U.S. Sup. Ct.;
14-1406
In 1854, the Omaha Tribe entered into a treaty with the United States agreeing to establish a 300,000-acre reservation and to “cede” and “forever relinquish all right and title to” its remaining land in present-day Nebraska for a fixed sum of money. In 1865, the Omaha Tribe again entered into a treaty with the United States agreeing to “cede, sell, and convey” land for a fixed sum. When, in 1872, the Tribe sought to sell more of its land to the United States, Congress took a differ-ent tack. In lieu of a fixed-sum purchase, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Interior to survey, appraise, and sell tracts of reservation land to western settlers and to deposit any proceeds from the land sales in the U. S. Treasury for the Tribe’s benefit. Congress took the same approach in 1882 when it passed the Act in question. That Act authorized the Secretary of the Interior to survey, appraise, and sell roughly 50,000 acres of reservation land lying west of a railroad right-of-way. W. E. Peebles purchased a tract under the terms of the 1882 Act and established the village of Pender.
