§153 Perfecting bona fide claims to lands; exchange of private lands

Summary

People who started legitimate claims inside the reserve before September 2, 1902 may finish those claims if they follow the usual rules for settling, living on, and improving government land, just like claims on other public lands. If land inside the reserve is privately owned, the Secretary of the Interior may, at his choice, trade surveyed public land of equal area and value for it. The public land must be vacant, unclaimed, not mineral, not timbered, and not needed for reservoir or other public uses. Private owners must, at their own cost, give the government a clean, unencumbered title before any patent or rights attach, and no fee will be charged for issuing patents. Exchanged land then becomes part of the reserve as if it had been public land when the reserve was created. No land scrip may be issued, and the State of South Dakota may select an equal amount of public land in the State instead of unsold parts of section sixteen within the reserve that are not covered by the unperfected claims above.