Proclamation 653—Opening to Settlement Certain Lands in the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indian Reservations

Whereas, Section two of the Act of June 5, 1906, (34 Stats., 213), directed that the four hundred and eighty thousand acres of grazing lands heretofore selected and set apart by the Secretary of the Interior in the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indian Reservations, in the Territory of Oklahoma, for the use in common of certain Indian tribes, pursuant to Article three of Section six of the Act of Congress, approved June 6, 1900, entitled, "An Act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Indians of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, in Idaho;" and the twenty-five thousand acres of land heretofore set apart by the Secretary of the Interior as a wood reservation in said Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indian Reservations, "shall be opened to settlement by proclamation of the President of the United States within six months from the passage of this Act, and be disposed of upon sealed bids or at public auction, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, to the highest bidder under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States, and under the rules and regulations adopted by the Secretary of the Interior";

And, Whereas, by Section six of said Act of June 5, 1906, it was declared that certain portions of said four hundred and eighty thousand acres of land should be allotted to certain Indians described therein; and by the Act of June 28, 1906 (34 Stats., 550), it was further declared that certain other portions of said four hundred and eighty thousand acres of land should be sold to certain lessees thereof:

And, Whereas, under the Act approved March 20, 1906 (34 Stats., 80), authorizing the establishment of townsites and the sale of lots within said four hundred and eighty thousand acres of land, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to set aside and reserve such lands as he may deem necessary for the establishment of townsites;

Now, Therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power in me vested by the said Act of Congress, approved June 5, 1906, do hereby declare and make known that all of said four hundred and eighty thousand acres of land, except such portions thereof as may be allotted, sold or reserved in the manner prescribed in said Acts of Congress, and all of said twenty-five thousand acres of land will be opened to settlement and disposition, under the provisions of said Act of June 5, 1906, and under the rules and regulations adopted by the Secretary of the Interior, at such time and in such manner as the said Secretary of the Interior may fix and prescribe.

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 19th day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and six and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and thirty-first.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

By the President:

ALVEY A. ADEE

Acting Secretary of State.