is commenced, no suit or action shall be instituted, and if accepted after commencement of suit or action, the same shall be dismissed at the cost of said company, its successors or assigns.

SEC. 4. That all moneys accepted or recovered under the provisions of section three of this act shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States, and if accepted or recovered on account of damages sustained by said Indians as aforesaid, they shall be placed to the credit of said Indians in their tribal-names, to be expended by the Secretary of the Interior for the benefit of said Indians in such manner as he may deem for their best interest, except in case of an individual Indian, when the amount covered into the Treasury shall be expended for his sole benefit.

Approved, July 10, 1882.

CHAP. 308.-An Act to provide for the Removal of the Flathead and other Indians from the Bitter Root Valley, in the Territory of Montana.

Be it enacted by the Senate ana House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the President, as soon as practicable, to remove the Flathead Indians (whether of full or mixed bloods), and all other Indians connected with said tribe, and recognized as members thereof, from Bitter Root valley (commonly known as the Jocko reservation), which by a treaty concluded at Hell Gate, in the Bitter Root valley, July sixteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, and ratified by the Senate March eighth, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, between the United States and the confederated tribes of Flathead, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreille Indians, was set apart and reserved for the use and occupation of said confederated tribes.

SEC. 2. That as soon as practicable after the passage of this act, the surveyor general of Montana territory shall cause to be surveyed, as other public lands of the United States are surveyed, the lands in the Bitter Root valley lying above the Lo-Lo fork of the Bitter Root river; and said lands shall be open to settlement, and shall be sold in legal subdivisions to actual settlers only, the same being citizens of the United States, or having duly declared their intention to become such citizens, said settlers being heads of families, or over twenty-one years of age, in quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to each settler, at the price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, payment to be made in cash within twenty-one months from the date of settlement, or of the passage of this act. The sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of said lands shall be reserved for school purposes in the manner provided by law. Town sites in said valley may be reserved and entered as provided by law: Provided, That no more than fifteen townships of the lands so surveyed shall be deemed to be subject to the provisions of this act: And provided further, That none of the lands in said valley above the Lo-Lo fork shall be open to settlement

under the homestead and pre-emption laws of the United States. An account shall be kept by the Secretary of the Interior of the proceeds of said lands, and out of the first moneys arising therefrom there shall be reserved and set apart for the use of said Indians the sum of fifty thousand dollars, to be by the President expended, in annual installments, in such manner as in his judgment shall be for the best good of said Indians, but no more than five thousand dollars shall be expended in any one year.

SEC. 3. That any of said Indians, being the head of a family, or twenty-one years of age, who shall, at the passage of this act, be actually residing upon and cultivating any portion of said lands, shall be permitted to remain in said valley and pre-empt without cost the land so occupied and cultivated, not exceeding in amount one hundred and sixty acres for each of such Indians, for which he shall receive a patent without power of alienation: Provided, That such Indian shall, prior to August first, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, notify the superintendent of Indian affairs for Montana territory that he abandons his tribal relations with said tribe, and intends to remain in said valley: And provided further, That said superintendent shall have given such Indian at least one month's notice prior to the date last above mentioned of the provisions of this act and of his right so to remain as provided in this section of this act.

SEC. 4. That in case John Owen, an actual settler in said valley, above the Lo-Lo fork, shall come within the provisions of the act of Congress of September twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and fifty,.entitled "An act to create the office of surveyorgeneral of the public lands in Oregon, and to provide for the survey, and to make donations to the settlers of the said public lands," and the acts amendatory thereof, he shall be permitted to establish such fact in the land office in the said territory of Montana, and, upon proof of compliance with the provisions of said act or acts, shall be permitted to obtain title, in the manner provided therein, to such quantity of land as he may be entitled to under the same. All disputes as to title to any lands mentioned in this act shall be decided according to the rules governing the decision of disputes in ordinary cases under the pre-emption laws of the United States.

Approved, June 5, 1872.

CHAP. 277.-An act] to encourage the growth of timber on western prairies.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Amer.ca in Congress assembled, That any person who shall plant, protect, and keep in a healthy, growing condition for ten years forty acres of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way on any quarter-section of any of the public lands of the United States shall be entitled to a patent for the whole of said quarter-section at the expiration of

said ten years, on making proof of such fact by not less than two credible witnesses; Provided, That only one quarter in any section shall be thus granted.

SEC. 2. That the person applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land-office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit before said register or receiver that said entry is made for the cultivation of timber, and upon filing said affidavit with said register and receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided, however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issue therefor until the expiration of at least ten years from the date of such entry; and if at the expiration of such time, or at any time within three years thereafter, the person making such entry, or if he or she be dead, his or her heirs or legal representatives, shall prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have planted, and for not less than ten years have cultivated and protected such quantity and character of timber as aforesaid, they shall receive the patent for such quarter-section of land.

SEC. 3. That if at any time after the filing of said affidavit, and prior to the issuing of the patent for said land it shall be proven after due notice to the party making such entry and claiming to cultivate such timber, to the satisfaction of the register of the land office that such person has abandoned or failed to cultivate, protect and keep in good condition such timber, then, and in that event, said land shall revert to the United States.

SEC. 4. That each and every person who, under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain" approved May twentieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, or any amendment thereto, having a homestead on said public domain, who, at the end of the third year of his or her residence thereon, shall have had under cultivation, for two years, one acre of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way, and in a good thrifty condition, for each and every sixteen acres of said homestead, shall upon due proof of said fact by two credible witnesses receive his or her patent for said homestead.

SEC. 5. That no land acquired under provisions of this act shall, in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of patent therefor.

SEC. 6. That the commissioner of the general land-office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and receivers of the several land-offices shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this that they are now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with money.

SEC. 7.

That the fifth section of the act entitled "An act

in addition to an act to punish crimes against the United States, and for other purposes" approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this act.

Approved, March 3, 1873. .

CHAP. 291,—An Act granting the Right of Way through the Public Lands to the Utah Northern Railroad Company.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of enabling the Utah and Northern Railroad Company. a corporation organized under the laws of the territory of Utah, to build and extend its line by way of Bear River Valley, Soda Springs, Snake River Valley, and through Montana territory, to a connection with the Northern Pacific Railroad, by the most advantageous and practicable line, to be selected by said company, the right of way through the public lands in the territory of Utah, Idaho, and Montana is hereby granted to said company. Said right of way hereby granted to said company is to be the extent of one hundred feet in width on each side of the central line of said. road where it may pass over the public lands. There is also hereby granted to said company all necessary ground, not to exceed twenty acres for each ten miles in length of the main line of said railroad, for station-buildings, work-shops, depots, machineshops, switches, side-tracks, turn-tables, and water-stations. And whenever it may be necessary to use material from the public lands for the construction of said road, it may be done; but no private property shall be taken for the use of said company, except in the manner now provided by section three of an act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes,' approved July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-two," approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven.

SEC. 2. That said company shall be authorized and empowered to mortgage, in the usual manner, their franchise, road-bed, and all property belonging to said company, to an amount not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars per mile for the entire length of said road, upon such terms as may seem to them best; and upon said mortgage may issue mortgage bonds, not to exceed the same amount per mile; but in no case shall the United States be liable in any way whatever for anything done by said company.

SEC. 3. That the rights herein granted shall not preclude the construction of other roads through any canyon, defile or pass on the route of said road.

SEC. 4. That the said railroad company shall locate the route of said railroad and file a map of such location within one year in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, and shall complete its railroad within ten years after the passage of this act; and nothing herein contained shall be construed as recognizing or denying the authority of the legislature of Utah territory to create railroad corporations.

SEC. 5. The Congress reserves to itself the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act whenever in its judgment the interests of the people may require it.

Approved, March 3, 1873.

CHAPTER 400.-An act for the relief of settlers on railroad lands.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in the adjustment of all railroad land grants, whether made directly to any railroad company or to any state for railroad purposes, if any of the lands granted be found in the possession of an actual settler whose entry or filing has been allowed under the pre-emption or homestead laws of the United States subsequent to the time at which, by the decision of the land office, the right of said road was declared to have attached to such lands, the grantees, upon a proper relinquishment of the lands so entered or filed for, shall be entitled to select an equal quantity of other lands in lieu thereof from any of the public lands not mineral and within the limits of the grant not otherwise appropriated at the date of selection, to which they shall receive title the same as though originally granted. And any such entries or filings thus relieved from conflict may be perfected into complete title as if such lands had not been granted: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall in any manner be so construed as to enlarge or extend any grant to any such railroad or to extend to lands reserved in any land grant made for railroad purposes: And provided further, That this act shall not be construed so as in any manner to confirm or legalize any decision or ruling of the interior department under which lands have been certified to any railroad company when such lands have been entered by a preemption or homestead settler after the location of the line of the road and prior to the notice to the local land office of the withdrawal of such lands from market.

Approved, June 22, 1874.

CHAPTER 152.-An act granting to railroads the right of way through the public lands of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the right of way through the public lands of the United States is hereby granted to any railroad company duly organized under the laws of any state or territory, except the District of Columbia, or by the con