§ 974. Sale of trust lands

(a) Requisite owners’ request; time limitation; bidding; member purchases; reservation of mineral rights; representation of minors, incompetents and missing owners

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to partition or to sell the complete interest (including any unrestricted interest) in any land in which an undivided interest is owned by a member of the Ponca Tribe of Native Americans of Nebraska in a trust or restricted status, provided the partition or sale is requested by the owners of a 25 per centum interest in the land, and the partition or sale is made within three years from September 5, 1962. Any such sale shall be by competitive bid, except that with the concurrence of the owners of a 25 per centum interest in the land any owner of an interest in the land shall have the right to purchase the land within a reasonable time fixed by the Secretary of the Interior prior to a competitive sale at not less than its current market value. If more than one preference right is exercised, the sale shall be by competitive bid limited to the persons entitled to a preference. If the owners of a 25 per centum interest in the land so request, mineral rights may be reserved to the owners in an unrestricted status. The Secretary of the Interior may represent for the purposes of this section any Indian owner who is a minor, or who is non compos mentis, and, after giving reasonable notice of the proposed partition or sale by publication, he may represent an Indian owner who cannot be located.

(b) Removal of restrictions; title to lands

All restrictions on the alienation or taxation of interests in land that are owned by members of the Ponca Tribe of Native Americans of Nebraska three years after September 5, 1962 shall be deemed removed by operation of law, and an unrestricted title shall be vested in each such member.

(Pub. L. 87–629, § 4, Sept. 5, 1962, 76 Stat. 430.)