Cite as: 510 U. S. 399 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
Until the Ute Indian Tribe litigation in the Tenth Circuit, every court had decided that the unallotted lands were restored to the public domain pursuant to the terms of the 1902 Act, with the 1905 Act simply extending the time for opening and providing for a few details. Hanson v. United States, 153 F. 2d 162, 162-163 (CA10 1946); United States v. Boss, 160 F. 132, 133 (Utah 1906); Uintah and White River Bands of Ute Indians v. United States, 139 Ct. Cl. 1, 21-23 (1957); Sowards v. Meagher, 108 P. 1112, 1114 (Utah 1910). Petitioner argues, however, that the 1905 Act changed the "manner" in which the lands were to be opened. That Act specified that the homestead and townsite laws would apply, and so superseded the "restore to the public domain" language of the 1902 Act, language that was not repeated in the 1905 Act. We disagree, because the baseline intent to diminish the reservation expressed in the 1902 Act survived the passage of the 1905 Act.
Every congressional action subsequent to the 1902 Act referred to that statute. The 1902 Joint Resolution provided an appropriation prior to the restoration of surplus reservation lands to the public domain. 32 Stat. 744. The 1903 and 1904 Acts simply extended the deadline for opening the reservations in order to allow more time for surveying the lands, so that the "purposes" of the 1902 Act could be carried out. 32 Stat. 997; 33 Stat. 207. And the 1905 Act recognized that they were all tied together when it provided that the proceeds of the sale of the unallotted lands "shall be applied as provided in the [1902 Act] and the Acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto." 33 Stat. 1070. The Congress that passed the 1905 Act clearly viewed the 1902 statute as the basic legislation upon which subsequent Acts were built.
Furthermore, the structure of the statutes requires that the 1905 Act and the 1902 Act be read together. Whereas the 1905 Act provided for the disposition of unallotted lands, it was the 1902 Act that provided for allotments to the Indi-
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