§336 Allotments to Indians Making Settlement

Summary

If an Indian who is eligible for an allotment settles on surveyed or unsurveyed U.S. public land that is not already taken, they can apply at the local land office to have that land allotted to them and to their children, the same way allotments are done for Indians on reservations. The President chooses which areas may be used, but one person cannot get more than 40 acres of irrigable land, 80 acres of nonirrigable farm land, or 160 acres of nonirrigable grazing land. If the land is unsurveyed, the grant will be adjusted after the survey and a patent (title) will be issued with the same restrictions as under sections 348 and 349. Any fees the local land-office officers would have earned under the general public-land laws will be paid from Treasury funds not otherwise appropriated after the Secretary of the Interior sends a bill and the Treasury certifies it.