eighteen hundred and ninety-four: Provided, That the claimant or claimants of any mining location, in order to secure the benefits of this Act, shall cause to be recorded in the office where the location notice or certificate is filed on or before December thirty-first, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, a notice that he or they in good faith intend to hold and work said claim: Provided, however, That the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the State of South Dakota.

SEC. 2. That this act shall take effect from and after its passage. Approved, July 18, 1894. (28 Stat., 114.)

[No. 54.]

SURVEY OF PUBLIC LANDS AT REQUEST OF PERSONS OR ASSOCIATIONS OF PERSONS-SPECIAL DEPOSITS THEREFOR.

AN ACT to amend sections twenty-four hundred and one and twenty-four hundred and three of the Revised Statutes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section twenty-four hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 2401. When the settlers in any township not mineral or reserved by the Government, or persons and associations lawfully possessed of coal lands and otherwise qualified to make entry thereof, or when the owners or grantees of public lands of the United States, under any law thereof, desire a survey made of the same under the authority of the surveyor-general and shall file an application therefor in writing, and shall deposit in a proper United States depository to the credit of the United States a sum sufficient to pay for such survey, together with all expenditures incident thereto, without cost or claim for indemnity on the United States, it shall be lawful for the surveyorgeneral, under such instructions as may be given him by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and in accordance with law, to survey such township or such public lands owned by said grantees of the Government, and make return therefor to the general and proper local land office: Provided, That no application shall be granted unless the township so proposed to be surveyed is within the range of the regular progress of the public surveys embraced by existing standard lines or bases for township and subdivisional surveys."

SEC. 2. That section twenty-four hundred and three of the Revised Statutes of the United States as heretofore amended is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 2403. Where settlers or owners or grantees of public lands make deposits in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-four hundred and one, as hereby amended, certificates shall be issued for such deposits which may be used by settlers in part payment for the lands settled upon by them, the survey of which is paid for out of such deposits, or said certificates may be assigned by indorsement and may be received by the Government in payment for any public lands of the United States in the States where the surveys were made, entered or to be entered under the laws thereof."

SEC. 3. That all laws and parts of laws inconsistent with this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Received by the President, August 8, 1894.

[NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.-The foregoing act having been presented to the President of the United States for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the house of Congress in which it originated within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, has become a law without his approval.]

August 20, 1894. (28 Stat., 423.)

[No. 55.]

GRANTING THE RIGHT OF COMMUTATION TO HOMESTEAD SETTLERS IN OKLAHOMA.

AN ACT making appropriations for current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

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SEC. 19. That the right of commutation is hereby extended to all bona fide homestead settlers on the lands in Oklahoma Territory opened to settlement under the provisions of the act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for current and contingent expenses and fulfilling treaty stipulations with Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four," approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and the President's proclamation in pursuance thereof, after fourteen months from the date of settlement upon the full payment for the lands at the prices provided in said act.

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Approved, August 15, 1894. (28 Stat., 336.)

[No. 56.]

SOLDIERS' ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD CERTIFICATES-VALID IN THE HANDS OF BONA FIDE PURCHASERS.

AN ACT making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

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That all soldiers' additional homestead certificates heretofore issued under the rules and regulations of the General Land Office under section twenty-three hundred and six of the Revised Statutes of the

United States, or in pursuance of the decisions or instructions of the Secretary of the Interior, of date March tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, or any subsequent decisions or instructions of the Secretary of the Interior or the Commissioner of the General Land Office, shall be, and are hereby, declared to be valid, notwithstanding any attempted sale or transfer thereof; and where such certificates have been or may hereafter be sold or transferred, such sale or transfer shall not be regarded as invalidating the right, but the same shall be good and valid in the hands of bona fide purchasers for value; and all entries heretofore or hereafter made with such certificates by such purchasers shall be approved, and patent shall issue in the name of the assignees.

OPENING OF ABANDONED MILITARY RESERVATIONS-PREFERENCE RIGHT GIVEN TO SETTLERS RESIDING THEREON.

AN ACT to provide for the opening of certain abandoned military reservations, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all lands not already disposed of included within the limits of any abandoned military reservation heretofore placed under the control of the Secretary of the Interior for disposition under the act approved July fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, the disposal of which has not been provided for by a subsequent act of Congress, where the area exceeds five thousand acres, except such legal subdivisions as have Government improvements thereon, and except also such other parts as are now or may be reserved for some public use, are hereby opened to settlement under the public-land laws of the United States and a preference right of entry for a period of six months from the date of this act shall be given all bona fide settlers who are qualified to enter under the homestead law and have made improvements and are now residing upon any agricultural lands in said reservations, and for a period of six months from the date of settlement when that shall occur after the date of this act: Provided, That persons who enter under the homestead law shall pay for such lands not less than the value heretofore or hereafter determined by appraisement, nor less than the price of the land at the time of the entry, and such payment may, at the option of the purchaser, be made in five equal installments, at times and at rates of interest to be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 2. That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to suspend or to interfere with the operation of the said act approved July fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, as to all lands included in abandoned military reservations hereafter placed under the control of the Secretary of the Interior for disposal, and all appraisements required by the first section of this act shall be in accordance with the provisions of said act of July fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four.

Approved, August 23, 1894. (28 Stat., 491.)

[No. 58.]

MILITARY BOUNTY LAND WARRANTS-LOCATION OF.

AN ACT to provide for the location and satisfaction of outstanding military bounty land warrants and certificates of location under section three of the Act approved June second, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in addition to the benefits now given thereto by law, all unsatisfied military bounty land warrants under any act of Congress, and unsatisfied indemnity certificates of location under the act of Congress approved June second, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, whether heretofore or hereafter issued, shall be receivable at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre in payment or part payment for any lands entered under the desert land law of March third, eighteen hundred and eighty- [seventy-] seven, entitled “An act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and Territories," and the amendments thereto, the timber-culture law of March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, entitled "An act to encourage the growth of timber on the Western prairies," and the amendments thereto; the timber and stone law of June third, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, entitled "An act for the sale of timber lands in the States of California, Oregon, Nebraska, and Washington Territory," and the amendments thereto, or for lands which may be sold at public auction, except such lands as shall have been purchased from any Indian tribe within ten years last past.

Approved, December 13, 1894. (28 Stat., 594.)

[No. 59.]

AMENDMENT TO SECTION 3, ACT OF MARCH 2, 1889.

AN ACT to amend section three of an act to withdraw certain public lands from private entry, and for other purposes, approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section three of the said act of March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, be amended by adding thereto the following provision: That if any such settler has heretofore forfeited his or her entry for any of said reasons, such person shall be permitted to make entry of not to exceed a quarter section on any public land subject to entry under the homestead law, and to perfect title to the same under the same conditions in every respect as if he had not made the former entry.

Approved, December 29, 1894. (28 Stat., 599.)

[No. 60.]

GRANTING RELIEF, ON ACCOUNT OF FOREST FIRES, TO SETTLERS IN WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA, AND MICHIGAN.

AN ACT for the relief of homestead settlers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. Whereas during the summer and autumn of eighteen hundred and ninety-four extensive forest fires prevailed in northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, resulting in the death of many homesteaders and their families, the destruction of their property and effects, and of

much of the green timber growing upon them, which homesteads are valuable chiefly for the timber standing and growing on them; and,

Whereas under existing law homesteaders are not allowed to cut or sell green or burned timber, except for the purpose of clearing and improving, and all burned timber not cut within a short period will become worthless and a loss to the settler and the Government: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all such persons actually occupying homesteads in said States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan at the time of such fires, upon claims under the laws of the United States, on lands of the United States, whose property and buildings were destroyed by such fires, and the heirs of all such persons who perished by such fires, and all persons who by reason of such fires and loss of property were obliged to leave their homesteads, are hereby granted two years' additional time in which to make final proof. And temporary absence for any period within two years from the date of this Act shall be deemed constructive possession and residence, but shall not be deducted from the time required to make final proof.

SEC. 2. That all persons whose property was destroyed by such fires, and the heirs of all persons who were actual occupants of the homesteads at the time of the fire, and who lost their lives in and by that fire, may, by proving such actual occupancy at the date of such fires, make proof showing compliance with the law up to the date of the fire, and shall make payment at the minimum price under existing statutes, in the same manner as if such claimants were alive, and upon receipt of such proof of loss of property by such fires, or death of the claimant, heirs surviving, and upon payment as aforesaid, a patent shall be issued to such claimant, or his or her heirs.

SEC. 3. That the claimant upon any homestead, who by reason of not having lived thereon the necessary length of time to enable him to commute under section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes as amended by the act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, his heirs, executor, administrator, or guardian of his minor heirs, may, when the quantity of timber destroyed upon his or her homestead shall not exceed seventy-five thousand feet of merchantable green timber, file an estimate in the land office where such homestead was entered with such reasonable proofs as the Commissioner of Public Lands may prescribe, as to the quantity of timber destroyed upon any sectional subdivision, and thereupon the register and receiver may, under the direction of the Commissioner of Public Lands, issue a license or permit to cut the burned timber on any homestead or sectional fraction thereof, upon payment of the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for such sectional subdivision, and the Government shall issue a patent for the same to the claimant or his or her heirs. Approved, January 19, 1895. (28 Stat., 634.)

[No. 61.]

RIGHT OF WAY GRANTED FOR TRAMROADS, CANALS, OR RESERVOIRS. AN ACT to permit the use of the right of way through the public lands for tramroads, canals, and reservoirs, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and hereby is, authorized and empowered, under general