Senator Dixon’s 1910 Bill – Sale of Flathead Reservation Land
Senator Dixon’s Bill – Flathead Lake Lots To Highest Bidder – 1910
To Sell Land To Highest Bidder
Two and Five Acre Tracts On Flathead Lake May Be Disposed Of.
Terms Of Dixon’s Bill
Property May Be Purchased on the Borders of Lake in Reservation and Sixty Acres of Allotted Property May Be Sold to Settlers Under Provisions Contained in the Act.
Washington, D. C., April 19. – (Special.) – The bill introduced by Senator Dixon providing for the sale of two and five-acre tracts fronting on the Flathead lake, the sale of 60 acres of irrigable lands by Indians and reserving lands from entry for reservoir or power sites on the Flathead Indian reservation, which passed both houses of congress and was made a law by President Taft signing it on April 12th, provides as follows:
“That the secretary of the Interior be hereby authorized to cause to be surveyed and subdivided into lots of not less than two acres or more than five acres in area all of the unallotted lands fronting on Flathead lake in the state of Montana, that are embraced within the limits of the Flathead reservation, whether classified as grazing, agricultural, or timber lands, and may sell same to the highest bidder at public sale subject to the right to reject any and all bids. The proceeds from the sale of said lands, after deducting the expense of the survey and sale thereof, shall be paid into the treasury and expended as heretofore provided in section 14 as amended by the act of May 29, 1908.
“That where allotments of lands have been made in severalty to said Indians from the lands embraced within the area of said Flathead Indian reservation, which are or may be irrigable lands, the secretary of the interior may, upon application of the Indian allottee, sell and dispose of not to exceed 60 acres of such individual allotment of land under such terms and conditions of sale as the secretary of the interior may prescribe, one-half of the proceeds of the sale of said individual allotment to be paid to the Indian allottee and the remaining half of the proceeds of sale to be held in trust for the said Indian allottee, upon Indian allottee, sell and dispose of not less than 3 per centum interest, the remaining principal sum to be paid to said allottee or his heirs when the full period of his trust patent for the remaining lands covered by his allotment shall have expired, or sooner, should the secretary of the interior, in his judgment deem it best for said Indian allottee.
“That the secretary of the interior is hereby authorized to set aside and reserve so much of the surplus unallotted and otherwise unreserved lands of the Flathead Indian reservation as may be necessary to provide an allotment to each Indian having an allotment on any of the lands set aside and reserved for power or reservoir sites, as authorized by section 22 of the act of March 3, 1909, who may relinquish his allotment within such power or reservoir sites.
“And in the event of failure, neglect, or refusal of any such allottee to relinquish any allotment made to him on any land reserved or necessary for reservoir sites, as aforesaid, the secretary of the interior is authorized to bring action under the provision of the laws of the state of Montana to condemn and acquire title to any and all lands necessary or useful for said reservoir sites that have heretofore been allotted on said Flathead reservation lands.”
The above article appeared in The Missoulian on April 20, 1910.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/349235670
Two Missoulian articles by Vince Devlin in 2010 provided some background on the history of the problems which arose as a result of the Dixon legislation in 1910. See the links below: