Section 71. Exclusion of villages from reservations; lease of lands therein; certification of copies of leases granted by the Seneca nation of Indians and recording thereof  


Latest version.
  • Those parts of the  Allegany  reservation
      included   in  the  villages  of  Vandalia,  Carrollton,  Great  Valley,
      Salamanca, West Salamanca  and  Red  House,  as  surveyed,  located  and
      established pursuant to an act of congress approved February nineteenth,
      eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-five, have been constituted parts of the
      several towns within which they are located, and all the general laws of
      the state are extended over and apply to  the  same;  except  that  this
      section  shall  not authorize the taxation of any Indian or the property
      of any Indian, not a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Lands  in  such
      villages held under lease from the Seneca nation of Indians shall be for
      all  purposes  considered  a freehold estate, and the right of dower and
      tenancy by the courtesy shall attach thereto, and such lands,  upon  the
      intestacy  of  the  holder,  shall  descend  the  same  as a freehold of
      inheritance, except that solely for  the  purpose  of  taxation  by  the
      Salamanca  Indian  lease  authority,  the  estate  of  a lessee shall be
      considered a chattel real. But the rights of the Indians in such  leases
      shall  descend  as provided by the laws of the Seneca nation of Indians.
      When the original lease of any such lands already granted by the  Seneca
      nation  of  Indians, pursuant to an act of Congress, and recorded in the
      books of Seneca national Indian leases kept by the clerk of said nation,
      or his successors  or  assigns  in  office,  shall  have  been  lost  or
      destroyed  without  the  same  having been recorded in the office of the
      clerk of the county of Cattaraugus, the owner  of  such  lease,  or  any
      person interested in the lands therein described, may apply to the clerk
      of said nation for a certified copy of such record of the same, and upon
      the  payment of the fees therefor, it shall be the duty of said clerk to
      furnish such owner with  a  certified  copy  of  said  lease.  Upon  the
      presentation of a copy of any such lease, certified as aforesaid, to the
      clerk  of  Cattaraugus  county,  it  shall  be the duty of said clerk to
      record the same in the books provided in his office for  the  record  of
      such Indian leases, upon the payment of the fees for recording the same.
      Such  copy  of  a  lease  certified  as  aforesaid  shall be presumptive
      evidence of the facts  set  forth  therein  and  shall  be  received  in
      evidence  on  the trial of any action or proceeding in all the courts of
      this state. The record of such a copy of a lease certified as  aforesaid
      in  the  office of the clerk of the county of Cattaraugus shall have the
      same force and effect as the record of the original lease, had  it  been
      recorded.  The  said clerk shall receive for certifying the same the sum
      of one dollar and for making a copy of said lease the sum of twenty-five
      cents per folio, which fees shall belong to the said clerk.