Proclamation 874—Opening Lands in the Flathead, Coeur d'Alene, and Spokane Indian Reservations

I, William H. Taft, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Acts of Congress hereinafter named, do hereby prescribe, proclaim and make known that all the nonmineral, unreserved lands classified as agricultural lands of the first class, agricultural lands of the second class and grazing lands within the Flathead Indian Reservation in the State of Montana under the Act of Congress approved April 23, 1904 (33 Stat. L., 302), which have not been withdrawn under the Act of Congress approved June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. L., 388); all the nonmineral unreserved lands classified as agricultural lands within the Spokane Indian Reservation in the State of Washington under the Act of Congress approved May 29, 1908 (35 Stat. L., 458); and all the nonmineral, unreserved lands classified as agricultural lands, grazing lands and timbered lands in the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation in the State of Idaho under the Act of Congress approved June 21, 1906 (34 Stat. L., 335), shall be disposed of under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States and said Acts of Congress and be opened to settlement and entry in the following manner and not otherwise:

1. All persons qualified to make a homestead entry may, on and after the fifteenth day of July and prior to and including the fifth day of August, 1909, but not theretofore or thereafter, present to James W. Witten, Superintendent of the Opening, at the City of Coeur d'Alene in the State of Idaho, by ordinary mail, but not in person or by registered mail or otherwise, sealed envelopes containing their applications for registration for lands in any or all of said Reservations, but no envelope should contain more than one application and no person should present more than one application for lands in the same Reservation.

2. All applications for registration must be on forms furnished by the General Land Office and they must show the name, post office address, age, height and weight of the applicant and be sworn to by him on or after July 15 and prior to and including August 5, 1909, before some notary public designated by said Superintendent.

3. Applications for registration must be sworn to at the following places and not elsewhere. Applications for Flathead lands must be sworn to at either Kalispell or Missoula, Montana, for Spokane lands at Spokane, Washington, and for Coeur d'Alene lands at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

4. Persons who are honorably discharged after ninety days service in the army or navy of the United States, during the War of the Rebellion, the Spanish-American War or the Philippine Insurrection, or their widows or minor orphan children, may present their applications for registration, either in person or through their duly appointed agents, but no person can act as agent for more than one such applicant and all applications presented by agents must be signed, sworn to and presented by them at the same places and in the same manner in which other applicants are required to present their applications.

5. Beginning at ten o'clock a.m. on August 9, 1909, at the City of Coeur d'Alene in the State of Idaho 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 so presented such number thereof as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this Proclamation, 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 are selected, beginning with number one for the lands within each of said Reservations, and the numbers thus assigned shall fix and control the order in which the persons named therein may make entry after the lands shall become subject to entry.

6. A list of the successful applicants, showing the number assigned to each of them, 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 person to whom a number is assigned.

7. Beginning at nine o'clock a.m. on April 1, 1910, 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 present their applications to enter (or file their declaratory statements in cases where they are entitled to file declaratory statements) at the land office for any land district in which their numbers entitle them to make entry, in the order in which their applications for registration were selected and numbered, but no person can present more than one application to enter or file more than one declaratory statement.

8. If any person fails to apply to enter, or to file a declaratory statement if he is entitled to do so, on the day assigned him for that purpose, or if he presents more than one application for registration for lands within the same Reservation, 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 shall become subject to settlement or entry prior to the first day of September, 1910, except in the manner prescribed herein; and all persons are admonished not to make any settlement prior to that date on lands not covered by entries or filings made by them under this Proclamation. On September 1, 1910, all of said lands which have not then been entered under this Proclamation will become subject to settlement and entry under the general provisions of the homestead laws and the said Acts of Congress.

10. The Secretary of the Interior shall make and prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper to carry this Proclamation and the said Acts of Congress into full force and effect.

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 22nd day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and nine and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and thirty-third.

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT

By the President:

P C KNOX

Secretary of State.