The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-04-26
The General Land ONCE Upholds
Him Against the Northern
Pacific.
A Decision Right In Limo With
That Made by Judge
Knowles.
Thu IMMORAL Entry Operated As a with
drAwRl Of the Land from the Rail-
road Company's Grant. u

decision just made by Acting Commissioners
Stone, of tho general land office. reversing
the decision OF the former commissioner
Croft, in regard to the contest between
Junius g. Sanders and others on the one
side, and the Northern Pacific railroad or
the other. The decision Of the acting
commissions is in line with the
opinion Of Judge Knowles, of
the United States circuit court of Montana.
and which was sustained by the circuit
court of appeals ut San Francisco. Judge
Knowles opinion was to the effect that a
mineral entry Chat of George p. Reeves
and others) which had been made on the
land in question prior to the selection by
the railroad, operated to reserve the land
from the railroad grant; and that the sub
sequent finding that the land was not min
eral, but agricultural. left it open to settle-
mont as such without giving the railroad
the right 10 reserve il. The acting commits
aioner's opinion 10 to tho same gen
eral effect. Since the circuit court
Of appeals has sustained Judge Knowles,
the railroad company has taken the last
legal resort Of an appeal to the supreme
court OF the United States. The decision
Of the acting commissions leaves only one
resort through the land department. and
that is Al appeal to the secretary Of the in
terror. The land in dispute adjoins the
city Of Helena and il very valuable. Judge
Sanders, since the decision Of the circuit
court Of appeals in his favor, has moved on
to the land and will proceed to prove up
his homestead claim.
A brief history Of the various claims is
this: The land is within the forty mile
limit Of the grant to the Northern Pacific.
for which the map Of general route was
filed Feb. 81, 1872, and the map or definite
l~acation filed July g. 1882. Reeves and
others on Aug. 10. 1880, made application
for the land under the mineral laws. This
was two years before the filing Of the map
of definite location. but after the filing of the
map of general route The railroad company
cultural and included in their grant. On
May II, 1883, Sanders applied to enter the
land under the homestead law. It was two
years afterwards when the local land onicera
rendered their decision, ordering the min
eral application to be cancelled, the right
Of the company to be denied, and the home
stead application TO be granted. Theground
for the decision was that the land was not
mineral and that it was subject to disposal
under the homestead law, having been ex-
cepted from tho grant by the existence Of
4 mineral claim whom the map of definite
location was filed. The mineral applicants
and the railroad company both appealed,
and COMMISSIONS Croft on Nov. 6. 1890,
reversed the decision Of the local land
officers md awarded the lane to tho rail
road. It is this decision that has just been
reversed. In this decision Acting Commits
sloner Stone lays down some principles by
which the general land office is now guided.
He says:
The statutes for the disposal of the public
lands generally provide for proceedings by
which parties may acquire title thersto. and
when they take the inltiatory steps for that
purpose, they are, in common speech, said
to have initiated or acquired a claim to the
fected into a complete title. At the proper
stage of the proceedings the authorities ex-
anime and pass upon the claim, either an
proving it and giving the proper evidences
of title, or rejecting and oancellinp the
claim, as their judgment may be. Until
snon action ls had the claim is said to be
pending. The statutes ooncede to citizens
the right to explore, locate and purchase
the mineral lands belonging to tho United
in prescribed. The right
conferred by a valid mining location there
amounts to q property capable of be-
ing employed or transferred entirely sepa-
rate and distinct from the fee of the land.
There Is no law prescribing exactly what
evidences Of mineral value in the land tho
must find before making
MS location and presenting his
D.sim for patent. He is
permitted to use his W judy
claim to the constituted authorities who
are to pass Judgment upon it's validity.
These claims nre so called in commln
speech and are 80 expressly named in the
The lands within the limits Of
'he grant to the railroad company BY the
act of July 2, 1864, are open to exploration
md location under the mineral laws, land
containing minerals being excepted from
ne grant. until formal transfer Of title to
he company. 1t appears that in excepting J
he mineral lands from the grant the
provide no way for ascertaininp
which are mineral and therefore excepted :
'ation and purchase thereof by citizens in !
he method prescribed by Law, any that are {
lot claimed rs mineral being treated as
Egt1cultural and as passing under the grant,
II the absence OF any other reason 81 ex- c
'luslon. The observations of deputy sur
'eyors Incidental to making their SURVEYS
annot, in my judgment. be considered of
ny material value in this direction. i.
1.-The motion under consideration pre-
ents clearly and sharply for my decision
he question whether Che mineral claim of
teeyes ct al. was a claim within the mean I
nR of the act Of July 9, 1864, and whether =
8 such a claim il operated to except the .
ract in question from the grant made by !.
act. So far az appears the parties \
'ere personally qualified to make a claim t
nder the mineral laws, and they proceeded Q
. make their demand to be permitted to =
urchase and perfect title in the manner =
by law. They not only asserted =
he mineral oha.acter of the land, but they :
lade in addition d regular and lorna pre- y
of a claim thereto, asserting a -
lRht of appropriation thereof ma mineral. Il