30 STAT. 484, JUNE 21, 1898. GRANT TO NEW MEXICO-MINERALS EXCEPTED. AN ACT To make certain grants of land to the Territory of New Mexico, etc. Be it enacted, etc., That sections numbered 16 and 36 in every township of the Territory of New Mexico, and where such sections, or any parts thereof, are mineral or have been sold or otherwise disposed of by or under the authority of any act of Congress, other nonmineral lands equivalent thereto, in legal subdivisions of not. less than one-quarter section, and as contiguous as may be to the section in lieu of which the same is taken, are hereby granted to said Territory for the support of common schools, such indemnity lands to be selected within said Territory in such manner as is hereinafter provided: Provided, That the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections embraced in permanent reservations for national purposes shall not at any time be subject to the grants of this act, nor shall any lands embraced in Indian, military, or other reservations of any character be subject to the grants of this act; but such reservations shall be subject to the indemnity provisions of this act. SEC. 2. That 50 sections of the unappropriated nonmineral lands within said Territory, to be selected and located in legal subdivisions as hereinafter provided in this act, shall be, and are hereby, granted to said Territory for the purpose of erecting public buildings at the capital of the State of New Mexico when said Territory shall become a State and be admitted into the Union, when said capital shall be permanently located by the people of New Mexico, for legislative, executive, and judicial purposes. SEC. 3. That lands to the extent of two townships in quantity, authorized by the sixth section of the act of July 22, 1854 (10 Stat. 309), to be reserved for the establishment of a university in New Mexico, are hereby granted to the Territory of New Mexico for university purposes, to be held and used in accordance with the provisions in this section; and any portions of said lands that may not have been heretofore selected by said Territory may be selected now by said Territory. That in addition to the above, 65,000 acres of nonmineral, unappropriated, and unoccupied public land, to be selected and located as hereinafter provided, together with all saline lands in said Territory, are hereby granted to the said Territory for the use of said university, and 100,000 acres, to be in like manner selected, for the use of an agricultural college. That the proceeds of the sale of said lands, or any portion thereof, shall constitute permanent funds, to be safely invested, and the income thereof to be used exclusively for the purposes of such university and agricultural college, respectively. SEC. 6. That in lieu of the grant of land for purposes of internal improvement, made to new States by the eighth section of the act of September 4, 1841 (5 Stat. 455), which section is hereby repealed as to New Mexico, and in lieu of any claim or demand of the State of New Mexico under the act of September 28, 1850 (9 Stat. 519), and section 2429 R. S., making a grant of swamp and overflowed lands, which grant it is hereby declared is not extended to said State of New Mexico, the following grants of nonmineral, and unappropriated land are hereby made to said Territory for the purposes indicated, namely (describing). SEC. 10. That the lands reserved for university purposes, including all saline lands, and sections 16 and 36 reserved for public schools, may be leased under such laws and regulations as may be hereafter prescribed by the legislative assembly of said Territory; but until the meeting of the next legislature of said Territory the governor, secretary of the Territory, and the solicitor general shall constitute a board for the leasing of said lands; and all necessary expenses and costs incurred in the leasing, management, and protection of said lands and leases may be paid out of the proceeds derived from such leases. And it shall be unlawful to cut, remove, or appropriate in any way any timber growing upon the lands leased under the provisions of this act, and not more than one section of land shall be leased to any one person, corporation, or association of persons, and no lease shall be made for a longer period than 5 years, and all leases shall terminate on the admission of said Territory as a State; and all money received on account of such leases in excess of actual expenses necessarily incurred in connection with the execution thereof shall be placed to the credit of separate funds for the use of said institutions, and shall be paid out only as directed by the legislative assembly of said Territory, and for the purposes indicated herein. * * * Provided, That such legislative assembly may provide for leasing all or any part of the lands granted in this act on the same terms and under the same limitations prescribed above as to the lands that may be leased only, but all leases made under the provisions of this act shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, and all investments made or securities purchased with the proceeds of sales or leases of lands provided for by this act shall be subject to like approval by the Secretary of the Interior. 1. POLICY OF GOVERNMENT TO RESERVE MINERALS. 1. POLICY OF GOVERNMENT TO RESERVE MINERALS. The policy of the Government has been to reserve lands containing valuable deposits of mineral of every kind from the grants for the benefit of schools, to aid in the construction of railroads, or for other public purposes, whether expressly excluded from such grant or not. New Mexico, In re, 31 L. D. 389, p. 390. Mineral lands were expressly excluded from the grant of sections 16 and 36 to the Territory of New Mexico under this act for the support of common schools, and other lands were granted in lieu thereof. New Mexico, In re, 31 L. D. 389, p. 390. 2. GRANT OF SALINES MEANING AND EXTENT. If land was known to be saline at the date of this act it did not pass to the Territory under the grant by section 1; but such lands did pass to the Territory under the grant of saline lands by section 3, and if a tract was not known to be saline in character at the date of the act then it passed to the Territory under the grant by section 1. New Mexico, In re, 31 L. D. 389, p. 391. By the term saline lands is meant land chiefly valuable for deposits of chloride of sodium or common salt, and, where the evidence fails to establish the existence in the selected lands of deposits of such salt in sufficient quantities so as to render them chiefly valuable therefor, but does establish the existence of large deposits of gypsum, with chloride of sodium in conjunction, the selection list submitted by a State will be canceled. New Mexico, In re, 35 L. D. 1, p. 2. Construing this act with all prior legislation on the same subject, Congress had in contemplation through all these, including this act, merely common salt or chloride of sodium in its various forms of existence or deposit, and only lands containing commercially valuable quantities thereof are available under this grant of saline lands to New Mexico. New Mexico, In re, 35 L. D. 1, p. 7. See Lovely Placer Claim, In re, 35 L. D. 426. 34 STAT. 267, p. 273, JUNE 16, 1906. GRANT TO OKLAHOMA AND ARIZONA-MINERALS, OIL AND GAS EXCEPTED. AN ACT To enable the people of Oklahoma and of the Indian Territory to form a constitution and State government. Be it enacted, etc., *** SEC. 8. * * * Where any part of the lands granted by this act to the State of Oklahoma are valuable for minerals, which terms shall also include gas and oil, such lands shall not be sold by the said State prior to January 1, 1915; but the same may be leased for periods not exceeding five years by the State officers duly authorized for that purpose, such leasing to be made by public competition after not less than 30 days' advertisement in the manner to be prescribed by law, and all such leasing shall be done under sealed bids and awarded to the highest responsible bidder. The leasing shall require and the advertisement shall specify in each case a fixed royalty to be paid by the successful bidder, in addition to any bonus offered for the lease, and all proceeds from leases shall be covered into the fund to which they shall properly belong, and no transfer or assignment of any lease shall be valid or confer any right in the assignee without the consent of the proper State authorities in writing: Provided, however, That agricultural lessees in possession of such lands shall be reimbursed by the mining lessees for all damage done to said agricultural lessees' interest therein by reason of such mining operations. The legislature of the State may prescribe additional legislation governing such leases not in conflict herewith. SEC. 12. That in lieu of the grant of land for purposes of internal improvement made to new States by the eighth section of the act of September 4, 1841 (5 Stat. 455), which section is hereby repealed as to said State, and in lieu of any claim or demand of the State of Oklahoma under the act of September 28, 1850 (9 Stat. 519), and section 2479 R. S., making a grant of swamp and overflowed lands, which grant it is hereby declared is not extended to said State of Oklahoma, the following grant of land is hereby made to said State from public lands of the United States within said State, for the purposes indicated, namely: For the benefit of the Oklahoma University, 250,000 acres; for the benefit of the University Preparatory School, 150,000 acres; for the benefit of the Agricultural and Mechanical College, 250,000 acres; for the benefit of the Colored Agricultural and Normal University, 100,000 acres; for the benefit of normal schools, now established or hereafter to be established, 300,000 acres. The lands granted by this section shall be selected by the board for leasing school lands of the Territory of Oklahoma immediately upon the approval of this act. Said selections, as soon as made, shall be certified to the Secretary of the Interior, and the lands so selected shall be thereupon withdrawn from homestead entry. SEC. 29. That 300 sections of the unappropriated nonmineral public lands within said State, to be selected and located in legal subdivisions, as provided in this act, are hereby granted to said State for the purpose of erecting legislative, executive, and judicial public buildings in the same, and for the payment of the bonds heretofore or hereafter issued therefor. * * * * * SEC. 36. That all mineral lands shall be exempted from the grants made by this act; but if any portion thereof shall be found by the Department of the Interior to be mineral lands, said State, by the commission provided for in section 35 hereof, under the direction. of the Secretary of the Interior, is hereby authorized and empowered to select in legal subdivisions an equal quantity of other unappropriated lands in said State in lieu thereof. A. STATE GRANT OKLAHOMA. 1. DISPOSAL OF MINERAL LANDS-OIL AND GAS. 4. APPLICATION OF SECTION 36 TO ARIZONA. 1. DISPOSAL OF MINERAL LANDS-OIL AND GAS. Section 8 makes specific provision for the disposal of the lands granted to Oklahoma where the same are valuable for mineral, and it expressly provides that this term shall include gas and oil, and this removes any question of doubt as to whether the grants made by said act were intended to apply to mineral lands. Oklahoma, In re, 35 L. D. 509, p. 510. 2. SCHOOL SECTIONS NOT SUBJECT TO MINING LAWS. The provisions of these sections are wholly inconsistent with the theory that Congress intended to subject the school sections in the Cherokee Outlet to the operation of the mining laws, and these have no application to such lands. Shirley, In re, 35 L. D. 113, p. 115. 3. GRANT WITHOUT MINERAL EXCEPTION. The grant made by section 12 to Oklahoma is from the public lands within the State and is without specific mineral exception. Oklahoma, In re, 35 L. D. 509, p. 510. 4. APPLICATION OF SECTION 36 TO ARIZONA. Section 36 of this act has reference solely to the grants made to the future State of Arizona and not to the Territory of Oklahoma. Oklahoma, In re, 35 L. D. 509, p. 511. 34 STAT. 517, CHAP. 3555, JUNE 27, 1906. GRANT TO WISCONSIN FOR FORESTRY. AN ACT Granting lands to the State of Wisconsin for forestry purposes. Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, directed to cause patents to issue to the State of Wisconsin for not more than 20,000 acres of such unappropriated, unoccupied, nonmineral public lands of the United States north of the township line between townships 33 and 34 north, fourth principal meridian, as may be selected by and within said State for forestry purposes. * * * 36 STAT. 295, APRIL 12, 1910. SECTIONS RELINQUISHED-WYOMING. AN ACT Providing that the State of Wyoming be permitted to relinquish to the United States certain lands heretofore selected and to select other lands from the public domain in lieu thereof. Be it enacted, etc., That upon the delivery to the Secretary of the Interior by the State of Wyoming of its properly executed and duly recorded deed or deeds reconveying to the United States of America, in fee simple, certain lands heretofore selected by and certified to said State under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to provide for the admission of the State of Wyoming into the Union, and for other purposes," approved July 10, 1890 (26 Stat. 222), to wit: * * * the land so described having been acquired under the grant of sections numbered 16 and 36 for the support of common schools; and selected under the grant of 260,000 acres for State charitable, educationable, penal, and reformatory institutions, said selections being approved by the Secretary of the Interior on April 29, 1897, December 14, 1900, and June 3, 1898, the said State shall be authorized and permitted to select an equal number of acres from the unreserved, nonmineral, unappropriated public lands of the United States in said State in the same manner, for the same purposes, and subject to the same conditions and limitations under which the lands so reconveyed were selected and held. SEC. 2. That the lands so reconveyed shall be restored to and become a part of the public domain and be subject to disposal by the Government in the same manner in which other public lands of a like character are disposed of: Provided, That no portion of the lands so reconveyed shall be subject to settlement, entry, location, or selection |