Hagen v. Utah, 510 U.S. 399, 40 (1994)

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438

HAGEN v. UTAH

Blackmun, J., dissenting

gard clear expressions of tribal and congressional intent," DeCoteau, 420 U. S., at 447, no such clear expression is evident here.

B

The legislative history of the 1905 Act supports the conclusion that Congress materially altered the operative language in the 1902 Act by deleting the public domain provision. Like the 1902 Act, the House version of the 1905 bill, H. R. 17474, provided "[t]hat so much of said lands as will be under the provisions of said acts restored to the public domain shall be open to settlement and entry" under the general land laws. 39 Cong. Rec. 1180 (1905) (emphasis added). Representative Howell of Utah, in a proposed amendment that was not ultimately adopted, sought to limit non-Indian entry under this bill "to entry only under the homestead, town-site, and mining laws of the United States." Ibid. Howell's proposal, however, would have referred to the public domain in two places:

"so much of said lands as will be under the provisions of said acts restored to the public domain shall be open to settlement and entry by proclamation of the President. . . . And further provided, That for one year immediately following the restoration of said lands to the public domain said lands shall be subject to entry only under the homestead, town-site, and mining laws of the United States." Ibid. (emphasis added in part).

Senate bills later introduced by Senator Smoot of Utah, S. 6867 and S. 6868, 58th Cong., 3d Sess. (1905) (which ultimately were adopted in relevant part as the 1905 Act), also limited the opening to entry under the homestead and townsite laws but struck the House bill's public domain language. In its place, S. bill 6867 stated

"[t]hat the time for opening to public entry the unallotted lands having been fixed by law . . . it is hereby provided that the manner of opening such lands for settle-

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