Instructions of March 1, 1907, relative
to proofs, affidavits, and oaths executed
before deputy clerks of courts.......

Agent.

633

436

Application-Continued.

Page.

By the mere filing of an application to
enter under the homestead law, upon
which action is suspended, and tender of
the necessary fees, the applicant acquires
no vested right to or interest in the land
applied for

The mere execution of an application
to make homestead entry confers no
rights upon the applicant; and where an
application was executed by an unmar
ried woman, but was not filed until after
she had become disqualified to make
entry by reason of her marriage, entry
thereon can not be allowed

250

425

A pending petition to amend an appli-
cation to make homestead entry is no
bar to the acceptance of other applica-
tions to enter the same land, subject to
the petition to amend; and upon rejec-
tion of such petition the subsequent ap-
plications to enter should be considered
and disposed of in the order of filing..... 134
Where an application can not be al-
lowed in the from presented, for the rea-
son that it covers in part lands embraced
within an existing entry, and the appli-
cant subsequently files a new application
embracing a part only of the vacant lands
covered by the first application, he there-
by waives all rights under the original
application as to the remainder.......... 280
The local officers in assisting an appli-
cant in the preparation of his application
to enter are the agents of the applicant,
and where error in description is made
by them in the application the applicant
can not set up such error to defeat the in-
tervening rights of another acquired in
ignorance thereof
345

An application to enter presented in
person at the local office at the hour of
opening is entitled to precedence over a
conflicting application received at the
same hour by mail; and if part only of
the land covered thereby is subject to
entry it should be allowed as to that part
and rejected as to the remainder

409

695

Arid Land.

Arid Land-Continued.

Page.
Proclamation and regulations of May 21,
1907, relative to opening of lands in the
Huntley project..........

684,686
The practice of designating certain of
the withdrawals made under the act of
June 17, 1902, as "temporary" discon-
tinued...

Directions given that all uncompleted
applications pending at the time of with-
drawal of lands for use in the construc-
tion and operation of irrigation works, or
of lands susceptible of irrigation there-
under, be rejected or disregarded, except
that homestead entries may be allowed
for lands susceptible of irrigation, subject
to the conditions and limitations of the
act of June 17, 1902. ....

649

649

Where the application is based upon
actual settlement preceding withdrawal,
notice thereof should be given the Recla-
mation Service and favorable considera-
tion made contingent upon the exclusion
of the land from the withdrawal....................... 649
By the mere filing of an application to
enter under the homestead law, upon
which action is suspended, and tender of
the necessary fees, the applicant acquires
no vested right to or interest in the land
applied for, nor does such application
have the effect to segregate the land
from the public domain, so as to prevent
a withdrawal thereof for reclamation
purposes under the provisions of the act
of June 17, 1902....

The rights of an entryman, as to the
measure of compensation and the char-
acter of the action that may be taken by
the Government in acquiring or appro-
priating the land embraced in his entry
for use in the construction and operation
of irrigation works under the reclamation
act, must be determined by the status of
the entry at the time of the withdrawal
of the lands for such purposes..

Where the entryman at the time of the
withdrawal had earned title to the land
by full compliance with the homestead
law, he is entitled to compensation for
the land and the improvements thereon
as fully as if the legal title had passed to
him, but no evidence of title, either
equitable or legal, will be issued........................

Lands valuable for mineral deposits and
embraced within a withdrawal of lands
susceptible of irrigation by means of a
reclamation project under the act of June
17, 1902, are not thereby taken out of the
operation of the mining laws, but con-
tinue open to exploration and purchase
under such laws...

The right of the Government to appro-
priate public land for use in the construc-
tion and operation of irrigation works
under the act of June 17, 1902, is not af-
fected by the fact that the land is min-
eral in character .......

250

459

459

216

216

Page.

Individual owners of lands acquired
under the provisions of the Carey act may
be supplied with such additional water
from reservoirs constructed under the
reclamation act as may be necessary to
fully develop and reclaim the irrigable
portions of such lands, subject to all the
conditions governing the right to the use
of water under any particular project... 222
The relinquishment of a homestead en-
try within the irrigable area of an irriga-
tion project under the act of June 17,
1902, where the entryman is in default in
the payment of any annual installment,
does not relieve the land of such charge,
and a succeeding entryman takes it sub-
ject thereto.......

Under the provisions of the act of
March 6, 1906, authorizing the disposition
of such surplus and allotted lands on the
Yakima Indian Reservation as may be
subject to irrigation by means of projects
under the reclamation act, twenty acres is
fixed as the unit for Indian ownership to
be irrigated by the waters of any such
project, and if an Indian desires to accept
the benefits of the act and place his sur-
plus lands under the control of the Gov-
ernment, to be sold for his benefit, he can
do so only upon the condition that he will
retain twenty acres thereof, and no more,
for which a water right shall be secured
to him, appurtenant to the land and sub-
ject to the same charge for construction
and annual charge for maintenance as
other lands under the project......

Under the authority conferred upon the
Secretary of the Interior by the act of
June 27, 1906, to fix a lesser area than
forty acres as the minimum entry" and
to "establish farm units of not less than
ten or more than one hundred and sixty
acres," as to all lands withdrawn and
entered under the provisions of the recla-
mation act, he may make such subdivi-
sions of the public lands entered under
the reclamation act as in his judgment
may be deemed advisable, in units of ten
acres or multiples thereof up to one hun-
dred and sixty acres......

Attorney.

Regulations governing recognition of
agents and attorneys before district land
offices.......

Canals and Ditches.
See Right of Way.

Cemeteries and Parks.

Circular of March 26, 1907, under act
of March 1, 1907, relative to entries by re-
ligious, fraternal, and private corpora-
tions or associations for cemetery pur
poses

29

110

110

534

480

681,683

Supplemental regulations of April 24,
and May 20, 1907.
Circular of May 16, 1907, relative to coal
lands in Alaska

In connection with each coal-land en-
try the entryman must show under oath
that the entry is made in good faith in
his own and individual interest, and not
in the interest, directly or indirectly, in
whole or in part, of any other person or
persons whomsoever

In those States in which no right or
title in the wife's property vests in the
husband by virtue of the marital rela-
tion, she may, if otherwise duly qualified,
purchase coal land in her own and exclu-
sive interest; but the land department
will require specific proof that she does
not really purchase in the interest of her
husband...

Confirmation.

Where an application to contest an en-
try is not presented until after the lapse
of two years from the issuance of final
certificate, the Commissioner of the Gen-
eral Land Office has no authority or dis-
cretion to allow it, as the seventh section
of the act of March 3, 1891, operates as a
bar to any proceeding against the va-
lidity of an entry not commenced within
that time, and a proceeding instituted
against the entry by the government
within that time does not suspend the
running of the statute so as to subject it
to attack by reason of an adverse or prior
right that was not asserted within the
period of limitation

While an individual has no right to in-
stitute a new and independent proceeding
against an entry after the lapse of more
than two years from the issuance of the
final certificate, the land department
may accept the offer of an individual to
aid in the prosecution of a proceeding
commenced by the government prior to
the expiration of that period, or adopt

572

236

235

68

After the lapse of more than two years
from the issuance of final certificate for a
desert-land entry upon proof made in full
compliance with regulations then in
force, the confirmation extended by the
proviso to section 7 of the act of March 3,
1891, becomes effective, in the absence of
a pending adverse proceeding, and the
land department is thereafter without
jurisdiction to initiate any proceeding
against said entry, by calling for addi-
tional proof or otherwise, except for
causes which would prevent confirmation
irrespective of the lapse of time from the
date of the entry.

Where final certificate is issued upon
a homestead entry, subject to the claim
of the Northern Pacific Railway Company
under its grant, which claim is subse-
quently relinquished under the provi-
sions of the act of July 1, 1898, the ad-
verse claim of the company, while pend-
ing, is not a contest or protest against the
validity of the entry, within the meaning
of the proviso to section 7 of the act of
March 3, 1891, such as would prevent con-
firmation thereof under said section.....
Contest.

The dismissal of a contest without pass-
ing on the matters charged is no bar to
another contest on the same ground by a
different party..

The Government has no interest in the
motive which influences a contestant in
bringing the contest; and while a collu-
sive or speculative intent may be set up
to defeat the rights accorded a successful
but mala fide contestant, it can have no
bearing upon the rights of the entryman,
whose entry must stand or fall upon the
facts presented .

Proof of nonmilitary service under the
act of June 16, 1898, need not be made in
specific words; it is sufficient if facts ap-
pear which necessarily preclude the ex-
istence of the fact necessary to be dis-
proved

68

576

48

167

406

607

The land department will take judicial
notice of the existence of any war in
which the United States is engaged; and
the fact that during the period of aban-
donment charged in a contest against a
homestead entry the United States was
not engaged in any war is prima facie
evidence that the entryman's alleged
absence was not due to military service. 625
A woman is disqualified to legally en-
gage in the service of the United States
as a "private soldier, officer, seaman, or
marine;" and where a homesteader
against whom contest has been brought
on the ground of abandonment is a wo-

man, such fact sufficiently proves, in the
absence of any other evidence, that the
default alleged was not due to service in
the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps within
the meaning of the act of June 16, 1898... 625
An applicant to contest a military
bounty land warrant location, who al-
leges nothing that calls for proof of any
fact not apparent upon the face of the
records of the land department, and who
charges no fraud in the location, would
not, if successful in procuring cancella-
tion of the location, be entitled to a pref-
erence right of entry under the provi-
sions of the act of May 14, 1880, and the
land department is justified in refusing
to order a hearing on his application to
contest

The act of May 14, 1880, awards a pref-
erence right to a contestant who has
"contested, paid the land-office fees, and
procured the cancellation" of the entry
attacked; but does not give an absolute
right to contest an entry, nor take from
or qualify the power and authority con-
ferred by the organic act upon the land
department to supervise and direct all
proceedings relating to the disposal of the
public lands, and to determine whether
a contest against an entry shall or shall
not be allowed

In case of a contest against a desert-
land entry, the annual proofs offered by
the claimant, and forming a part of the
records of the land department, although
not put in evidence at the hearing on the
contest, may, where the truth of any of
the statements made in said proof is the
main question in issue, be properly judi-
cially noticed with a view to determining
the truth or falsity of subsequent state-
ments made by the same witnesses con-
cerning the same facts

Contestant.

61

67

147

A contestant can acquire no right what-
ever to the land in controversy by the
presentation of an application to enter the
same prior to termination of the contest
and while the entry remains of record....... 254
Where a contested entry is relinquished
after the contest has been dismissed for
want of prosecution, and while a second
contest is pending, the second contestant
is entitled to a preference right of entry.. 527
Where a second contestant charges fail-
ure on the part of the entryman to com-
ply with law and also collusion between
the entryman and the first contestant, and
the entry is canceled as the result of the
first contest, the second contestant is not
entitled to a preference right of entry, not-
withstanding he establishes collusion as
charged and the first contestant is held
for that reason to have acquired no pref-
erence right...

18

Instructions of June 11, 1907, relative to
second homestead entries.

Regulations of November 30, 1906, under
section 5, act of June 27, 1906, relative to
desert-land entries within withdrawals
under reclamation act..

Well casing purchased and placed upon
a desert-land entry can not, so long as it
is unattached to the realty and retains its
status as personal property, be considered
a permanent improvement of the land
within the meaning of the desert-land
act.......

Expenditures for machinery for boring
wells with a view to developing a water
supply for irrigation of the land can not
be accepted toward meeting the statutory
requirement relative to expenditures for
permanent improvements upon desert-
land entries

134

590

340

92

638

Prior to final proof and certificate, a
desert-land entryman has no such right
in the land as may be assigned by opera-
tion of law without any voluntary act on
his part.....
515

The right of a person claiming under an
instrument of assignment of an unper-
fected desert-land entry to recognition by
the land department is dependeut upon
the filing in the local office of a certified
copy of the instrument of assignment, to-
gether with an affidavit, executed by him-
self before the proper officer, showing his
qualifications to take and complete the
entry
474

Where it appears from the final proof
submitted on a desert-land entry that
there has not been actual tillage of one-
eighth of the land, and it is not con-
clusively established that the climatic
and physical conditions are such that
crops other than native grass can not be
successfully produced thereon, and the
proof fails to show the quantity of hay
per acre produced from native grass by
irrigation, or whether it is of merchant-
able value, the showing is not such as
will justify the land department excusing
actual tillage of one-eighth of the land
and accepting the proof as sufficient..... 15

Where prior to the submission of final
proof and the issuance of final certifi-
cate upon a homestead entry, a resurvey
of the land is made, the entry should be
amended to conform to such resurvey,
and the fact that the local officers ac-
cepted final proof and issued final cer-
tificate upon the entry without such
amendment having been made will not
prevent the Department requiring the
entry to be amended to conform to the
lines as established by the resurvey at
any time prior to the passing of the full
legal title by the issuance of patent...... 12
Purchase under section 2 of the act of
June 15, 1880, exhausts the homestead
right; and as such purchase is not the
equivalent of commutation under the
provisions of section 2301 of the Revised
Statutes, the purchaser is not entitled to
make a second entry under the provi-
sions of section 2 of the act of June 5,
1900, which grants such privilege to any
person who had theretofore made an
entry under the homestead laws and com-
muted the same under the provisions of
said section 2301.

392

The act of December 29, 1894, relating to
second homestead entries, has no appli-
cation to entries made and abandoned
after its passage, but is specifically lim-
ited in its application to persons who
had prior to its passage forfeited their
rights for any of the reasons enumerated
in section 3 of the act of March 2, 1889... 71
Evidence.

Rule 42 of Practice, requiring that the
transcript of the testimony of witnesses
who testify at a hearing before the local
officers shall be "then and there sub-
scribed by the witnesses and attested by
the officer before whom the same is taken,
unless the parties shall by proper stipula-
tion in writing, filed with the record,
mutually agree to the contrary," has all
the force and effect of law; and where, in
the absence of the required stipulation,
the transcript is not so subscribed and
attested a certificate by the local officers
that the several witnesses were sworn
before testifying, together with a certifi-
cate by the stenographer who took the
testimony that the transcript is a true
and correct transcript of the testimony as
given by the witnesses, are not sufficient
to cure the defect, and such unsigned
and unattested transcript can not be ac-
cepted as evidence in the case

Fees.

Circular of August 28, 1906, relative to
fees for furnishing township plats or dia-
grams under act of March 3, 1883..

332

139

Final Proof.

568

.... 357

Circular of March 25, 1907, under act of
March 1, 1907, relative to extension of
time for making final proof on certain
desert-land entries in Washington........ 478

Circular of March 25, 1907, under act of
March 1, 1907, relative to extension of
time for making final proof on certain
lands in Los Angeles land district........ 479
Circular of May 18, 1907, relative to final
proof on desert-land entries......

The distinction between commutation
and final proof in relation to the element
of time within which full compliance
with law may be shown demands a higher
degree of proof of good faith on the part
of an entryman who elects to complete
his entry and acquire title within the
limited period allowed by commutation
than is required in the case of ordinary
proof after five years' compliance with
the law..

To entitle a commuting homestead en-
tryman to credit for constructive residence
from the date of entry it must be shown
not only that he established a bona fideres-
idence upon the land within six months
from the date of the entry, but that his
actual presence on the land was thereafter
substantially continuous to the date of
submitting final proof.

A homestead entryman by his election
to commute assumes the burden of show-
ing full compliance with law in the mat-
ters of residence, improvement, and culti-
vation, and the proof will not be accepted
by the land department unless it shows
the substantially continuous presence of
the claimant upon the land for the re-
quired period..............

In case the officer named in the final-
proof notice, before whom the proofs are
proposed to be taken, has two or more es-
tablished places for the transaction of busi-
ness within the jurisdictional limits, and
carries on his official business at such
places at regular, fixed times, the require-
ment of paragraph 3 of the circular of

575

371

252

371