east line of section fourteen, twenty chains north of the southeast corner of section fourteen; thence west twenty chains; thence north twenty chains; thence west twenty chains; thence northerly along the east side of a small lake to a point where the center line running in a north and south direction through section fourteen intersects the north side of said lake at low water mark; thence northerly along the center line of said section through section eleven to the quarter corner between sections two and eleven of said township; thence westerly to a point twenty chains west of the northwest corner of section eleven; thence north forty chains; thence west twenty chains; thence north to a point where the center line running in a north and south direction in section three intersects the township line between townships one-hundred and forty-four and one hundred and forty-five north, range thirty-one west; thence westerly to the quarter quarter corner on the township line in the southeast quarter of section thirty-four in township one hundred and forty-five north, range thirty-one west; thence north twenty chains; thence west forty chains; thence north twenty chains; thence west twenty chains to the quarter corner between sections thirty-three and thirty-four in said township and range; thence northerly along the east line of sections thirty-three, twenty-eight, twenty-one and sixteen in said township to a point where it intersects the right-of-way of the Great Northern Railway as at present located; thence easterly along said right-of-way to a point where it intersects the shore of Cass Lake at low water mark in section fifteen, township one hundred and forty-five north, range thirty-one west; thence northerly along the west shore of Cass Lake and the south, west, and north shore of Allen's Bay and the northwest shore of Cass Lake to a point along the contour of said lake at low water mark at the head of the Mississippi River, approximately in section twenty-one, township one hundred and forty-six north, range thirty west; thence easterly along the right bank of said river to a point where the range line between ranges twenty-nine and thirty west intersects said river; thence northerly along the range line to the northwest corner of section nineteen in township one hundred and forty-seven north, range twenty-nine west; thence easterly along the north line of sections nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twentytwo, twenty-three, and twenty-four in said township and along the north side of sections nineteen and twenty in township one hundred and forty-seven north, range twentyeight west to a point where said line intersects the left bank of Third River at low water mark; thence northerly along the right bank of Third River to the contour line at low water mark of the lake formed by the waters of Third River; thence southeasterly and northerly along the contour line of said lake to the point of beginning; and it is the intent of this act to include in said national forest and make a part thereof all that certain territory and land which has heretofore been selected by the Forester of the Department of Agriculture as the ten sections situated in townships one hundred and forty-four, one hundred and forty-five, and one hundred and forty-six north, ranges thirty and thirty-one west of the fifth principal meridian in Minnesota and designated as being the ten sections referred to and authorized to be selected by section two of the act approved June twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and two, being chapter eleven hundred and fifty-seven, United States Statutes at Large, volume thirty-two, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota'," approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine; and also all the islands in Cass Lake in the State of Minnesota.

And in addition to the lands and territory above described, the lands described by section two of said act of June twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and two, as follows: "One hundred and sixty acres at the extremity of Sugar Point, on Leach Lake, and the peninsula known as Pine Point, on which the new Leech Lake Agency is now located" shall be included in and are hereby made a part of said national forest: Provided, That this act shall not in any manner abridge the right of citizens to the use of the west and northwesterly shores of Cass Lake.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to proceed with the sale of the merchantable pine timber upon the above described land outside of said ten sections and said islands and points, in conformity with the provisions of said Act above entitled, and reserving ten per centum of such timber from sale, said ten per centum to be designated by the Forester of the United States Department of Agriculture; and as to the timber upon said ten sections and said islands and points, the said Forester is authorized, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe from time to time to sell and dispose of so much of the standing timber thereon as he may deem wise and advisable in the conduct of a national forest: Provided, That a commission of three persons shall at once be appointed, consisting of one person to be designated by the President, one by the Secretary of the Interior, and one by a general council of the Indians of the Winnibigoshish, Cass Lake, Chippewas of the Mississippi Reservation, and Leech Lake Reservation to be held under the direction of the agent at

Leech Lake Indian Agency; and said commissioners shall proceed forthwith to appraise the value of the five per centum of timber heretofore reserved from sale by the provisions of said act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota,"" approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and the ten per centum hereafter reserved under the provisions of this act, and the timber upon said ten sections and upon the unappropriated lands on said islands and points. and shall ascertain the acreage of actual land included under the provisions of this act and to the estimated value of said five per centum of timber reserved under the said act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota,'" approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and the ten per centum reserved under this act and the estimated value of timber upon said ten sections and upon the unappropriated lands on said islands and points, to the sum of the values of the timber so estimated shall add an amount equal to one dollar and twenty-five cents for each and every acre of land not otherwise appropriated which they find covered by the provisions of this act, and shall certify the same to the Secretary of the Interior. The Indians designated in this section, acting through a representative who shall serve without compensation, to be named by them at the time of their appointment of the commissioner herein, shall have sixty days in which to appeal to the President of the United States from the findings of said commissioners, as certified to the Secretary of the Interior. At the end of said sixty days, if no appeal has been taken or if an appeal has been taken, then, upon the determination thereof by the President, the Secretary of the Interior shall certify the amount found by said commissioners, or if modified by the President the amount determined by him, to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall thereupon place such amount to the credit of all the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota as a part of the permanent fund of said "All of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota" provided for in an act of Congress entitled "An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota," approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and the acts supplementary thereto, and the amounts so certified to the Secretary of the Treasury shall draw interest at the rate of five per centum per annum, pursuant to the terms of said acts.

SEC. 3. That any Indian having an allotment within the limits of the national forest created by this act is hereby authorized to relinquish such allotment and permitted to take another allotment in lieu thereof outside such national forest, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior; and the allotments of any deceased Indians located within the boundaries of said national forest shall not hereafter be disposed of under section seven of the act of June twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and two (volume thirty-second Statutes at Large, page two hundred and forty-five); but the heirs of said deceased Indians shall have the right, with the consent of the Secretary of the Interior and under such rules as he may prescribe, to relinquish to the United States the lands covered by such allotments and to select surveyed, unappropriated, unreserved land within the limits of any of the ceded Indian lands in the State of Minnesota and outside of the national forest hereby created in lieu of the land covered by such allotments; and the lands so relinquished by the Indians or their heirs shall thereupon become part of the said national forest. And the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized on request of the forester of the Department of Agriculture to purchase such relinquishments from said Indians or their heirs and to pay for the same from any moneys received, after the appraisal of timber herein provided for, on account of the sale of timber from the national forest hereby created, or from the sale of any other products or the use of any lands or resources thereof. SEC. 4. That all land in any of said reservations, the Winnibigoshish Indian Reservation, Cass Lake Indian Reservation, Chippewas of the Mississippi Reservation, or Leech Lake Indian Reservation not included in the national forest hereby created as above described, heretofore classified or designated as agricultural lands, is hereby declared to be open to homestead settlement; and any of said land which has been classified as timber land shall be open to homestead settlement as soon and as fast as the timber is removed therefrom, in conformity with the homestead law, except that none of said lands shall be disposed of except on payment of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.

SEC. 5. That all moneys received from the sale of timber from any of the lands set aside by this act for a national forest, prior to the appraisal herein provided for, including all moneys received for timber under sales made by the Secretary of the Interior as authorized by existing laws and section two of this act, shall be placed to the credit of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota, as provided for in an act of Congress entitled "An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota," approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty

nine, and the acts supplementary thereto, and shall draw interest at the rate of five per centum per annum, pursuant to the terms of said acts; and after said appraisal the national forest hereby created, as above described, shall be subject to all general laws and regulations from time to time governing national forests, so far as said laws and regulations may be applicable thereto.

SEC. 6. That the commissioners provided for herein shall receive a compensation of ten dollars per day each for each and every day actually spent upon the work herein provided for, which shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, and no commissioner shall be paid for more than ten days' service.

SEC. 7. None of the Indian graves now upon any of the islands or points referred to in this act shall be disturbed and the Indians shall continue to have the right to bury their dead at such places as they have heretofore used for that purpose, under the rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Forest Service.

SEC. 8. That nothing in this act contained shall in any manner bind the United States to purchase any of the land in said reservations excluded from the reserve created by this act, or to dispose of said land, except as provided by the act of January fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled "An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota," and an act of June twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and two, entitled "An act to amend an act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota," or the provisions of this act; or to guarantee to find purchasers for said lands or any portion thereof, it being the intention of this act that the United States shall act as trustee for said Indians to dispose of the said lands and the timber thereon, and to dispose of the proceeds thereof, as provided in said acts, only when received from the sale of the timber and the lands, as therein provided.

Approved, May 23, 1908.

Mr. MERITT. I also offer for the record the act creating the forest reserve on the Red Lake Reservation-act of May 18, 1916 (123–137): To carry into effect the act entitled "An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota, approved January 14, 1889, to provide for the establishment and administration of a forest reserve and for the sale of timber within the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota," that the following-described lands within the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota, be, and the same hereby are, created into a forest reserve, to be known as the Red Lake Indian Forest: Townships one hundred and fifty and one hundred and fifty-one north, ranges thirty-two thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, and thirty-six west, and townships one hundred and fifty-two and one hundred and fifty-three north, ranges thirty-two, thirty-three, and thirty-four west of the fifth principal meridian, except the lands in townships one hundred and fifty-one north, range thirty-six west, which lie north of the north line of sections twenty-six to thirty, inclusive, and except all lands within sections four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and eighteen, in township one hundred and fiftythree north, range thirty-four west. The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to any lands which have heretofore been reserved for school, agency, church, or townsite purposes or granted to private parties or corporations within the area described, nor to the town site of Red Lake, for the creation of which provision is made herein: Provided, That when any of said lands are no longer needed for the purpose for which they are reserved, the Secretary of the Interior may declare such lands to be a part of the Red Lake Indian Forest.

That lands within said Red Lake Indian Forest, which are not covered with standing and growing merchantable pine timber and which are suited for the production of agricultural crops and which are fronting upon a lake shore, may be allotted to individual Red Lake Indians: Provided, That no such allotment shall exceed eighty acres nor have more than eighty rods fronting upon a lake shore: Provided further, That in case an Indian has improved and cultivated more than eighty acres, his allotment may embrace his improvements to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres.

That said forest shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with the principles of scientific forestry, with a view to the production of successive timber crops thereon, and he is hereby authorized to sell and manufacture only such standing and growing pine and oak timber as is mature and has ceased to grow, and he is also authorized to sell and manufacture from time to time such other mature and marketable timber as he may deem advisable, and he is further authorized to construct and operate sawmills for the manufacture of the timber into merchantable products and to employ such persons as he shall find necessary to carry out the purposes of the foregoing provisions, including the establishment of nurseries and the purchase of

seeds, seedlings, and transplants when needed for reforestation purposes: Provided, That all timber sold under the provisions herein shall be sold on what is known as the bank scale: Provided further, That no contract shall be made for the establishment of any mill, or to carry on any logging or lumbering operations which shall constitute a charge upon the proceeds of the timber, until an estimate of the cost thereof shall have first been submitted to and approved by Congress.

That the Secretary of the Interior may issue permits or grant leases on such lands for camping or farming. No permit shall be issued for a longer term than one year and no lease shall be executed for a longer term than five years. Every permit or lease issued under authority of this act to Indians, or to other persons or corporations, and every patent for an allotment within the limits of the forest created by section one, shall reserve to the United States the right to cross the land covered thereby with logging roads or railroads, to use the shore line, or to erect thereon and use such struc tures as shall be necessary to the proper and economical management of the Indian forest created by this act; and the Secretary of the Interior may reserve from allotment tracts considered necessary for such administration.

After the payment of all expenses connected with the administration of these lands as herein provided, the net proceeds therefrom shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Red Lake Indians and draw interest at the rate of 4 per centum per annum. The interest on this fund may be used by the Secretary of the Interior in such manner as he shall consider most advantageous and beneficial to the Red Lake Indians. Expenditure from the principal shall be made only after the approval by Congress of estimates submitted by the said Secretary.

That the Secretary of the Interior shall select and set apart an area not exceeding two hundred acres, in sections twenty, twenty-one, twenty-eight, and twenty-nine, township one hundred and fifty-one north, range thirty-four west, cause the lands thus selected to be surveyed and platted into suitable lots, streets, and alleys, and dedicate said streets and alleys and such lots and parcels as he may consider necessary to public uses. The lands thus selected shall not be allotted, but held as an Indian town site subject to further legislation by Congress.

That the timber on lands of the Red Lake Indian Reservation outside the boundaries of the forest created by this act may be sold under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and the proceeds administered under the provisions of the general deficiency act of March 3, 1883 (Twenty-second Statutes at Large, page 590), and the Indian appropriation act of March 2, 1887 (Twenty-fourth Statutes at Large, page 463).

Mr. MERITT. It should be made quite plain to the committee that Mr. Ballinger does not represent all of the Chippewa Indians. He is here as attorney for the Chippewa council.

The CHAIRMAN. May I ask if that is the council the bureau now recognizes?

Mr. MERITT. Yes, sir; we have recognized the Chippewa council. The CHAIRMAN. Then, you are dealing with Mr. Ballinger as attorney for the Chippewa council?

Mr. MERITT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And that is supposed to include all of the people, isn't it?

Mr. MERITT. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, from a legal standpoint?

Mr. MERITT. Not from a legal standpoint; no, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Well, from a political standpoint?

Mr. MERITT. From a political standpoint the Chippewa council resents the Chippewa Indians at this time.

rep

The CHAIRMAN. It represents the majority of the Chippewa Indians as represented by the vote that elected the council?

Mr. MERITT. Yes, sir; but there are a great many Chippewa Indians who repudiate the council and they do not agree with the recommendations made by this council. Mr. Henderson is here to represent the Red Lake Indians.

Mr. HASTINGS. The Red Lake Indians represented by this council, they also have selected a council?

Mr. MERITT. I believe the Red Lake Indians refused to have anything to do with the election of this council.

Mr. RHODES. The department represents the Indians through the council, or do you recognize a sort of dual make-up of the Indians of that tribe?

Mr. MERITT. We recognize the council as a council, but we do not permit the council to dominate the administrative or legislative affairs in the Chippewa country, so far as we can control the situation. We think that the Indians on the various reservations have a right to submit their views to the Indian Office, and in taking administrative action on their affairs we believe that we should consider the wishes of all the Indians rather than the wishes of the members of the Chippewa council.

Mr. RHODES. Now, does that mean that you recognize that there is merit in the contention of those who refuse to be bound by the council?

Mr. MERITT. Yes, sir.

Mr. McKINIRY. I would like to have it appear in the record how many reservations there are for the Chippewas.

Mr. MERITT. We have the White Earth Reservation, Red Lake Reservation, Leech Lake Reservation, Cass Lake Reservation, Fon du Lac Reservation, Vemillion Lake Reservation, Grand Portage Reservation, and the Nett Lake Reservation.

Mr. KELLY. Are those all in Minnesota?

Mr. MERITT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, gentlemen, we started out with Mr. Ballinger and we have determined upon the time he is to have, and I think we ought not use up so much of that time in interrogating some other witness.

Mr. ELSTON. Mr. Meritt has not answered the question Mr. Ballinger asked him—whether they could start with the act of 1854

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Meritt refused to be bound or to commit himself in any way at this time. He answered the question in that

way.

Mr. ELSTON. Then Mr. Ballinger has got to go away back. I understood the whole object of this was to save time.

The CHAIRMAN. He has to go back and clear up that point. Mr. BALLINGER. Mr. Chairman, in view of the statement made by Mr. Meritt right at this point I want to make a few observations. There are some discordant elements among the Chippewas, but these discordant elements are largely the direct result of a back-fire on the part of the Indian Office against the members of the Chippewa general council. The general council has been endeavoring for years to stop the enormous appropriations that were being made out of their trust funds and the money uselessly expended largely in salaries of Indian Office employees in Minnesota and a limited amount for rations. There are a number of Indians out there who have been the beneficiaries of these pork-house institutions. I do not charge the Indian Bureau here directly with that, but I do charge that its agents in Minnesota are directly responsible for this back-fire and attempt to discredit the general council. These Indian Bureau employees in Minnesota desire to perpetuate their jobs, and they are the men who stir up the ignorant element to oppose the objects and aims of the general council.