails or any other means or agency desired, but the applicant assumes all responsibility in the matter. He must see that the payments reach the land office within the ten days allowed, and where failure occurs in any instance where the application has been filed in the land office without payment, as herein provided for, the application will stand rejected without further action on the part of the local officers.

In case of declaratory statements, allowable under this opening, the same course may be pursued, except that the filing fees must be paid within the ten days following date of selection, the party having six months after filing within which to complete entry. Soldiers or sailors or their widows or minor orphan children making homestead entry of these lands must make payment of fees, commissions and purchase money as is required of other entrymen.

The purchase money not required at the time of entry may be paid in five equal installments. These payments will become due at the end of one, two, three, four and five years after the date of entry, unless commutation proof is made. If such proof is made, all the unpaid installments must be paid at that time. Where three-year proof is submitted, the entryman may make payment of the unpaid installments at that time or at any time before they become due and final certificate will issue, in the absence of objection, upon such payment being made. If any entryman fails to make any payment when it becomes due, all his former payments will be forfeited and his entry will be canceled.

7. No person will be permitted to select more than one tract, present more than one application to enter, or file more than one declaratory statement in his own behalf.

8. If any person fails to select the tract he desires to enter on the date assigned to him for that purpose, or if, having made such selection he fails to perfect it by making entry or filing and payments as herein provided, or if he presents more than one application for registration or presents an application in any other than his true name, he will forfeit his right to make entry or filing under this Proclamation.

9. None of the lands opened to entry under this Proclamation will become subject to settlement or entry prior to 9 o'clock a.m. October 18, 1916, except in the manner prescribed herein; and all persons are admonished not to make any settlement before that time on lands not covered by entries or filings made by them under this Proclamation. All the said lands not then entered by persons assigned numbers hereunder, will, at that hour, become subject to settlement and entry under the general provisions of the homestead laws and the aforesaid Act of Congress.

10. The Secretary of the Interior shall make and prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper to carry the provisions of this Proclamation and of the said Act of Congress into full force and effect and is hereby authorized to prescribe the time when and the manner in which lands in any or all the townships temporarily withheld from disposal, as herein provided, may be opened to settlement and entry.

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 third day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fortieth.

WOODROW WILSON

By the President:

ROBERT LANSING,

Secretary of State.