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[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 Leirs.

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 eutered 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

regulations to be fixed by him, to permit the use of the right of way through the public lands of the United States, not within the limits of any park, forest, military or Indian reservation, for tramroads, canals, or reservoirs to the extent of the ground occupied by the water of the canals and reservoirs and fifty feet on each side of the marginal limits thereof; or fifty feet on each side of the center of the tramroad, by any citizen or any association of citizens of the United States engaged in the business of mining or quarrying or of cutting timber and manufac turing lumber.

Approved, January 21, 1895. (28 Stat., 635.)

[No. 62.]

ABANDONED MILITARY RESERVATIONS-EXTENDING PROVISIONS OF THE ACT OF AUGUST 23, 1894.

AN ACT to amend and extend the provisions of an act entitled "An act to provide for the opening of certain abandoned military reservations, and for other purposes," approved August twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-four.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of the act approved August twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, entitled "An act to provide for the opening of certain abandoned military reservations, and for other purposes," are hereby extended to all abandoned military reservations which were placed under the control of the Secretary of the Interior under any law in force prior to the act of July fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four.

SEC. 2. That the preference right of entry given to actual settlers by the terms of the act to which this is an amendment shall, so far as the lands to which the provisions of said act are extended, take effect and continue for six months from the date of this amendatory act. Approved, February 15, 1895. (28 Stat., 664.)

[No. 63.]

SALE OF ISOLATED OR DISCONNECTED TRACTS.

AN ACT to amend section twenty-four hundred and fifty-five of the Revised Statutes of the United States.

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 fifty-five of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 2455. It shall be lawful for the Commissioner of the General Land Office to order into market and sell for not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre any isolated or disconnected tract or parcel of the public domain less than one quarter section which in his judgment it would be proper to expose to sale after at least thirty days' notice by the land officers of the district in which such lands may be situated: Provided, That lands shall not become so isolated or disconnected until the same have been subject to homestead entry for a

period of three years after the surrounding land has been entered, filed upon, or sold by the Government: Provided, That not more than one hundred and sixty acres shall be sold to any one person." Approved, February 26, 1895. (28 Stat., 687.)

[No. 64.]

GRANTING CHIEF JUSTICE OF UNITED STATES COURTS IN TERRITO RIES POWER TO APPOINT COMMISSIONERS TO TAKE PROOF IN LAND CASES.

AN ACT granting chief justice of United States courts in Territories power to appoint commissioners to take proof in land cases, and so forth.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the chief justice of the court exercising Federal jurisdiction in the Territories shall have power to appoint commissioners in the several judicial districts, to be known when appointed as United States court commissioners.

SEC. 2. That said commissioners shall have power, and it shall be their duty on application by proper person, to administer the oaths in preliminary affidavits and final proofs required under the homestead, preemption, timber culture, and desert-land laws in their respective districts, in like manner as provided for in reference to United States circuit court commissioners, in the act of May twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety. Twenty-sixth Statutes at Large, page one hundred and twenty-one.

SEC. 3. That no commissioner shall be appointed who resides within thirty miles of any local land office, nor shall any commissioner be appointed who resides within thirty miles of any other commissioner. SEC. 4. That this Act shall take effect from its passage. Approved, March 2, 1895. (28 Stat., 744.)

[No. 65.]

EXTENSION OF TIME TO SETTLERS.

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-six, 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 the homestead settlers on the Absentee Shawnee, Pottawatomie, and Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian lands in Oklahoma Territory be, and they are hereby, granted an extension of one year within which to make the first payment provided for in section sixteen of the act of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations

with various Indian tribes for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and for other purposes," and such payment may be made at any time within five years from the date of the entry of such lands. And that the like extension of one year on the first payment required to be made, when payable in installments, is hereby granted to all homestead settlers on and purchasers of all ceded Indian reservations in the States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and Idaho.

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AMENDMENT OF SECTION 4, ACT OF MARCH 3, 1887, IN REGARD TO PRICE OF LAND PURCHASED THEREUNDER.

CHAP. 18.-AN ACT to amend section four of an act to provide for the adjustment of land grants made by Congress to aid in the construction of railroads and for the forfeiture of unearned lands, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section four of an act entitled "An act to provide for the adjustment of land grants made by Congress to aid in the construction of railroads and for the forfeiture of unearned lands, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto the following proviso: "Provided further, That where such purchasers, their heirs or assigns, have paid only a portion of the purchase price to the company, which is less than the Government price of similar lands, they shall be required, before the delivery of patent for their lands, to pay to the Government a sum equal to the difference between the portion of the purchase price so paid and the Government price, and in such case the amount demanded from the company shall be the amount paid to it by such purchaser.”

Approved, February 12, 1896. (29 Stat., 6.)

[No. 67.]

EXTENSION OF TIME TO BRING SUITS TO VACATE AND ANNUL LAND PATENTS, ISSUED UNDER RAILROAD OR WAGON ROAD GRANTS.

CHAP. 39.-AN ACT to provide for the extension of the time within which suits may be brought to vacate and annul land patents, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That suits by the United States to vacate and annul any patent to lands heretofore erroneously issued under a railroad or wagon road grant shall only be brought within five years from the passage of this act, and suits to vacate and annul patents hereafter issued shall only be brought within six years after the date of the issuance of such patents, and the limitation of section eight of chapter five hundred and sixty-one of the acts of the second

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