A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. II, Part 31

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 522


USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. II > Part 31


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46


Sec. 5. That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the defraying of the expenses of the elections provided for in this Act, and said convention, and for the payment of the members thereof, under the same rules and regulations and at the same rates as are now provided by law for the payment of the Territorial legislature of the Territory of Oklahoma, and the disbursements of the money appropriated by this section shall be made by the secretary of the Territory of Oklahoma.


Sec. 6. That until the next general census, or until otherwise provided by law, the said State of Oklahoma shall be entitled to five Representatives in the House of Representatives of the United States, to be elected from the following-described districts, the


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boundaries of which shall remain the same until the next general census :


The district numbered one shall comprise the counties of Grant, Kay, Garfield, Noble, Pawnee, Kingfisher, Logan, Payne, Lincoln, and the territory comprising the Osage and Kansas Indian reserva- tions.


That district numbered two shall comprise the counties of Okla- homa, Canadian, Blaine, Caddo, Custer, Dewey, Day, Woods, Woodward, and Beaver.


That district numbered three shall (with the exception of that part of recording district numbered twelve, which is in the Cherokee and Creek nations) comprise all the territory now constituting the Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole nations, and the Indian reserva- tions lying northeast of the Cherokee Nation, within said State.


That district numbered four shall comprise all that territory now constituting the Choctaw Nation, that part of recording dis- trict numbered twelve which is in the Cherokee and Creek nations, that part of recording district numbered twenty-five which is in the Chickasaw Nation, and the territory comprising recording districts numbered sixteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, and twenty- six, in the Indian Territory.


That district numbered five shall comprise the counties of Greer, Roger Mills, Kiowa, Washita, Comanche, Cleveland, and Pot- tawatomie, and the territory comprising recording districts num- bered seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory.


And the said Representatives, together with the governor and other officers provided for in said constitution, shall be elected on the same day of the election for the ratification or rejection of the constitution ; and until said officers are elected and qualified under the provisions of such constitution and the said State is admitted into the Union, the Territorial officers of Oklahoma Territory shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices in said Territory.


Sec. 7. That upon the admission of the State into the Union sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six, in every township in Okla- homa Territory, and all indemnity lands heretofore selected in lieu thereof, are hereby granted to the State for the use and benefit of the common schools : Provided, That sections sixteen and thirty-six embraced in permanent reservations for national purposes shall not at any time be subject to the grant nor the indemnity provisions of this Act, nor shall any lands embraced in Indian, military, or other reservations of any character, nor shall land owned by Indian tribes or individual members of any tribe be subjected to the grants or to the indemnity provisions of this Act until the reserva- tion shall have been extinguished and such lands be restored to and become a part of the public domain : Provided, That there is suffi- cient untaken public land within said State to cover this grant : And provided, That in case any of the lands herein granted to the State of Oklahoma have heretofore been confirmed to the Territory of


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Oklahoma for the purposes specified in this Act, the amount so confirmed shall be deducted from the quantity specified in this Act.


There is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treas- ury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five million dollars for the use and benefit of the common schools of said State in lieu of sections sixteen and thirty-six, and other lands of the Indian Territory. Said appropriation shall be paid by the Treasurer of the United States at such time and to such person or persons as may be authorized by said State to receive the same under laws to be enacted by said State, and until said State shall enact such laws said appropriation shall not be paid, but said State shall be allowed interest thereon at the rate of three per centum per annum, which shall be paid to said State for the use and benefit of its public schools. Said appropriation of five million dollars shall be held and invested by said State, in trust, for the use and benefit of said schools, and the interest thereon shall be used exclusively in the support and maintenance of said schools: Provided, That nothing in this Act contained shall repeal or affect any Act of Congress relating to the Sulphur Springs Reservation as now defined or as may be hereafter defined or extended, or the power of the United States over it or any other lands embraced in the State hereafter set aside by Congress as a national park, game preserve, or for the preservation of objects of archaeological or ethnological interest; and nothing contained in this Act shall interfere with the rights and ownership of the United States in any land hereafter set aside by Congress as a national park, game preserve, or other reservation, or in the said Sulphur Springs Reservation, as it now is or may be hereafter defined or extended by law; but exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, shall be exercised by the United States, which shall have exclusive control and jurisdiction over the same; but nothing in this proviso contained shall be construed to prevent the service within said Sulphur Springs Reservation or national parks, game preserves, and other reservations hereafter established by law, of civil and criminal processes lawfully issued by the authority of said State, and said State shall not be entitled to select indemnity school lands for the thirteenth, sixteenth, thirty-third, and thirty- sixth sections that may be embraced within the metes and bounds of the national park, game preserve, and other reservation or the said Sulphur Springs Reservation, as now defined or may be hereafter defined.


Sec. 8. That section thirteen in the Cherokee Outlet, the Tonk- awa Indian Reservation, and the Pawnee Indian Reservation, reserved by the President of the United States by proclamation issued August nineteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, open- ing to settlement the said lands, and by any Act or Acts of Con- gress since said date, and section thirteen in all other lands which have been or may be opened to settlement in the Territory of Okla- homa, and all lands heretofore selected in lieu thereof, is hereby reserved and granted to said State for the use and benefit of the University of Oklahoma and the University Preparatory School,


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one-third; of the normal schools now established or hereafter to be established, one-third; and of the Agricultural and Mechanical College and the Colored Agricultural Normal University, one- third. The said lands or the proceeds thereof as above appor- tioned shall be divided between the institutions as the legislature reserved or the proceeds of the sale thereof shall be safely kept or invested and held by said State, and the income thereof, interest, rentals, or otherwise, only shall be used exclusively for the benefit of said educational institutions. Such educational institutions shall remain under the exclusive control of said State, and no part of the proceeds arising from the sale or disposal of any lands herein granted for educational purposes, or the income or rentals thereof, shall be used for the support of any religious or sectarian school, college, or university.


That section thirty-three, and all lands heretofore selected in lieu thereof, heretofore reserved under said proclamation, and Acts for charitable and penal institutions and public buildings, shall be apportioned and disposed of as the legislature of said State may prescribe.


Where any part of the lands granted by this Act to the State of Oklahoma are valuable for minerals, which terms shall also include gas and oil, such lands shall not be sold by the said State prior to January first, nineteen hundred and fifteen; but the same may be leased for periods not exceeding five years by the State officers duly authorized for that purpose, such leasing to be made by public competition after not less than thirty days' advertise- ment in the manner to be prescribed by law, and all such leasing shall be done under sealed bids and awarded to the highest respon- sible bidder. The leasing shall require and the advertisement shall specify in each case a fixed royalty to be paid by the successful bidder, in addition to any bonus offered for the lease, and all pro- ceeds from leases shall be covered into the fund to which they shall properly belong, and no transfer or assignment of any lease shall be valid or confer any right in the assignee without the consent of the proper State authorities in writing: Provided, however, that agricultural lessees in possession of such lands shall be reimbursed by the mining lessees for all damage done to said agricultural lessees' interest therein by reason of such mining operations. The legislature of the State may prescribe additional legislation govern- ing such leases not in conflict herewith.


Sec. 9. That said sections sixteen and thirty-six, and lands taken in lieu thereof, herein granted for the support of the common schools, if sold, may be appraised and sold at public sale in one hundred and sixty acre tracts or less, under such rules and regu- lations as the legislature of the said State may prescribe, preference right to purchase at the highest bid being given to the lessee at the time of such sale, the proceeds to constitute a permanent school fund, the interest of which only shall be expended in the support of such schools. But said lands may, under such regulations as the legislature may prescribe, be leased for periods not to exceed


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ten years; and sueh lands shall not be subject to homestead entry or any other entry under the land laws of the United States whether surveyed or unsurveyed, but shall be reserved for seliool purposes only.


See. 10. That said sections thirteen and thirty-three, afore- said, if sold, may be appraised and sold at publie sale, in one hun- dred and sixty aere traets or less, under sueh rules and regula- tions as the legislature of said State may preseribe, preferenee right to purchase at the highest bid being given to the lessee at the time of sueh sale, but such lands may be leased for periods of not more than five years, under such rules and regulations as the legislature shall preseribe, and until such time as the legislature shall pre- scribe sueh rules these and all other lands granted to the State shall be leased under existing rules and regulations, and shall not be subject to homestead entry or any other entry under the land laws of the United States, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, but shall be reserved for designated purposes only, and until such time as the legislature shall prescribe as aforesaid -sueh lands shall be leased under existing rules : Provided, That before any of the said lands shall be sold, as provided in sections nine and ten of this Aet, the said lands and the improvements thereon shall be appraised by three disinterested appraisers, who shall be nonresidents of the eounty wherein the land is situated, to be designated as the legis- lature of said State shall prescribe, and the said appraisers shall make a true appraisement of said lands at the actual eash value thereof, exclusive of improvements, and shall separately appraise all permanent improvements thereon at their fair and reason- able value, and in ease the lease-holder does not become the pur- chaser, the purehaser at said sale shall, under sueh rules and regu- lations as the legislature may prescribe, pay to or for the lease- holder the appraised value of said improvements, and to the State the amount bid for the said lands, exclusive of the appraised value of improvements ; and at said sale no bid for any tract at less than the appraisement thereof shall be accepted.


See. 11. That an amount equal to five per eentum of the pro- eeeds of the sales of public lands lying within said State shall be paid to the said State, to be used as a permanent fund, the interest only of which shall be expended for the support of the common sehools within said State.


Sec. 12. That in lieu of the grant of land for purposes of internal improvement made to new States by the eighth scetion of the Act of September fourth, eightcen hundred and forty-one, which seetion is hereby repealed as to said State, and in lieu of any claim or demand of the State of Oklahoma under the Aet of September twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and fifty, and seetion twenty-four hundred and seventy-nine of the Revised Statutes, making a grant of swamp and overflowed lands, which grant it is hereby declared is not extended to said State of Oklahoma, the following grant of land is hereby made to said State from publie lands of the United States within said State, for the purposes indi-


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cated, namely : For the benefit of the Oklahoma University, two hundred and fifty thousand acres; for the benefit of the Uni- versity Preparatory School, one hundred and fifty thousand acres; for the benefit of the Agricultural and Mechanical College, two hundred and fifty thousand acres; for the benefit of the Colored Agricultural and Normal University, one hundred thousand acres; for the benefit of normal schools, now established or hereafter to be established, three hundred thousand acres. The lands granted by this section shall be selected by the board for leasing school lands of the Territory of Oklahoma immediately upon the approval of this Act. Said selections as soon as made shall be certified to the Secre- tary of the Interior, and the lands so selected shall be thereupon withdrawn from homestead entry.


Sec. 13. That said State when admitted as aforesaid shall constitute two judicial districts, to be known as the eastern district of Oklahoma and the western district of Oklahoma ; the said Indian Territory shall constitute said eastern district, and the said Okla- homa Territory shall constitute said western district. The circuit and district courts for the eastern district shall be held one term at Muscogee, one term at Vinita, one term at Tulsa, one term at South McAlester, one term at Chickasha and one term at Ardmore, each year, and the circuit and district courts of the western district shall be held one term at Guthrie, one term at Oklahoma City, and one term at Enid, and one term at Lawton, each year, for the time being. And the said districts shall, for judicial purposes, until otherwise provided, be attached to the eighth judicial circuit. There shall be appointed for each of said districts one district judge, one United States attorney, and one United States marshal. There shall be appointed a clerk for each of said districts, who shall keep his office at Muscogee and Guthrie, respectively, for the time being. The regular term of said courts shall be held at the places designated in this Act, at Muscogee on the first Monday in January and at Vinita on the first Monday in March and at Tulsa on the first Monday in April; at South McAlester on the first Mon- day in June; at Ardmore on the first Monday in October ; at Chick- asha on the first Monday of November; at Guthrie on the first Monday in January; at Oklahoma City on the first Monday in March ; at Enid on the first Monday in June, and at Lawton on the first Monday in October, in each year, and one grand jury shall be summoned in each year in cach of said circuit and district courts. The circuit and district courts for each of said districts, and the judges thereof, respectively, shall possess the same powers and juris- diction and perform the same duties required to be performed by the other circuit and district courts and judges of the United States, and shall be governed by the same laws and regulations. The marshal, district attorney, and clerk of each of the circuit and district courts of said districts, and all other officers and persons performing duties in the administration of justice therein, shall severally possess the powers and perform the duties lawfully re- quired to be performed by similar officers in other districts of the Vol. II-22


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United States, and shall, for the services they may perform, receive the fees and compensation now allowed by law to officers perform- ing similar services for the United States in other districts of the United States; and that the laws in force in the Territory of Okla- homa, as far as applicable, shall extend over and apply to said State until changed by the legislature thereof.


Sec. 14. That all prosecutions for crimes or offenses hereafter committed in either of said judicial districts as hereby constituted shall be cognizable within the district in which committed, and all prosecutions for crimes or offenses committed before the passage of this Act in which indictments have not yet been found or proceed- ings instituted shall be cognizable within the judicial district as hereby constituted in which such crimes or offenses were com- mitted.


Sec. 15. That all appeals or writs of error taken from the supreme court of Oklahoma Territory, or the United States court of appeals in the Indian Territory to the Supreme Court of the United States or the United States circuit court of appeals for the eighth circuit, previous to the final admission of such State shall be prosecuted to final determination as though this Act had not been passed. And all cases in which final judgment has been ren- dered in such Territorial appellate courts on which appeals or writs of error might be had except for the admission of such State may still be sued out, taken, and prosecuted to the Supreme Court of the United States or the United States circuit court of appeals under the provisions of existing laws, and there held and determined in like manner, and in either case the Supreme Court of the United States, or the United States circuit court of appeals, in the event of reversal shall remand the said causes to either the State supreme court or other final appellate court of said State, or the United States circuit and district courts of said State, as the case may re- quire : Provided, That the time allowed by existing law for appeals and writs of error from appellate courts of said Territories shall not be enlarged hereby, and all appeals and writs of error not sued out from the final judgments of said courts at the time of the admission of such State shall be taken within six months from such time.


Sec. 16. That all causes pending in the supreme and district courts.of Oklahoma Territory and in the United States courts and in the United States court of appeals in the Indian Territory arising under the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States, or affecting ambassadors, ministers, or consuls of the United States, or of any other country or State, or of admiralty or of maritime jurisdiction, or in which the United States may be a party, or between citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants from different States; and in all cases where there is a contro- versy between citizens of said Territories prior to admission and citizens of different States, or between citizens of different States or between a citizen of any State and citizens or subjects of any foreign State or country, and in which cases of diversity of citizen-


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ship there shall be more than two thousand dollars in controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, shall be transferred to the proper United States circuit or district court for final disposition : Pro- vided, That said transfer shall not be made in any case where the United States is not a party except on application of .one of the parties in the court in which the cause is pending, at or before the second term of such court, after the admission of said State, sup- ported by oath, showing that the case is one which may be so transferred, the proceedings to effect such transfer, except as to time and parties, to be the same as are now provided by law for the removal of causes from a State court to a circuit court of the United States; and in causes transferred from the appellate courts of said Territories the circuit court of the United States in such State shall first determine such appellate matters as the successor of and with all the power of said Territorial appellate courts, and shall thereafter proceed under its original jurisdiction of such causes. All final judgments and decrees rendered in such circuit and dis- trict courts in such transferred cases may be reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States or by the United States cir- cuit court of appeals in the same manner as is now provided by law with reference to existing United States circuit and district courts.


Sec. 17. That all cases pending in the supreme court of said Territory of Oklahoma and in the United States court of appeals in the Indian Territory not transferred to the United States circuit and district courts in said State of Oklahoma shall be proceeded with, held, and determined by the supreme or other final appellate court of such State as the successor of said Territorial supreme court and appellate court, subject to the same right to review upon appeal or error to the Supreme Court of the United States now allowed from the supreme or appellate courts of a State under existing laws. Jurisdiction of all cases pending in the courts of original juris- diction in said Territories not transferred to the United States cir- cuit and district courts shall devolve upon and be exercised by the courts of original jurisdiction created by said State.


Sec. 18. That the supreme court or other court of last resort of said State shall be deemed to be the successor of said Terri- torial appellate courts and shall take or possess any and all juris- diction as such, not herein otherwise specifically provided for, and shall receive and retain the custody of all books, dockets, records, and files not transferred to other courts, as herein provided, subject to the duty to furnish the transcripts of all book entries in any specific case transferred to complete the record thereof.


Sec. 19. That the courts of original jurisdiction of such State shall be deemed to be the successor of all courts of original juris- diction of said Territories and as such shall take and retain cus- tody of all records, dockets, journals, and files of such courts except in causes transferred therefrom, as herein provided; the files and papers in such transferred cases shall be transferred to the proper United States circuit or district court, together with a transcript


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of all book entries to complete the record in such particular case so transferred.


Sec. 20. That all cases pending in the district courts of Okla- homa Territory and in the United States courts for the Indian Territory at the time said Territories become a State not trans- ferred to the United States circuit or district courts in the State of Oklahoma shall be proceeded with, held, and determined by the courts of said State, the successors of said district courts of the Ter- ritory of Oklahoma and United States courts for the Indian Terri- tory, with the right to prosecute appeals or writs of error to the supreme court of said State, and also with the same right to prose- cute appeals or writs of error from the final determination in said causes made by the supreme court of said State of Oklahoma to the Supreme Court of the United States, as now provided by law for appeals and writs of error from the supreme court of a State to the Supreme Court of the United States.


Sec. 21. That the constitutional convention may by ordinance provide for the election of officers for a full State government, including members of the legislature and five Representatives to Congress, and shall constitute the Osage Indian Reservation a sep- arate county, and provide that it shall remain a separate county until the lands in the Osage Indian Reservation are allotted in severalty and until changed by the legislature of Oklahoma, and designate the county seat thereof, and shall provide rules and regu- lations and define the manner of conducting the first election for officers in said county. Such State government shall remain in abeyance until the State shall be admitted into the Union and the election for State officers held, as provided for in this Act. The State legislature when organized shall elect two Senators of the United States, in the manner now prescribed by the laws of the United States, and the governor and secretary of said State shall certify the clection of the Senators and Representatives in the manner required by law; and said Senators and Representatives shall be entitled to be admitted to seats in Congress and to all the rights and privileges of Senators and Representatives of other States in the Congress of the United States. And the officers of the State government formed in pursuance of said constitution, as provided by said constitutional convention, shall proceed to exercise all the functions of such State officers; and all laws in force in the Terri- tory of Oklahoma at the time of the admission of said State into the Union shall be in force throughout said State, except as modified or changed by this Act or by the constitution of the State, and the laws of the United States not locally inapplicable shall have the same force and effect within said State as elsewhere within the United States.




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