§280 Patents of Lands to Missionary Boards of Religious Organizations

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must give a land patent (a legal deed) to the authorized missionary board or other proper authority of a religious group that ran mission or school work on an Indian reservation. This applies only to land that was set aside and on September 21, 1922 was actually being used and occupied by that group solely for mission or school purposes. No more than 160 acres may be granted to any one organization at a single station. The patent must say that if the land stops being used for mission or school purposes, it goes back to the Indian owners.