Whereas it was further provided by said act that within six months after the passage thereof, the Secretary of the Interior should cause allotment of land, in severalty, to be made to such of the Southern Ute Indians in Colorado, as might elect and be considered by him qualified to take the same out of the agricultural lands embraced in their present reservation in Colorado, such allotments to be made in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress approved June fifteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, entitled “An act to accept and ratify the agreement submitted by the confederated bands of Ute Indians in Colorado for the sale of their reservation in said State and for other purposes, and to make the necessary appropriations for carrying out the same,” and the amendments thereto, as far as applicable, and the treaties theretofore made with said Indians; and

Whereas it was further provided that for the sole and exclusive use of such of said Indians as might not elect or be deemed qualified to take allotments in severalty as provided, there should be set apart and reserved all that portion of their reservation lying west of the range line between ranges thirteen and fourteen west of the New Mexico Principal Meridian, and also all of townships thirty-one and thirty-two of ranges fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen west of the New Mexico Principal Meridian and lying in the Territory of New Mexico, subject to the right of the Government to erect and maintain agency buildings thereon, and to grant rights of way through the same for railroads, irrigation ditches, highways and other necessary purposes; and

Whereas under the provisions of section four of said act it was made the duty of the President of the United States to issue his proclamation declaring the lands within the reservation of said Indians except such portions as might have been allotted or reserved under the provisions of the preceding sections of said act, open to occupancy and settlement, said unallotted and unreserved lands to be and become a part of the public domain of the United States and to become subject to entry, under the desert, homestead, and townsite laws and the laws governing the disposal of coal, mineral, stone and timber lands, but providing that no homestead settler should receive a title to any portion of such lands at less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and such settlers should be required to make a cash payment of fifty cents per acre at the time filing is made upon any of said lands; and providing that before said lands should be open to public settlement the Secretary of the Interior should cause the improvements belonging to the Indians on the lands then occupied by them to be appraised and sold at public sale to the highest bidder, except improvements on lands allotted to the Indians in accordance with this act; and providing that no sale of such improvements should be made for less than the appraised value and that the several purchasers of said improvements should, for thirty days after the issuance of the President’s proclamation have the preference right of entry of the lands upon which the improvements purchased by them should be situated, but that the said purchase should not exceed one hundred and sixty acres and that the proceeds of such improvements should be paid to the Indians owning the same; and