60th Congress, 1st Session. S. 4793. An Act Authorizing Settlers on Crow Reservation Lands in Montana to Mortgage Same for the Construction of Irrigation Systems Prior to Final Proof [caption title]

Washington, D.C.: March 10, 1908. Very good.. [2]pp. on a single folded sheet, docketed in print on verso of second leaf. With House of Representatives stamp dated March 11, 1908, indicating referral to the Committee on Public Lands. Old folds, minor wear. A slip bill printing of a proposed 1908 "Act Authorizing Settlers on Crow Reservation Lands in Montana to Mortgage Same for the Construction of Irrigation Systems Prior to Final Proof." This act authorized that settlers who had obtained "portions of the ceded lands of the Crow Indian Reservation in the State of Montana...shall be entitled to patent for the land so entered upon the payment to the local (truncated) land officers of the usual and customary fees and the balance remaining unpaid on the purchase price of said lands." Further, "any such entryman" may make agreements with and mortgage land to "with any irrigating company or other person or corporation for the purpose of borrowing money for the payment of the purchase price of said lands and all fees due the Government and for the cost of an irrigating system for said lands or other improvements necessary for the use of said lands for farming purposes, or for all of these purposes." The bill is signed in ink at the conclusion of the text by Senate Secretary Charles Bennett. The act was referred to the Committee on Public Lands on March 11, 1908. In essence, the present act allowed American settlers who had secured (or some might say stolen) land on the Crow Reservation in Montana (which had begun in the 1890s) to mortgage those lands to construct irrigation systems on those lands. (Inventory #: 4647)