Patents for mill sites. What conditions of sale may be made by local legislature. Vested rights to use of water for mining, etc.; right of way for canals. Patents, pre-emptions, and homesteads subject to vested and accrued water rights. Mineral lands in which no valuable covered are open to mines are dis homesteads. Where non-mineral land not contiguous to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such nonadjacent surface ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable to veins or lodes; but no location hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this chapter for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill site, as provided in this section. Rev. Stats. 2337. As a condition of sale, in the absence of necessary legislation by Congress, the local legislature of any State or Territory may provide rules for working mines, involving easements, drainage, and other necessary means to their complete development; and those conditions shall be fully expressed in the patent. Rev. Stats. 2338. Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same; and the right of way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage. Rev. Stats. 2339. All patents granted, or pre-emption or homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been acquired under or recognized by the preceding section. Rev. Stats. 2340. Wherever, upon the lands heretofore designated as mineral lands, which have been excluded from survey and sale, there have been homesteads made by citizens of the United States, or persons who have declared their intention to become citizens, which homesteads have been made, improved, and used for agricultural purposes, and upon which there have been no valuable mines of gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper discovered, and which are properly agricultural lands, the settlers or owners of such homesteads shall have a right of pre-emption thereto, and shall be entitled to purchase the same at the price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and in quantity not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres; or they may avail themselves of the provisions of chapter five of this Title, relating to "Homesteads." Rev. Stats. 2341. Upon the survey of the lands described in the preceding section, the Secretary of the Interior may designate and set apart such portions of the same as are clearly agricultural lands, which lands shall thereafter be subject to pre-emption and sale as other public lands, and be subject to all the laws and regulations applicable to the same. Rev. Stats. 2342. The President is authorized to establish additional land districts, and to appoint the necessary officers under existing laws, wherever he may deem the same necessary for the public convenience in executing the provisions of this chapter. Rev. Stats. 2343. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to impair in any way, rights or interests in mining property acquired under existing laws; nor to affect the provisions of the act entitled "An act granting to A. Sutro the right of way and other privileges to aid in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel to the Comstock lode, in the State of Nevada," approved July twenty-five, eighteen hundred and sixtysix. Rev. Stats. 2344. COAL LANDS. Mineral lands, how set apart as agricultural lands. Additional land districts and offiPresident to provide. cers, power of Provisions of this chapter not to rights. affect certain Entry of coal Every person above the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, or who has de- lands. clared his intention to become such, or any association of persons severally qualified as above, shall, upon application to the register of the proper land office, have the right to enter, by legal subdivisions, any quantity of vacant coal lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated or reserved by competent authority, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to such individual person, or three hundred and twenty acres to such association, upon payment to the receiver of not less than ten dollars per acre for such lands, where the same shall be situated more than fifteen miles from any completed railroad, and not less than twenty dollars per acre for such lands as shall be within fifteen miles of such road. Rev. Stats. 2347. Any person or association of persons severally qualified, as above provided, who have opened and improved, or shall hereafter open and improve, any coal Limit of claim. Purchase money. Pre-emption of coal lands. Pre-emption claims of coal land to be presented within sixty days, etc. Only one entry allowed by same person or association. mine or mines upon the public lands, and shall be in actual possession of the same, shall be entitled to a preference right of entry, under the preceding section, of the mines so opened and improved: Provided, that when any association of not less than four persons, severally qualified as above provided, shall have expended not less than five thousand dollars in working and improving any such mine or mines, such association may enter not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, including such mining improvements. Rev. Stats. 2348. All claims under the preceding section must be presented to the register of the proper land district within sixty days after the date of actual possession and the commencement of improvements on the land, by the filing of a declaratory statement therefor; but when the township plat is not on file at the date of such improvement, filing must be made within sixty days from the receipt of such plat at the district office; and where the improvements shall have been made prior to the expiration of three months from the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, sixty days from the expiration of such three months shall be allowed for the filing of a declaratory statement, and no sale under the provisions of this section shall be allowed until the expiration of six months from the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventythree. Rev. Stats. 2349. The three preceding sections shall be held to authorize only one entry by the same person or association of persons; and no association of persons any member of which shall have taken the benefit of such sections, either as an individual or as a member of any other association, shall enter or hold any other lands under the provisions thereof; and no member of any association which shall have taken the benefit of such sections shall enter or hold any other lands under their provisions; and all persons claiming under section. preference right of twenty-three hundred and forty-eight shall be required to prove their respective rights and pay for the lands filed upon within one year from the time prescribed for filing their respective claims; and upon failure to file. the proper notice, or to pay for the land within the required period, the same shall be subject to entry by any other qualified applicant. Rev. Stats. 2350. Limitation of entry. Conflicting claim. In case of conflicting claims upon coal lands where the improvements shall be commenced, after the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, Priority of pos- priority of possession and improvement, followed by proper filing and continued good faith, shall determine the preference right to purchase. And also where im session and im provement pre vails. provements have already been made prior to the third Nothing in the five preceding sections shall be con- SALINE LANDS. Rev. 1. Whenever it shall be made appear to the register and the receiver of any land office of the United States that any lands within their district are saline in character, it shall be the duty of said register and said receiver, under the regulations of the General Land Office, to take testimony in reference to such lands to ascertain their true character, and to report the same to the General Land Office; And if, upon such testimony, the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall find that such lands are saline and incapable of being purchased under any of the laws of the United States relative to the public domain, then, and in such case, such lands shall be offered for sale by public auction at the local land office of the district in which the same shall be situated, under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and sold to the highest bidder for cash, at a price not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; L. O. Regula Rights reserved. Saline lands to be examined by registers and receivers. -to be sold at public auction. -may be sold at And in case said lands fail to sell when so offered, then the same shall be subject to private sale, at such private sale, when. land office, for cash, at a price not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, in the same manner as other lands of the United States are sold: Provided, that the foregoing enactments shall not apply to any State or Territory which has not had a grant of salines by act of Congress, nor to any State which may have had such a grant, until either the grant has been fully satisfied, or the right of selection thereunder has expired by efflux of time. Act not to apply to certain States, etc. Patents to be But nothing in this act shall authorize the sale or conveyance of any title other than such as the United only a release, etc. States has, and the patents issued shall be in the form Proclamation of sale of public lands, where to be published. ing, and domestic purposes. of a release and quitclaim of all title of the United States in such lands. 2. All executive proclamations relating to the sales of public lands shall be published in only one newspaper, the same to be printed and published in the State or Territory where the lands are situated, and to be designated by the Secretary of the Interior. Act of Jan. 12, 1877, ch. 18; 19 Stat. L. 221; Supp. to Rev. Stats., Vol. 1, p. 127. TIMBER RIGHTS. Timber may be 1. All citizens of the United States and other percut from mineral sons, bona fide residents of the State of Colorado, or lands for building, agricultural, min- Nevada, or either of the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Dakota, Idaho, or Montana, and all other mineral districts of the United States, shall be, and are hereby, authorized and permitted to fell and remove, for building, agricultural, mining, or other domestic purposes, any timber or other trees growing or being on the public lands, said lands being mineral, and not subject to entry under existing laws of the United States, except for mineral entry, in either of said States, Territories, or districts of which such citizens or persons may be at the time bona fide residents, subject to such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe for the protection of the timber and of the undergrowth growing upon such lands, and for other purposes: Registers and receivers to ascertain and notify Commissioner when timber is cut for unauthorized purposes. Penalty for violation of act. Provided, the provisions of this act shall not extend to railroad corporations. 2. It shall be the duty of the register and the receiver of any local land office in whose district any mineral land may be situated to ascertain from time to time whether any timber is being cut or used upon any such lands, except for the purposes authorized by this act, within their respective land districts; and if so, they shall immediately notify the Commissioner of the General Land Office of that fact; And all necessary expenses incurred in making such proper examinations shall be paid and allowed such register and receiver in making up their next quarterly accounts. 3. Any person or persons who shall violate the provisions of this act, or any rules and regulations in pursuance thereof made by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, and to which may be added imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months. Act of June 3, 1878, ch. 150; 20 Stat. L. 88; Supp. to Rev. Stats., Vol. 1, p. 166. |