Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-09-04
ARID GLANDS DONATION.
Provisions of the New Act Allowing
1000, 900 Acres to Each State
and Territory.

Copies of the sundry civil appropria-
tion bill recently enacted into law by
congress have been received by officials
here and one subject is treated therein
which is of very general moment to west
ern readers. 1t is as follows:
"That to aid the public land states in
the reclamation of the desert lands there
in, and the settlement, cultivation and
sale thereof in small tracts to actual set
tiers, the secretary of the interior, with
the approval of the president, be, anG
hereby is, authorized and empowered,
upon proper application of the state, to
contract and agree, from time to time,
with each of the states in which there may
be situated desert lands as defined by the
act entitled AN act to provide for the
sale of desert land in certain states and
territories, approved March 3, 1877
and the act amendatory thereof, approy-
ed March 3, 1891, binding the United
States to donate, grant and patent to the
state free of cost for survey or price such
desert lands, not exceeding 100000 acres
in each state, as the state may cause to
be irrigated, reclaimed, occupied and not
tract cultivated by actual settlers, within
ten years next after the passage of this
act, as thoroughly as is required of citi-
zens who may enter under the said desert
land law.
Before the application of any state is
allowed or any contract or agreement Is
executed or any segregation of any of the
land from the public domain is ordained
by the secretary of the interior, the state
shall file map of the said land proposed
to be irrigated, which shall exhibit a
plan showing the mode of the contem-
plated irrigation, and which plan shall
be sufficient to thoroughly irrigate and
reclaim SAID land and prepare it to raise
ordinary agricultural crops and shall
show the source of the water to be used
for irrigation reclamation; and the secre-
tary of the interior may make necessary
regulations for the reservation of the
lands applied for by the states to date
from the date of the filing of the map
and plan of irrigation, but such reserva-
tion shall be of no force whatever if such
map aud plan of irrigation shall not be
approved. That any state contracting
under this section is hereby authorized to
make all necessary contracts to cause the
said lands to be reclaimed, and to induce
their settlement and cultivation in accord
ance with and subject to the provisions
of this section; but the state shall not be
authorized to lease any of said lands or to
use or dispose of the same in any way
whatever, except to secure their reclama-
ton, cultivation and settlement.
GAS fast as any state may furnish salts
factory proof, according to such rules
and regulations as may be prescribed by
the secretary of the interior, that any of
said lands are irrigated, reclaimed, and
occupied by actual settlers, patents shall
be issued to the state or its assigns for
such lands SO reclaimed and settled pro-
vided, that such states shall not sell or
dispose of more than 16O acres of said
lands to any one person, and any surplus
of money derived by any state from the
sale of said lands in excess of the cost of
their reclamation shall be held as trust
fund for and be applied to the reclama-
tion of other desert land in such state.
That to enable the secretary of the inter-
ior to examine any of the lands that may
be selected under the provisions of this
section, there is hereby appropriated, out
of any money in the treasury, not other
wise appropriated, $1,000"