Page.

An affidavit of contest against a desert-
land entry, in which it is alleged that the
entryman "has failed to make yearly proof
for the first year as required by law," states
a sufficient cause of action........

In case of a contest against a timber-
culture entry on the ground of failure to
plant the acreage required by law, the en-
tryman may, prior to the trial, relinquish
part of his entry and retain the remainder,
if his compliance with law is such as to
entitle him to patent for the unrelinquished
tract..

Where a woman makes an application for
homestead entry as a deserted wife, and
subsequently procures a divorce on the
ground of desertion, and entry upon her
application is afterward allowed, in a con-
test against such entry, on the ground of
fraud and collusion, the Department is not
bound by the finding of fact made by the
court in the divorce proceeding, but may
determine from the proof whether or not
she was a deserted wife at the time of her
application......

Contestant.

The preferred right of entry accorded a
contestant is not a vested right until he has
"contested, paid the land-office fees, and
procured the cancellation" of the entry
attacked......

Section 2 of the act of May 14, 1880, giving
a preference right of entry to a successful
contestant, does not extend to contests
against Indian allotments..

276

137

382

137

343

Page

A desert-land entry made under the act
of March 3, 1877, but not completed, by final
proof, until after the passage of the amenda-
tory act of March 3, 1891, is governed, so far
as the price to be paid for the land entered
is concerned, by the law in force at the time
the entry was made......

The affidavit of the assignee of a desert-
land entry required by the regulations must
be sworn to before one of the officers of
the local land office, a United States com-
missioner, or a judge or clerk of a court of
record in the county wherein the land in
question is situated; and where such affida-
vit is executed before an officer other than
those enumerated, the assignment will not
be recognized

An entry or selection of public lands
which is not so far perfected as to confer
an equitable title or vested right does not
take the land included therein out of the
operation of the mining laws; but, ordina-
rily, where an entry or selection of public
lands is received and recognized by the local
officers, it will, while pending, prevent the
receipt or recognition of other applications
for the same land until such entry or selec-
tion is disposed of ...................
Fees.

The practice respecting the commissions
to be paid the register and receiver in the
administration of the acts of March 2, 1889,
and August 15, 1894. relating to the disposi-
tion of lands in the late Sioux Indian Res-
ervation, in case of the commutation of an
entry, adhered to......
Final Proof.

Circular of March 26, 1902, under act of
March 11, 1902, relative to officers before
whom affidavits, proofs, and oaths may be
made....

Forest Lands.

See Reservation.

Hawaii.

In an exchange of public lands in Hawaii,
under the Hawaiian laws, for lands of pri-
vate ownership, the title should be taken to
the Territory if the land thus acquired is
for uses of local government, but if for other
than local public uses the conveyance
should be to the United States...

The proviso in section 55 of the act of
April 30, 1900, limiting the amount of real
estate which any corporation operating in
the Territory of Hawaii may acquire and
hold therein to 1,000 acres, precludes an ex-
change of lands owned by any such corpo-
ration for a quantity of public lands in
said Territory aggregating more than 1,000

acres

The authority conferred by section 169 of
the civil laws of Hawaii upon the Territorial

277

184

352

250

274

238

249

Page.

officers to lease, sell, or otherwise dispose of
the public lands of said Territory includes
authority to grant an easement upon, over,
and across them for the purpose of con-
structing, maintaining, and operating all
works necessary to supply water for irri-
gating lands, developing power, and for
domestic purposes; and by sections 186 and
193 of said civil laws said officers are ex-
pressly authorized to grant a right to use
earth, rock, and timber upon adjacent pub-
lic lands for the purpose of constructing,
maintaining, and repairing such improve-
ments. The power to make such grants for
the purposes named being conferred upon
the officers of the Territory by the local
laws, which Congress by express direction
has continued in force, and the power in
no way depending upon the action of the
Department of the Interior, it is not neces-
sary that an application for the exercise
thereof should be approved by the Secre-
tary

Homestead.

See Oklahoma Lands.

GENERALLY.

Circular of October 25, 1902, under act of
June 17, 1902, relative to homestead entries
on lands temporarily withdrawn for irriga-
tion purposes.

281

423

One owning 160 acres of land in his own
right, and also holding the title to other
land in trust for another without any bene-
ficial interest in himself, is not for that rea-
son disqualified to make entry under the
general provisions of the homestead law... 166
In determining priorities of claims in a
controversy arising upon the filing by a
railroad company of a list of selections reg-
ular in form upon the day the plat of sur-
vey of the township in which the selected
lands are situated was officially filed, and
the presentation, on the same day, of home-
stead applications for said lands, the actual
time of the presentation of the claims will
be recognized

An application to purchase under section
2 of the act of June 15, 1880, will not be
allowed in the absence of an affidavit show-
ing the nonmineral character of the land
applied for and that no prosecution or pro-
eeeding has been had against the applicant
on account of any trespass committed or
material taken from any of the public lands
subsequent to March 1, 1879.

Where a homestead entryman who has
declared his intention of becoming a citizen
dies, after the submission of final proof,
without having been admitted to citizen-
ship, but having complied with the law in
all other respects except as to the submis..
sion of proof within the statutory period,
the entry may be equitably confirmed for

151

143

Page.

403

the benefit of the heirs who are citizens and
patent issue in their names

The act of May 17, 1900, known as the free
homestead act, operated to abrogate the
general rule recognized in departmental
practice, that requires payment to be made
for the excess area embraced in homestead
entries containing more than 160 acres, in
so far as such rule, prior to the passage of
said act, affected the entry of lands desig-
nated therein.....

The widow of an honorably discharged
soldier, who made homestead entry in her
own right as the head of a family, for less
than one hundred and sixty acres of land,
is, under section 2 of the act of June 8, 1872,
as amended by the act of March 3, 1875, en-
titled to make an additional entry of so
much land as, when added to the quantity
previously entered, shall not exceed one
hundred and sixty acres

A homestead entryman who failed to per-
fect title under his entry, and thereafter
made a second entry under the act of
March 2, 1889, which second entry was also
not perfected, but "lost or forfeited," was
by the act of June 5, 1900, restored to the
status of a qualified homestead claimant
and became entitled to the benefits of the
homestead laws as though the second entry
had not been made..

162

349

25

A married woman is not disqualified to
make additional entry under section 5 of
the act of March 2, 1889, where prior to the
passage of said act, and when possessing
the necessary qualifications, she made her
original entry and submitted final proof
thereon showing due compliance with law. 129

COMMUTATION.

Circular of June 19, 1902, under act of May
22, 1902, with respect to commutation of
and second homestead entries

In the commutation of homestead entries
constructive residence from the date of the
entry will be recognized where settlement
is made and residence established within
six months thereafter..

All persons who have acquired title to a
homestead by commutation, whether under
the provision of section 2301 of the Revised
Statutes or under any one of the special acts
relating to Oklahoma lands, are, if other-
wise qualified, entitled to enter a home-
stead of the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache
lands

SOLDIERS' ADDITIONAL.

A soldier's additional right of entry is not
dependent upon consummation of the origi-
nal entry

A soldier entitled to the benefits of sec-
tion 2303 of the Revised Statutes does not
by the making of an invalid adjoining
farm entry, as additional to his original

358

159

46

349

The provisions in section 2305, R. S., with
respect to soldiers "discharged on account
of wounds received or disability incurred
in the line of duty," were made solely with
respect to the credit that should be allowed
a soldier for his military service in comput-
ing the period of his residence under an
original entry, and in no way can be in-
voked as bearing upon the qualifications of
an applicant under section 2306, whose
status in that respect must be determined
under limitations found in section 2304.... 165
The filing of a soldier's declaratory state-
ment is not the equivalent of an entry,
within the meaning of section 2306 of the
Revised Statutes, granting the right to
make a soldier's additional homestead
entry to persons "who may have heretofore
entered under the homestead laws less than
one hundred and sixty acres of land"

One entitled under section 2 of the act of
March 2, 1889, to make a second homestead
entry for 160 acres, does not, by an entry
under said act for a less area, affect his right
to make a soldier's additional homestead
entry under section 2306, Revised Statutes,
where the aggregate of both entries does
not exceed such quantity

Where part of a homestead entry is can-
celed for conflict with a prior railroad
grant, and the entryman thereupon elects
to relinquish his entire entry, with the
privilege of making a new entry elsewhere,
there is no basis for a soldier's additional
right, no part of the entryman's homestead
right having been exhausted.

The widow of a soldier who made home-
stead entry in her own right, prior to the
adoption of the Revised Statutes, for less
than 160 acres of land, is, by virtue of the
provisions of sections 2306 and 2307 of such
statutes, entitled to an additional home-
stead right, and if she fails to exercise such
right it becomes upon her death an asset of
her estate, subject to distribution as other
personal property

The wife of an insane soldier, who makes
homestead entry, as the head of a family,
for less than 160 acres of land, is not, upon
the death of the soldier, entitled, as his
widow, to a soldier's additional homestead
right based upon such entry

On the failure of a soldier to exercise his
additional homestead right under section
2306, Revised Statutes, during his lifetime,
it may, under section 2307 of such statutes,
be appropriated by his widow, during her

356

430

258

443

19

Page
life and widowhood, or, in the event of her
death without appropriating it, by the sol-
dier's minor orphan children, during their
minority, through a guardian duly ap
pointed and officially accredited at the
Department of the Interior; and in in-
stances where it is not so appropriated, the
estate of the soldier is not divested there-
of.......

The regulation of the land department
requiring assignment of soldiers' additional
rights to be acknowledged, is a mere rule
of evidence, and not a rule of law fixing
what acts are essential to a valid assign-
ment of such rights...

Where a party sells his right to make sol-
diers' additional entry, and executes and
delivers an absolute assignment therefor, he
has no right, by reason of the default of the
purchaser to pay the price agreed upon for
such assignment, which he can enforce
against an innocent purchaser who pur-
chased the right upon the faith of such
assignment..

A duplicate certificate of soldiers' addi-
tional right, regularly issued, which does
not indicate that it is a duplicate, purchased
in good faith before the right had been ex-
hausted, and in the hands of a bona fide
purchaser, unsatisfied, at the time of the
passage of the act of August 18, 1894, was by
that act validated and made a certified
right, which could thereafter be lawfully
transferred, irrespective of the transferee's
knowledge that the soldier's additional
right had, prior to his purchase of the
duplicate, been exercised through the use
of the original certificate..

Where it appears that a party has been
given a mere power to locate a soldier's cer-
tificate of right to make additional entry.
uncoupled with any interest therein, it is
unnecessary for the present holder of such
certificate, upon applying to locate the
same, to furnish the affidavit of such party
showing whether or not he now has any
interest in the certificate.

No good reason exists for requiring the
personal presentation of an application to
make soldiers' additional entry, by either
the soldier or his assignee, and if the proofs
submitted in support thereof establish the
material facts necessary to the existence of
the right in the applicant, and the char
acter of the land sought to be entered, they
are sufficient, even though executed before
some officer authorized to administer oaths
outside of the land district in which the
land sought to be entered is situate. Proof
as to the character of the land may be made
by any credible person having the requisite
personal knowledge of the premises

The limitation in the last proviso to see-
tion 1 of the act of May 14, 1898, relating to
entries of public lands in the district of
Alaska. "that no homestead shall exceed
80 acres in extent," applies to the acreage

256

112

101

216

105

320

Page.

Page
that may be included in a single home-
stead entry, and does not limit the number
of entries that may be made by an assignee
of several soldiers' additional rights under
section 2306, Revised Statutes.

Indemnity.

See Railroad Grant; School Land.

Indian Lands.

See Mineral Land; Mining Claim.

Instructions of July 21, 1902, relative to
settlers on Navajo Reservation, under act of
July 1, 1902

Circular of July 25, 1902, relative to lands
in former Ute Reservation subject to home-
stead entry, under act of June 13, 1902.
Circular of July 29, 1902, relative to sale
of Umatilla Reservation lands (Oregon),
under act of July 1, 1902 ....

The guardianship and control of the
United States over the Indians continues
after their lands have been allotted to them
in severalty and after they have become
citizens of the United States, and the Gov-
ernment has full authority to use military
force to eject intruders from the allotments
of the Indians...

Indian wives of Indians who have entered
lands under the provisions of the home-
stead laws are not entitled to allotments
under the fourth section of the act of Feb-
ruary 8, 1887, whether the marriage took
place prior or subsequent to the act of
August 9, 1888 ...

Instructions of September 6, 1901, con-
cerning commissions on agricultural Chip-
pewa lands commuted under the act of
January 26, 1901

441

381

388

392

439

417

106

All moneys accruing from the disposal of
agricultural Chippewa lands under the pro-
visions of the acts of January 14, 1889, and
January 26, 1901, either for excess acreage
or on commuted entries, should be depos-
ited to the credit of the Chippewa Indians. 72
The register and receiver are not entitled
to commissions upon such moneys either
payable therefrom or out of the public
moneys of the United States; but under the
third paragraph of section 2238 of the Re-
vised Statutes they are entitled to the com-
missions therein specified upon the price of
the land embraced in entries, as excess
acreage, and land involved in commuted
entries, the same to be paid by the entry-

thereon are entitled to the proceeds of dead
timber taken therefrom under said act .... 315
Under article 3 of the agreement with
the Shoshone and Bannock Indians, and
the act of June 6, 1900, ratifying and con-
firming said agreement, each member of a
family of said Indians occupying and culti
vating, under the sixth section of the treaty
of July 3, 1868, any portion of the lands
ceded by said act of June 6, 1900, is entitled
to an allotment thereunder, restricted to
the lands occupied at the date of agreement,
not exceeding 320 acres for any one family. 146
The right of dissent accorded by section
5 of the act of February 18, 1888, from the
statutory allowance to the tribe or nation
provided for by said act on account of right
of way granted, is limited to a dissent by
the general council of either the nation or
tribe named, and there is no authority for
the acceptance of a dissent by the principal.
chief of such nation or tribe; nor is the De-
partment of the Interior authorized to ex-
tend the time within which such dissent
may be certified..

The acts of June 5, 1872, and February 11,
1874, constitute the only authority for the
disposal of lands in the fifteen townships in
the Bitter Root Valley opened to settlement
by the act of June 5, 1872, and said acts spe-
cifically provide for their disposal to actual
settlers only; hence said lands are not sub-
ject to entry under the timber and stone
act....

The provisions in the act of March 2, 1889,
limiting the disposal of lands within the
ceded portion of the Great Sioux Indian
Reservation to actual settlers under the pro-
visions of the homestead law and the laws
relating to town sites, does not reserve said
lands from the operation of the act of Jan-
uary 13, 1897, authorizing the use of public
lands for reservoir purposes

192

243

246

In view of the fact that the practice, in
the administration of the acts of March 2,
1889, and August 15, 1894, relating to the dis-
position of lands in the late Sioux Indian
reservations, respecting the commissions to
be paid the register and receiver by the
entryman, under the act of March 2, where
he commutes his entry, and of requiring no
commission on the commutation of an entry
made under the act of August 15, is of long
standing and has been uniformly adhered
to, and that the administration of both
these acts is now largely completed, no
change in such practice will be made...... 250

Page

stance where the Secretary making the
ruling, or rendering the decision, if still
holding the office, would be in duty bound
to review or reverse his own act.......

Land Department.

The acts of the heads of the several de-
partments of the Government in relation to
matters which appertain to their respective
duties are, in legal effect, the acts of the
Executive....

The Land Department has authority to
make such rules and regulations, not in-
consistent with law, as may be necessary or
appropriate to secure the effective and con-
venient administration of any law which
falls within its jurisdiction.......

The action of the local land officers upon
questions of law or fact respecting the dis-
posal of the public lands does not conclude
their superior officers or the Government.
Such action is in all cases reviewable by the
Commissioner of the General Land Office
and by the Secretary of the Interior as the
proper administration of the law or the de-
mands of justice may require.....

Lieu Selection.

See Reservation, subtitle Forest Lands;
School Lands.

Married Woman.

See Homestead.

Mineral Land.

See Railroad Grant.

Coal lands are mineral lands within the
meaning, generally of the laws relating to
the public lands.

Lands containing deposits of ordinary
brick clay are not mineral lands within the
meaning of the mining laws, though more
valuable for such deposits than for agricul-
tural purposes..........

Lands which have been allotted to In-
dians, or to which a homestead entryman
has acquired fixed and vested rights by rea-
son of his compliance with the homestead
laws, are not subject to the mining laws or
to mineral exploration and entry

Lands not known to contain valuable
mineral deposits at the time when, in the
absence of such knowledge, the tights of an
Indian allottee or of a homestead or town-
site entryman become fixed and vested are
not thereafter subject to exploration, loca-
tion, or entry by other parties under the
mining laws....

$7

88

288

288

29

108

125

154

Rights once vested in an allottee, or in an
entryman under the homestead or town-site
laws, or in a town-lot purchaser, can not be
affected by the subsequent exploration or
location of the lands for minerals.......................... 154
In order to except mineral land from the
operation of a town-site or other entry made
in pursuance of law, the land must be
known, at the time of the entry, to contain

Page.
minerals of such character and value as to
justify expenditures for the purpose of ex-
tracting them

Conditions with respect to the character
of land, as they exist at the date of entry,
or at the time when all the necessary re-
quirements have been complied with by
the person seeking title, must determine
whether the land is subject to sale or other
disposition under the law upon which the
application for patent is based, and no
change in such conditions, subsequently oc-
curring, can impair or in any manner affect
the applicant's right to a patent, if in other
respects established

When an applicant for public lands under
the nonmineral laws has complied with all
the terms and conditions necessary to se-
cure title to a particular tract of land, he
acquires a vested interest therein, if it is
then not known to contain mineral deposits
and is otherwise of the condition and char-
acter subject to disposition under the law
under which he seeks title, and thenceforth
the mining laws have no application to the
land, the applicant is regarded as the equi-
table owner, the Government holds the
legal title in trust for him, and no subse-
quent discovery of mineral in the land, or
other change in its condition or character,
can impair or in any manner affect his right
or title..

Directions given that in all nonmineral
entries of lands in the States of Mississippi,
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida the same
nonmineral affidavit be required, before
the entry is permitted to go of record, as is
required in other States to which the min-
ing laws are applicable.........

Mining Claim.

See Oklahoma Lands.

GENERALLY.

Revised circular of rules and regulations,
July 26, 1901 ..

An entry or selection of public lands
which is not so far perfected as to confer an
equitable title or vested right does not take
the land included therein out of the opera-
tion of the mining laws

There is no authority in the mining laws
for the issue of two patents for the same
mineral land, the patent to one claimant to
embrace only the surface land and the pat-
ent to another to embrace only the veins or
lodes beneath the surface; nor is it within
the contemplation of said laws that vein or
lode deposits may be claimed, located, and
patented independently of the surface
ground connected with and containing or
overlying them......

From the time of the passage of the act of
June 6, 1900, the body of lands which were
to be allotted or opened to settlement there-
under were subjected to the mining laws,
and to mineral exploration and entry, so

88

88

312

135

453

352

21