§ 320. — Acquisition of lands for reservoirs or materials.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 25USC320]
TITLE 25--INDIANS
CHAPTER 8--RIGHTS-OF-WAY THROUGH INDIAN LANDS
Sec. 320. Acquisition of lands for reservoirs or materials
When, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, it is
necessary for any railway company owning or operating a line of railway
in any Indian reservation to acquire lands in such Indian reservation
for reservoirs, material, or ballast pits for the construction, repair,
and maintenance of its railway, or for the purpose of planting and
growing thereon trees to protect its line of railway, the said Secretary
is authorized to grant such lands to any such railway company under such
terms and conditions and such rules and regulations as may be prescribed
by the said Secretary.
When any railway company desiring to secure the benefits of this
provision shall file with the Secretary of the Interior an application
describing the lands which it desires to purchase, upon the payment of
the price agreed upon the said Secretary shall cause such lands to be
conveyed to the railway company applying therefor upon such terms and
conditions as he may deem proper: Provided, That no lands shall be
acquired under the terms of this provision in greater quantities than
forty acres for any one reservoir, and one hundred and sixty acres for
any material or ballast pit, to the extent of not more than one
reservoir and one material or gravel pit in any one section of ten miles
of any such railway in any Indian reservation: And provided further,
That the lands acquired for tree planting shall be taken only at such
places along the line of the railway company applying therefor as in the
judgment of the said Secretary may be necessary, and shall be taken in
strips adjoining and parallel with the right of way of the railway
company taking the same, and shall not exceed one hundred and fifty feet
in width.
All moneys paid for such lands shall be deposited in the Treasury of
the United States to the credit of the tribe or tribes, and the moneys
received by said Secretary as damages sustained by individual members of
the Indian tribe, which damages shall be ascertained by the Secretary of
the Interior and paid by the railway company taking such lands, shall be
paid by said Secretary to the Indian or Indians sustaining such damages.
The provisions of this section are extended and made applicable to any
lands which have been allotted in severalty to any individual Indian
under any law or treaty, but which have not been conveyed to the
allottee with full power of alienation; the damages and compensation to
be paid to any Indian allottee shall be ascertained and fixed in such
manner as the Secretary of the Interior may direct and shall be paid by
the railway company to said Secretary; the damages and compensation paid
to the Secretary of the Interior by the railway company taking any such
land shall be paid by said Secretary to the allottee sustaining such
damages.
(Mar. 3, 1909, ch. 263, 35 Stat. 781, 782; May 6, 1910, ch. 204, 36
Stat. 349.)
