"An act making appropriations for the current and
contingent expenses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty
stipulations with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1893, and for other purposes," certain articles of agreement were
made and concluded at the Yankton Indian Agency, S. Dak., on the 31st
day of December, 1892, by and between the United States of America
and the Yankton tribe of Sioux or Dakota Indians upon the Yankton
Reservation, whereby the said Yankton tribe of Sioux or Dakota Indians,
for the consideration therein mentioned, ceded, sold, relinquished,
and conveyed to the United States all their claim, right, title, and
interest in and to all the unallotted lands within the limits of the
reservation set apart to said tribe by the first article of the treaty
of April 19, 1858, between said tribe and the United States; and

Whereas it is further stipulated and agreed by article 8 that such part
of the surplus lands by said agreement ceded and sold to the United
States as may be occupied by the United States for agency, schools, and
other purposes shall be reserved from sale to settlers until they are no
longer required for such purposes, but all of the other lands so ceded
and sold shall immediately after the ratification of the agreement by
Congress be offered for sale through the proper land office, to be
disposed of under the existing land laws of the United States to actual
and _bona fide_ settlers only; and

Whereas it is also stipulated and agreed by article 10 that any
religious society or other organization shall have the right for two
years from the date of the ratification of the said agreement within
which to purchase the lands occupied by it under proper authority for
religious or educational work among the Indians, at a valuation fixed by
the Secretary of the Interior, which shall not be less than the average
price paid to the Indians for the surplus lands; and

Whereas it is provided in the act of Congress accepting, ratifying, and
confirming the said agreement, approved August 15, 1894, section 12
(Pamphlet Statutes, Fifty-third Congress, second session, pp. 314-319)--

That the lands by said agreement ceded to the United States shall upon
proclamation by the President be opened to settlement, and shall be
subject to disposal only under the homestead and town-site laws of the
United States, excepting the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in
each