§153 Perfecting Bona Fide Claims to Lands; Exchange of Private Lands

Summary

Valid claims inside the reserve that were started before September 2, 1902 and not yet finished can be completed if they meet the usual rules about settling, living on, and improving the land, just like claims on other government land. If parts of the reserve are privately owned, the Secretary of the Interior may trade public land of equal size and value for them. The traded public land must be surveyed, empty, unclaimed, not mineral or timber land, and not needed for reservoirs or other public uses. Private owners must, at their own cost and with proper legal papers, give the government full, clear title to their land before the government gives legal ownership of the exchanged public land, and no fee may be charged for issuing that ownership. After the swap, the land the government gets becomes part of the reserve as if it had been public land when the reserve was created. No land scrip may be issued, and South Dakota may pick an equal amount of public land in the State instead of any unsold parts of section sixteen inside the reserve that are not covered by the unfinished valid claims.