Department of the Interior, and shall also be filed with the United States Indian agent for Indian Territory and with the principal chief or governor of any tribe or nation through which the lines of railroad may be located or in which said lines are situated.

In case of the failure of any railway company to make amicable settlement with any individual owner, occupant, allottee, tribe, or nation for any right of way or lands or improvements sought to be appropriated or condemned under this act, all compensation and damages to be paid to the dissenting individual owner, occupant, allottee, tribe, or nation by reason of the appropriation and condemnation of said right of way, lands, or improvements shall be determined by the appraisement of three disinterested referees, to be appointed by the judge of the United States court or other court of jurisdiction in the district where said lands are situated, on application of the corporation or other person or party in interest. Such referees, before entering upon the duties of their appointment, shall each take and subscribe, before competent authority, an oath that he will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of his appointment, which oaths, duly certified, shall be returned with the award of the referees to the clerk of the court by which they were appointed. The referees shall also find in their report the names of the person and persons, tribe, or nation to whom the damages are payable and the interest of each person, tribe, or nation in the award of damages. Before such referees shall proceed with the assessment of damages for any right of way or other land condemned under this act, twenty days' notice of the time when the same shall be condemned shall be given to all persons interested, by publication in some newspaper in general circulation near said property in the district where said right of way or said lands are situated, or by ten days' personal notice to each person owning or having any interest in said lands or right of way: Provided, That such notice to any tribe or nation may be served on the principal chief or governor of the tribe. If the referees can not agree, then any two of them are authorized to and shall make the award. Any party to the proceedings who is dissatisfied with the award of the referees shall have the right, within ten days after the making of the award, to appeal, by original petition, to the United States court or other court of competent jurisdiction sitting at the place nearest and most convenient to the property sought to be taken, where the question of the damages occasioned by the taking of the land in controversy shall be tried de novo, and the judgment rendered by the court shall be final and conclusive, subject, however, to appeal as in other cases. When the award of damages is filed with the clerk of the court by the referees, the railway company shall deposit the amount of such award with the clerk of the court to abide the judgment thereof, and shall then have the right to enter upon and take possession of the property sought to be condemned: Provided, That when the said railway company is not satisfied with the award it shal! have the right before commencing construction to abandon any portion of said right of way and adopt a new location, subject, however, as to such new location, to all the provisions of this act. Each of the referees shall receive for his compensation the sum of four dollars per day while actually engaged in the appraisement of the property and the hearing of any matter submitted to them under this act. Witnesses shall receive the fees and mileage allowed by law to the witness[es] in courts of record within the districts where such lands are located. Costs, including compensation of the referees, shall be made part of the award or judgment and be paid by the railway company: Provided, That if any party or person other than the railway company shall appeal from any award, and the judgment of the court does not award such appealing party or person more than the referees awarded, all costs occasioned by such appeal shall be paid by such appealing party or person.

SEC. 16. That where a railroad is constructed under the provisions of this act there shall be paid by the railway company to the Secretary of the Interior, for the benefit of the particular tribe or ration through whose lands any such railroad may be constructed, an annual charge of fifteen dollars per mile for cach mile of road constructed, the same to be paid so long as said lands shall be owned and occupied by such nation or tribe, which payment shall be in addition to the compensation otherwise provided herein; and the grants herein are made upon the condition that Congress hereby reserves the right to regulate the charges for freight and passengers on said railways and messages on all telegraph and telephone lines until a State government or governments shall exist 33753-06 M—4

in said Territory within the limits of which any railway shall be located, and then such State government or governments shall be authorized to fix and regulate the cost of transportation of persons and freights within their respective limits by such railways. But Congress expressly reserves the right to fix and regulate at all times the cost of such transportation by said railways whenever such transportation shall extend from one State into another, or shall extend into more than one State; and that the railway companies shall carry the mail at such prices as Congress may by law provide; and until such rate is fixed by law the Postmaster-General may fix the rate of compensation.

SEC. 17. That any railway company authorized to construct, own, or operate a railroad in said Territory desiring to cross or unite its tracks with any other railroad upon the grounds of such other railway company shall, after fifteen days' notice in writing to such other railroad company make application in writing to the judge of the United States court for the district in which it is proposed to make such crossing or connection for the appointment of three disinterested referees to determine the necessity, place, manner, and time of such crossing or connection. The provisions of section three of this act with respect to the condemnation of right of way through tribal or individual lands shall, except as in this section otherwise provided, apply to proceedings to acquire the right to cross or connect with another railroad. Upon the hearing of any such application to cross or connect with any other railroad, either party or the referees may call and examine witnesses in regard to the matter, and said referees shall have the same power to administer oaths to witnesses that is now possessed by United States commissioners in said Territory, and said referees shall, after such hearing and a personal examination of the locality where a crossing or connection is desired, determine whether there is a necessity for such crossing or not, and, if so, the place thereof, whether it shall be over or under the existing railroad, or at grade, and in other respects the manner of such crossing, and the terms upon which the same shall be made and maintained: Provided, That no crossing shall be made through the yards or over the switches or side tracks of any existing railroad if a crossing can be effected at any other place that is practicable. If either party shall be dissatisfied with the terms of the order made by said referees it may appeal to the United States court of the Indian Territory for the district wherein such crossing or connection is sought to be made, in the same manner as appeals are allowed from a judgment of a United States commissioner to said court, and said appeal and all subsequent proceedings shall only affect the amount of compensation, if any, and other terms of crossing fixed by said referees, but shall not delay the making of said crossing or connection: Provided, That the corporation desiring such crossing or connection shall deposit with the clerk of the court the amount of compensation, if any is fixed by said referees, and shall execute and file with said clerk a bond as sufficient security to be approved by the court or a judge thereof in vacation, to pay all damages, and comply with all terms that may be adjudged by the court. Any railway company which shall violate or evade any of the provisions of this section shall forfeit for every such offense, to the person, company, or corporation injured thereby, three times the actual damages sustained by the party aggrieved.

SEC. 18. That when in any case two or more railroads crossing each other at a common grade shall, by a system of interlocking or automatic signals, or by any works or fixtures to be erected by them, render it safe for engines and trains to pass over such crossings without stopping, and such interlocking or automatic signals or works or fixtures shall be approved by the Interstate Commerce Commissioners, then in that case it is hereby made lawful for the engines and trains of such railroad or railroads to pass over such crossing without stopping, any law or the provisions of any law to the contrary notwithstanding; and when two or more railroads cross each other at a common grade either of such roads may apply to the Interstate Commerce Commissioners for permission to introduce upon both of said railroads some system of interlocking or automatic signals or works or fixtures, rendering it safe for engines and trains to pass over such crossings without stopping, and it shall be the duty of said Interstate Commerce Commissioners, if the system of works and fixtures which it is proposed to erect by said company are, in the opinion of the Commission, sufficient and proper, to grant such permission.

SEC. 19. That any railroad company which has obtained permission to introduce a system of interlocking or automatic signals at its crossing at a common grade with any other railroad, as provided in the last section, may, after thirty

days' notice, in writing, to such other railroad company, introduce and erect such interlocking or automatic signals or fixtures; and if such railroad company, after such notification, refuses to join with the railroad company giving such notice in the construction of such works or fixtures, it shall be lawful for said company to enter upon the right of way and tracks of such second company, in such manner as to not unnecessarily impede the operations of such road, and erect such works and fixtures, and may recover in any action at law from such second company one-half of the total cost of erecting and maintaining such interlocking or automatic signals or works or fixtures on both of said roads.

SEC. 20. That all mortgages executed by any railroad company conveying any portion of its railway with its franchise that may be constructed in said Indian Territory shall be recorded in the Department of the Interior, and the record thereof shall be evidence and notice of their execution and shall convey all rights, franchises, and property of said company as therein expressed.

SEC. 21. That Congress hereby reserves the right at any time to alter, amend, or repeal this act, or any portion thereof.

SEC. 22. That any railway company which has heretofore acquired or may hereafter acquire under any other act of Congress a railroad right of way in Indian Territory may, in the manner herein prescribed, obtain any or all of the benefits and advantages of this act, and in such event shall become subject to all the requirements and responsibilities imposed by this act upon railroad companies acquiring a right of way hereunder. And where the time for the completion of a railroad in Indian Territory under any act granting a right of way therefor has expired or shall hereafter expire in advance of the construction of such railroad, or of any part thereof, the Secretary of the Interior may, upon good cause shown, extend the time for the completion of such railroad, or of any part thereof, for a time not exceeding two years from the date of such extension. SEC. 23. That an act entitled "An act to provide for the acquiring of rights of way by railroad companies through Indian reservations, Indian lands, and Indian allotments, and for other purposes," approved March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, so far as applies to the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory, and all other acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed: Provided, That such repeal shall not affect any railroad company whose railroad is now actually being constructed or any rights which have already accrued; but such railroads may be completed and such rights enforced in the manner provided by the laws under which such construction was commenced or under which such rights accrued: And provided further, That the provisions of this act shall apply also to the Osages' Reservation, and other Indian reservations and allotted Indian lands in the Territory of Oklahoma, and all judicial proceedings herein authorized may be commenced and prosecuted in the courts of said Oklahoma Territory which may now or hereafter exercise jurisdiction within said reservations or allotted lands. Approved, February 28, 1902.

[Appropriation act of May 27, 1902 (32 Stat. L., 245).]

For salaries of four commissioners appointed under acts of Congress, approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, to negotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory, twenty thousand dollars: Provided, That said Commission shall exercise all the powers heretofore conferred upon it by Congress: Provided further, That all children born to duly enrolled and recognized citizens of the Creek Nation up to and including the twenty-fifth day of May, nineteen hundred and one, and then living, shall be added to the rolls of citizenship of said nation made under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians, and for other purposes," approved March first, nineteen hundred and one, and if any such child has died since the twenty-fifth day of May, nineteen hundred and one, or may hereafter die, before receiving his allotment of land and distributive share of the funds of the tribe, the lands and moneys to which he would be entitled if living shall de scend to his heirs and be allotted and distributed to them accordingly: And provided further, That the act entitled "An act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians, and for other purposes," approved March first, nineteen hundred and one, in so far as it provides for descent and

distribution according to the laws of the Creek Nation, is hereby repealed, and the descent and distribution of lands and moneys provided for in said act shall be in accordance with the provisions of chapter forty-nine of Mansfield's Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas in force in Indian Territory.

For expenses of commissioners and necessary expenses of employees, and three dollars per diem for expenses of a clerk detailed as special disbursing agent by the Interior Department while on duty with the Commission, shall be paid therefrom, for clerical help, including secretary of the Commission and interpreters (act of March third, nineteen hundred and one, volume thirty-one, page one thousand and seventy-four, section one), ninety-three thousand dollars; contingent expenses of the Commission (same act), two thousand dollars: Provided further, That this appropriation may be used by said Commission in the prosecution of all work to be done by or under its direction as required by law; and said commissioners shall at once make an itemized statement to the Secretary of the Interior of all their expenditures up to January first, nineteen hundred and one, and annually thereafter: And provided further, That not to exceed ten thousand four hundred dollars of the above amount may be used in the temporary employment in the office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of three clerks, at the rate of one thousand six hundred dollars per annum; one clerk, at the rate of one thousand four hundred dollars, and one clerk at the rate of one thousand two hundred dollars, who shall be competent to examine records in disputed citizenship cases and law contests growing out of the work of said Commission, and in the temporary employment in said office of three competent stenographers, at the rate of one thousand dollars each per annum.

To pay all expenses incident to the survey, platting, and appraisement of town sites in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee nations, Indian Territory, as required by sections fifteen and twenty-nine of an act entitled “An act for the protection of the people of the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and all acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto, fifty thousand dollars: Provided, That hereafter the Secretary of the Interior may, whenever the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw nations fails or refuses to appoint a town-site commissioner for any town, or to fill any vacancy caused by the neglect or refusal of the town-site commissioner appointed by the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw nations to qualify or act, in his discretion, appoint a commissioner to fill the vacancy thus created: Provided further, That the limits of such towns in the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations having a population of less than two hundred people, as in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior should be established, shall be defined as early as practicable by the Secretary of the Interior in the same manner as provided for towns having over two hundred people under existing law, and the same shall not be subject to allotment. That the land so segregated and reserved from allotment shall be disposed of, in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may direct, by a town-site commission, one member to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior and one by the executive of the nation in which such land is located; proceeds arising from the disposition of such lands to be applied in like manner as the proceeds of other lands in town sites.

For the purpose of removing intruders and placing allottees in unrestricted possession of their allotments, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior and to be immediately available, fifteen thousand dollars; in all, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars: Provided, however, That it shall hereafter be unlawful to remove or deport any person from the Indian Territory who is in lawful possession of any lots or parcels of land in any town or city in the Indian Territory which has been designated as a town site under existing laws and treaties, and no part of this appropriation shall be used for the deportation or removal of any such person from the Indian Territory: Provided, That the just and reasonable share of each member of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee nations of Indians, in the lands belonging to the said tribes, which each member is entitled to hold in his possession until allotments are made, as provided in the act entitled "An act for the protection of the people of the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, be, and the same is hereby, declared to be three hundred and twenty acres for each member of the Chickasaw Nation, three hundred and twenty acres for each member of the Choctaw Nation, one hundred and sixty acres for each member of the Creek Nation, and one hundred acres for each member of the Cherokee Nation.

[Supplemental Creek agreement (32 Stat. L., 500).]

AN ACT To ratify and confirm a supplemental agreement with the Creek tribe of Indians, and for other purposes."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following supplemental agreement, submitted by certain commissioners of the Creek tribe of Indians, as herein amended, is hereby ratified and confirmed on the part of the United States, and the same shall be of full force and effect if ratified by the Creek tribal council on or before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and two, which said supplemental agreement is as follows:

This agreement by and between the United States, entered into in its behalf by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, Henry L. Dawes, Tams Bixby, Thomas B. Needles, and Clifton R. Breckenridge, duly appointed and authorized thereunto, and the Muskogee (or Creek) tribe of Indians, in Indian Territory, entered into in behalf of the said tribe by Pleasant Porter, principal chief, Roley McIntosh, Thomas W. Perryman, Amos McIntosh, and David M. Hodge, commissioners duly appointed and authorized thereunto, witnesseth, that in consideration of the mutual undertakings herein contained, it is agreed as follows:

DEFINITIONS.

The words " Creek and " Muskogee " as used in this agreement shall be

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deemed synonymous, and the words "nation" and "tribe" shall each be deemed to refer to the Muskogee Nation or Muskogee tribe of Indians in Indian Territory. The words "principal chief" shall be deemed to refer to the principal chief of the Muskogee Nation. The words citizen" or 'citizens" shall be deemed to refer to a member or members of the Muskogee tribe or nation of Indians. The word Commissioner" shall be deemed to refer to the United States Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes.

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ALLOTMENT OF LANDS.

2. Section 2 of the agreement ratified by act of Congress approved March, 1901 (31 Stat. L., 861), is amended and as so amended is reenacted to read as follows: All lands belonging to the Creek tribe of Indians in Indian Territory, except town sites and lands reserved for Creek schools and churches, railroads, and town cemeteries, in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress approved March 1, 1901 (31 Stat. L., 861), shall be appraised at not to exceed $6.50 per acre, excluding only lawful improvements on lands in actual cultivation.

Such appraisement shall be made, under the direction and supervision of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, by such number of committees with necessary assistance as may be deemed necessary to expedite the work, one member of each committee to be appointed by the principal chief. Said Commission shall have authority to revise and adjust the work of said committees; and if the members of any committee fail to agree as to the value of any tract of land, the value thereof shall be fixed by said Commission. The appraisement so made shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Interior for approval. 3. Paragraph 2 of section 3 of the agreement ratified by said act of Congress approved March 1, 1901, is amended and as so amended is reenacted to read as follows:

If any citizen select lands the appraised value of which is $6.50 per acre, he shall not receive any further distribution of property or funds of the tribe until all other citizens have received lands and moneys equal in value to his allotment. 4. Exclusive jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the Commission to the Five Civilized tribes to determine, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, all controversies arising between citizens as to their right to select certain tracts of land.

5. Where it is shown to the satisfaction of said Commission that it was the intention of a citizen to select lands which include his home and improvements, but that through error and mistake he had selected land which did not include said home and improvements, said Commission is authorized to cancel said President's procla

This agreement was ratified by the Creek council July 26, 1902. mation issued August 8, 1902.