Secretary Hitchcock to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, (F. L. C.) July 3, 1905. (G. B. G.) Referring to your office letter "R" of the 28th ultimo, I have to state that upon careful examination of the question therein submitted, it is clearly the opinion of this Department that the act of December 21, 1904 (33 Stat., 595), recognizes the claim of the Yakima Nation of Indians to that strip of country adjoining their thenrecognized reservation on the west,"containing approximately two hundred and ninety-three thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven acres according to the findings, after examination, of Mr. E. C. Barnard, topographer of the Geological Survey, approved by the Secretary of the Interior, April seventh, nineteen hundred;" that the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to sell or dispose of all such lands, except such as may have been allotted or to which valid rights have not been acquired prior to March 5, 1904. by bona fide settlers or purchasers under the public land laws; and that this authority and direction embrace so much of said lands as falls within the limits of the Mount Ranier forest reserve, as established by executive proclamation of February 22, 1897. Your office will be governed accordingly in the administration of said act. ISOLATED TRACT-PUBLIC SALE-NOTICE-CIRCULAR OF APRIL 11, 1895, AMENDED. CIRCULAR. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., July 3, 1905. Registers and Receivers, United States Land Offices. GENTLEMEN: Referring to the form of notice for publication to be used in public land sales, as prescribed by circular of April 11, 1895 (20 L. D., 305), I have to direct that hereafter when instructions are received from this office ordering into market, at public sale, any isolated tract or tracts of land, you will not only specify in such notice the day of the month and place for such sale, but also the hour of commencement of sale. Very respectfully, Approved: E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary. J. H. FIMPLE, Acting Commissioner. LANDS SEGREGATED FROM YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK AND INCLUDED IN SIERRA FOREST RESERVE-RIGHT OF WAY-ACT OF FEBRUARY 7, 1905. CIRCULAR. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C., July 7, 1905. This act [February 7, 1905, 33 Stat., 702], so far as it relates to the use of the lands within the addition to the Sierra Forest Reserve made by it, for right of way purposes, is as follows: Provided, That all those tracts or parcels of lands described in section one of the said act of October first, eighteen hundred and ninety, and not included within the metes and bounds of the land above described, be, and the same are hereby, included in and made part of the Sierra Forest Reserve: And provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior may require the payment of such price as he may deem proper for privileges on the land herein segregated from the Yosemite National Park and made a part of the Sierra Forest Reserve accorded under the act approved February fifteenth, nineteen hundred and one, relating to rights of way over certain parks, reservations, and other lands, and other acts concerning rights of way over public lands; and the moneys received from the privileges accorded on the lands herein segregated and included in the Sierra Forest Reserve shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States, to be expended, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in the management, improvement, and protection of the forest lands herein set aside and reserved, which shall hereafter be known as the " Yosemite National Park." SEC. 2. That none of the lands patented and in private ownership in the area hereby included in the Sierra Forest Reserve shall have the privileges of the lieu-land scrip provisions of the land laws, but otherwise to be in all respects under the laws and regulations affecting the forest reserves, and immediately upon the passage of this act all laws, rules, and regulations affecting forest reservations, including the right to change the boundaries thereof by Executive proclamation, shall take effect and be in force within the limits of the territory excluded by this act from the Yosemite National Park, except as herein otherwise provided. The several acts of Congress authorizing the use of lands within forest reserves for right-of-way purposes are applicable to this portion of the Sierra Forest Reserve, with the condition, however, that the Secretary of the Interior may require the beneficiary to pay a suitable price for the privileges accorded therein. The Department of Agriculture is vested with jurisdiction to pass upon all applications under any law of the United States providing for the granting of a permission to occupy and use lands in a forest reserve, which occupation or use is temporary in character, and which, if granted, will in no wise affect the fee or cloud the title of the United States should the reserve be discontinued. The Department of the Interior is vested with jurisdiction over all applications affect ing lands within a forest reserve the granting of which amounts to an easement running with the land. Any permission or license granted by the Agricultural Department is subject to any later disposal of the lands by the Department of the Interior. All applications for privileges other than of a temporary character within the said addition to the Sierra Forest Reserve should be in accordance with the regulations heretofore prescribed in similar cases. Before final approval is given to any application for a privilege on or over these lands, the Secretary of the Interior will fix the price therefor and the payment thereof will be necessary before final approval is given. When the payment is made at the local land office, the receiver will charge the amount paid on his list of unearned moneys and deposit the same to his official credit until he is advised of the allowance. or rejection of the application. If the application be allowed, he will cover the money into the Treasury to the credit of the special fund provided for by this act, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior in the management, improvement, and protection of the Yosemite National Park; if rejected, the amount will be returned to the applicant and a proper receipt taken there for. In addition to the foregoing, and before such application will be approved, the applicant must expressly agree to enter into a contract whereby he shall bind himself to make further annual payments for such privilege should the Secretary of the Interior, upon consideration of the facts in each particular case, so prescribe. Such payments when required, shall be made to the Secretary of the Interior, to be placed to the credit of the special fund provided for in the act of February 7, 1905, to be expended in the management, improvement, and protection of the Yosemite National Park. An applicant for the privilege of transporting persons and material through the reserve to the Yosemite National Park will also be required, when in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior the convenience of the public requires it, to file in the Department a stipulation agreeing to transport the cars of any other person or company over its road upon the payment of such reasonable charge as may be determined upon between the parties, or by the Secretary of the Interior. E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary. LAND WITHDRAWN UNDER ACT OF JUNE 17, 1902--TOWNSITE. INSTRUCTIONS. Directions given relative to the survey, subdivision, appraisal and sale of certain lands in Idaho within the irrigable area of the Minidoka reclamation project. withdrawn from entry, except under the homestead law, for disposal in accordance with the provisions of the act of June 17, 1902, and subsequently reserved by the President, under section 2380 of the Revised Statutes, as a town site. Acting Secretary Campbell to the Commissioner of the General Land (S. V. P.) Office, July 8, 1905. (E. F. B.) Your reports of May 23, 1905, and June 16, 1905, as well as the reports of the Director of the Geological Survey of May 3, 1905, June 1, 1905, and June 3, 1905, relative to the survey and sale of certain lands in Idaho that have been reserved by the President under section 2380, Revised Statutes, as a townsite, have been considered by the Department. The lands reserved are all of section 15, except the E.SE. 1, and lots 3 and 4, section 22, T. 10 S., R. 23 E., B. M., Hailey, Idaho, containing in the aggregate 632.70 acres. The order of reservation also improperly embraced lands in section 16, belonging to the State of Idaho, but the order was ineffective as to those lands, as the United States had no jurisdiction and control over them, and they should not be considered in making the survey of the townsite. The lands being within the irrigable area and susceptible of reclamation from the irrigation works of the contemplated Minidoka project, had formerly been withdrawn from entry, except under the homestead law, for the purpose of being disposed of only in conformity with the provisions of the act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat., 388), and were thus placed directly under the control of the Reclamation Service. Subsequently, upon the recommendation and advice of the Director of the Geological Survey that the lands in question were suitable for townsite purposes and would become a center of population, they were reserved by the President under the following section (2380) of the Revised Statutes: The President is authorized to reserve from the public lands, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, town-sites on the shores of harbors, at the junction of rivers, important portages, or any natural or prospective centers of population. They were thereupon taken from under the immediate jurisdiction and control of the Geological Survey and were restored to the control of the General Land Office, as the bureau provided by law for supervising the survey and sale of such reservations as public lands of the United States under the following provision (2381) of the Revised Statutes: When, in the opinion of the President, the public interests require it, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to cause any of such reservations, or part thereof, to be surveyed into urban or suburban lots of suitable size, and to fix by appraisement of disinterested persons their cash value; and to offer the same for sale at public outcry to the highest bidder, and thence afterward to be held subject to sale at private entry according to such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; but no lot shall be disposed of at public sale or private entry for less than the appraised value thereof; and all such sales shall be conducted by the register and receiver of the land office in the 5194 Vol. 34–05 M- -2 district in which the reservation may be situated, in accordance with the instructions of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. It being desirable that the lands reserved should be opened for occupancy as early as practicable, it becomes the duty of this Department to have them surveyed and subdivided into suitable lots, blocks, streets, alleys and necessary reservations for public uses and to have the lots appraised at their cash value and offered for sale at public outcry to the highest bidder, and to provide by appropriate regulations for the disposal at private entry of the lands remaining unsold at the public offering. You will therefore take immediate steps to have the exterior boundaries of the reservation surveyed without regard to the State lands adjoining, and to have the lands so segregated subdivided into streets, alleys, blocks and lots and to lay out such reservations for public parks as may be desirable for public use, due regard being had to the future necessities of the inhabitants of the townsite. You will have the lots appraised by disinterested persons at their cash value and have them offered for sale at public outcry to the highest bidder for cash, the sale to be conducted by the register and receiver in accordance with such instructions from your office as may be given. The Director of the Geological Survey submits with one of his reports a plat of a proposed subdivision of the townsite, which, as to the streets, alleys, blocks, lots and reservations for parks indicated thereon, appears to be free from objection, and no reason appears why the suggestion may not be accepted by your office and the survey be made accordingly. It is not intended by this suggestion to restrict your office in the exercise of its judgment, but you are free to make such recommendation as may seem advisable. There is no authority under the act to make the other reservation indicated upon the plat. The dedication of portions of the reservation for public parks may be exercised as a necessary incident to the power to lay out streets and alleys for the public use, but the law evidently contemplates that the lots and blocks shall be sold to the highest bidder unless reserved for government purposes. The plat indicates that certain lots are to be used for particular purposes. The suggestion merely indicated the reason for restricting the area of the lots thus designated, and not that such condition be imposed at the sale, as there is no authority to prescribe the purpose for which any lot must be used. In having the townsite surveyed you may make use of such service as the Reclamation Service may be able to render, but it must be made under your direction and subject to your approval. The mere fact that the land reserved is within the irrigable area of an irrigation project and susceptible of reclamation, makes no difference in the |