CHAPTER XXXII.

EXISTING METHODS OF SALE AND DISPOSITION OF PUBLIC LANDS.

The several existing laws for the sale and disposition of the public domain permit entries and locations by individuals, associations, and corporations.

A single man, a married man, a single woman, or a married woman, if (legally) the head of a family, citizens of the United States, or have declared their intentions to become such, can have the benefits of the several settlement laws.

The theory of the settlement laws is that an individual, if he be not already the owner of 320 acres of land, can purchase 160 acres under the pre-emption act after six months' settlement, occupation, and improvement, and can acquire 160 acres under the homestead act by residence, improvement, and cultivation for a term of five years, with certain legal rebates as to time of settlement, or can purchase at the end of six months by commutation.

Under the several settlement and occupancy laws, however, a person can legally acquire 1,120 acres of the public domain.

CLASSIFICATION.

The existing laws recognize several classes of lands, as follows:

Mineral.-"In all cases 'lands valuable for minerals' shall be reserved from sale, except as otherwise expressly directed by law." (Section 2318, R. S.)

Timber and stone.-Lands valuable chiefly for timber and stone, unfit for cultivation. Saline.-Salt springs.

Town-site lands.-Any unoccupied public lands.

Desert.-Lands which will not, without irrigation, produce an agricultural crop. Coal lands.-Lands containing coal.

And all others as agricultural.

Special laws are provided for each of the seven classes named. Lands reserved or withdrawn "are not subject to entry or location."

AGRICULTURAL LANDS.

Agricultural lands can be taken in tracts of from 40 to 160 acres under the pre-emption, homestead, and timber-culture acts, or purchased at public sale or private entry. Of agricultural public lands there are two classes: the one class at $1.25 per acre, which is designated as minimum, and the other at $2.50 per acre, or double minimum. The latter class consists of tracts embraced within the alternate sections of land reserved to the United States in acts of Congress making grants within prescribed limits of the lines of railroads, or other works of internal improvements, to aid in the construction thereof, such reserved sections being double in price. Congress, by an act approved June 15, 1880, reduced to $1.25 per acre any lands then subject to entry (meaning, in this connection, ordinary cash entry of offered lands), which were put in market at the enhanced price prior to the 1st of January, 1861. Title may be acquired by purchase at public sale, or by ordinary "private entry,” and in virtue of the pre emption, homestead, timber-culture, and other laws.

All lands obtained under the homestead laws are exempt from liability for debts contracted prior to the issuing of patent therefor.

FEES AND COMMISSIONS.

For homestead entries on lands in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida, commissions and fees are to be paid according to the following table:

In addition to the States and Territories above named, the same rates will apply to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, if any vacant tracts can be found liable to entry in these three States, where but very few isolated tracts of public land remain undisposed of In the Pacific and other political divisions, viz: On lands in California, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, and Washington, and in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, the commissions and fees are to be paid according to the following table:

Under the pre-emption acts (see Chapter X, p. 214,) settlers pay a fee of $1.50 in the the Pacific division, and in all other localities $1, each, to the register and receiver of the land office upon filing declaratory statement, and at the time of final proof and entry pay an acreage of $1.25 per acre, or $2.50 per acre, as the case may be, for single or double minimum land.

MINERAL LANDS.

Mineral lands are located and sold thereafter in the manner described in Chapter XXVI.

COAL LANDS.

The public lands of the United States containing coal are disposed of under the act of Congress approved March 3, 1873.

The sale of coal lands is provided for by this act

1. By ordinary private entry under section 1.

2. By granting a preference right of purchase based on priority of possession and improvement under section 2.

The land entered under either section must be by legal subdivisions, as made by the regular United States survey. Entry is confined to surveyed lands; to such as are

vacant, not otherwise appropriated, reserved by competent authority, or containing valuable minerals other than coal.

Individuals and associations may purchase. If an individual, he must be twentyone years of age and a citizen of the United States, or have declared his intention to become such citizen.

If an association or persons, each must be qualified as above.

A person is not disqualified by the ownership of any quantity of other land, nor by having removed from his own land in the same State or Territory.

Any individual may enter by legal subdivisions as aforesaid any area not exceeding 160 acres.

Any association may enter not to exceed 320 acres.

Any association of not less than four persons, duly qualified, who shall have expended not less than $5,000 in working and improving any coal mine or mines, may enter under section 2 not exceeding 640 acres, including such mining improvements. The price per acre is $10 where the land is situated more than fifteen miles from any completed railroad, and $20 per acre where the land is within fifteen miles of such road. Where the land lies partly within fifteen miles of such road and in part outside such limit, the maximum price must be paid for all legal subdivisions the greater part of which lies within fifteen miles of such road.

The term "completed railroad" is held to mean one which is actually constructed on the face of the earth, and lands within fifteen miles of any point of a railroad so constructed will be held and disposed of at $20 per acre.

One year from and after the expiration of the period allowed for filing the declaratory statement is given within which to make proof and payment, but no party will be allowed to make final proof and payment, except on notice to all others who appear on the records as claimants to the same tracts.

SALINE LANDS.

The act of Congress of January 12, 1877, provides that where tracts are found to be saline in character, and therefore under pre-existing laws not subject to disposal, they shall be offered at public sale at not less than $1.25 per acre, and if not then sold shall be thereafter held subject to private entry at the same price, as other public lands. The act provides for an investigation to ascertain by testimony the true character of public lands, where there shall be reason to suppose that they are saline. This act is confined in its operations to States which have had grants of salines which have been fully satisfied, or under which the right of selection has expired by efflux of time. This act excepts from its operation the Territories and the States of Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, California, and Nevada.

TOWN SITES.

There are two methods of acquiring title to town sites on the public lands. By one method, under sections 2382, 2383, 2384 and 2385 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, the area of the city or town is limited to 640 acres. The founders are to lay it off into lots. A map is to be made describing its exterior boundaries according to the lines of the public surveys, where such lines are executed, giving the name of the city or town, exhibiting the streets, squares, blocks, lots, &c., the lots not to exceed 4,200 square feet, with a statement of the extent and general character of the improvements, the map and statement to be verified under oath by the party acting for and in behalf of the persons proposing to establish the city or town. The map and statement must be filed with the recorder for the county in which the town is situated. When the town is situated in an organized land district a verified copy of such map and statement must be filed with the register and receiver. A similar copy is to be filed in the General Land Office within one month after the filing thereof in the recorder's office, as also the testimony of two witnesses that the city or town has been

established in good faith. The lots may then be offered at public sale to the highest bidder, at a minimum of $10 for each lot. Any tracts not then sold are afterwards liable to private entry at said minimum, or at such reasonable price as the Secretary of the Interior may order from time to time as the municipal property may increase or decrease, after at least three months' notice. A privilege is allowed to any actual settler upon any lot of pre-empting the same and any additional lot on which he may have substantial improvements, at the minimum price at any time before the day fixed for the public sale.

Where it is preferred, as it usually is, the sections 2387, 2388 and 2389 of the Revised Statutes of the United States grant to the inhabitants of cities and towns on the public lands the privilege of entering the lands occupied as town sites at the minimum price of $1.25 per acre, through the corporate authorities of such towns and cities, or the judges of the county courts acting as trustees for the occupants thereof. The maximum quantity liable to entry varies with the number of the inhabitants. If 100 and less than 200, the maximum is 320 acres; if more than 200 and less than 1,000, it is 640 acres; if 1,000 and over, it is 1,280 acres; and for each additional 1,000 inhabitants, not exceeding 5,000 in all, a further quantity of 320 acres is allowed to be entered.

STONE AND TIMBER LANDS.

Surveyed lands in California, Oregon, Nevada, and the Territory of Washington, not yet proclaimed and offered for sale, valuable chiefly for timber and stone, unfit for cultivation, and consequently for disposition under the pre-emption and homestead laws, may be entered under the first, second, and third sections of the act of Congress of June 3, 1878. The quantity is limited to 160 acres to any one person, and the price is fixed at $2.50 per acre. The applicant must be a citizen of the United States, or must have declared his intention to become a citizen under the naturalization laws. He must make affidavit that he is a citizen, and produce evidence of the fact; also a sworn statement designating by legal subdivisions the particular tract of land he desires to purchase, setting forth that it is unfit for cultivation and valuable chiefly for its timber or stone; that it is uninhabited, contains no mining or other improvements except for ditch or canal purposes, where any such do exist, save such as were made by or belong to the applicant, nor, as deponent verily believes, any valuable deposit of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal; that deponent has made no other application under this act; that he does not apply to purchase the same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive use and benefit, and that he has not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with any person or persons whatsoever, by which the title which he might acquire from the Government of the United States should inure in whole or in part to the benefit of any person except himself. The statement must be verified by the oath of the applicant before the register or receiver of the district land office,

A notice of the application, describing the land, shall be posted in the office of the register for sixty days, and shall be published by the applicant in a newspaper published nearest the location of the premises for the same period of time. At the expiration of that time, proof of the publication of the notice and of the character and condition of the land as set forth in the sworn statement must be made, after which, if no objection appear, the entry will be allowed. The character and condition of the land must be shown by the affidavits of disinterested witnesses taken before the register or receiver, or any officer using a seal and authorized to administer oaths in the land district in which the land lies. Entry will be allowed and return thereof made to the General Land Office for the issue of the patent as in case of an ordinary cash sale.

The register and receiver are entitled to a fee of $5 each for allowing an entry under said act, and jointly at the rate of 224 cents per hundred words for testimony reduced by them to writing for claimants.

DESERT LANDS.

The desert-land law of March, 3, 1877, is confined in its operation to the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, and Dakota. Only one entry can be made by any one person, and the maximum quantity which may be embraced therein is one section or 640 acres. A person desiring to avail himself of this law must be a citizen of the United States, or must have declared his intention to become a citizen. He must first submit proof that the land is of a class which will not without irrigation produce any agricultural crop, and, if it lies along streams or about bodies of water, that it will not produce hay without irrigation. He must also file his sworn declaration setting forth his qualification under the statute, and his intention to reclaim the tract applied for by conducting water thereon within three years from date of his declaration. If foreign-born, he must produce the record evidence of his naturalization, or of his having declared his intention to apply therefor, as the case may be. The land must be described in the declaration by legal subdivisions, if surveyed, and if not surveyed, by reference to conspicuous landmarks, or the established lines of survey. Thereupon the entry may be allowed, the party paying twenty-five cents per acre, the register and receiver issuing their joint certificate, and within three years the applicant must produce satisfactory proof of having reclaimed the land applied for by conducting water thereon, after which he may perfect his entry by paying the additional sum of one dollar per acre. This proof of reclamation must consist of the testimony of at least two disinterested and credible witnesses who must appear in person before the register and receiver of the proper district land office. The proof being found satisfactory, and full payment made, the receiver issues his final receipt, and the register his final certificate, on which the patent is issued. No assignments are recognized under the desert-land law.

PUBLIC OFFERING AND PRIVATE ENTRY.

Lands are sold at public sale after offering in the manner indicated in prior pages of this volume, but no lands can be entered at private sale unless they have first been offered at public sale. The area of lands that can be so entered is small and they lie in isolated tracts in various States and Territories, except the total area of surveyed offered public lands in the five Southern States of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, which can be purchased at any district land office in said States in legal subdivisions, having been duly offered under the act of Congress of June 22, 1876.