440
Blackmun, J., dissenting
of the Proclamation declared that "all the unallotted lands" would "in the manner hereinafter prescribed, and not otherwise, be opened to entry, settlement and disposition under the general provisions of the homestead and townsite laws." 34 Stat. 3120. Thus, the crucial portion of the Proclamation under which the lands actually were opened restricted the opening to the terms of the 1905 Act. Furthermore, all other contemporaneous Presidential Proclamations regarding the reservation universally referred to the 1905 Act rather than the 1902 Act as the opening authority. See Presidential Proclamation of July 14, 1905, 34 Stat. 3116 (Uintah forest reserve); Proclamation of Aug. 3, 1905, 34 Stat. 3141 (Uintah reservoir and agricultural lands); Proclamation of Aug. 14, 1905, 34 Stat. 3143 (townsites); Proclamation of Aug. 14, 1905, 34 Stat. 3143-3144 (reservoir lands).
C
Although contemporary demographics and the historical exercise of jurisdiction may provide "one additional clue as to what Congress expected" in opening reservation lands, Solem, 465 U. S., at 472, in that case, we unanimously agreed:
"There are, of course, limits to how far we will go to decipher Congress' intention in any particular surplus land Act. When both an Act and its legislative history fail to provide substantial and compelling evidence of a congressional intention to diminish Indian lands, we are bound by our traditional solicitude for the Indian tribes to rule that diminishment did not take place and that the old reservation boundaries survived the opening. Mattz v. Arnett, 412 U. S., at 505; Seymour v. Superintendent, 368 U. S. 351 (1962)." 465 U. S., at 472 (emphasis added).
Absent other plain and unambiguous evidence of a congressional intent, we never have relied upon contemporary demo-
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