Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-09-23

Dakota, Under date of Sept 7th, 1899,
relating to surveys of agricultural claims
within the Black Hills forest reserva
ton. For the benefit of our readers we
publish il in full
| OEFICE OF SURVEYOR GENERAL,
Huron, S. d., Sept. z, 1899. !
The Act March 8, 1899, making appro
priation for sundry civil expenses of the
government for the fiscal year ending
June, 80, 1900, under the head of "Pro-
lection and Administration of Forest Re
servations," contains the following:
Provided further. That any person
! who made actual bona fide settlement
and improvement and established resi-
! dence thereon in good faith, for the pur-
pose Of acquiring home, upon lands
more valuable for agriculture than for
any other purpose within the bouda'
ries Of the Black Hills Forest reser-
yation in the State of South Dakota,
prlor to September nineteenth, eighteen
hundred and ninety eight, may enter
under the provisions Of the homestead
law, the lands embracing his or her i'm
provements not to exceed one hundred
and sixty acres; and if the lands are SO
situated that the entry of legal sub.
division, according to existing law, will
not embrace the improvements of such
settler or claimant he or she may make
application to the surveyor general Of
the State of South Dakota to have said
tract surveyed at the expense Of the
claimant by metes and bounds and a
plat made Of the same and filed In the
Loo, l,n Il .,n oh Ia l,,,
braced in his original settlement which
he desires TO enter, not to exceed one
hundred and sixty acres, and thereupon
he shall be allowed to enter said land,
as per said plat and survey as a home.
stead, and the Secretary Of the Interior
shall make the necessary rules and regu-
lations to carry this act into effect
Provided, That in any case where upon
investigation by a special agent Of the
Interior Department and after due and
proper hearing, it shall be established
| that an entry interfered with the gen
eral water supply, or was detrimental
| in any way to the public interests, or
infringed upon the rights and privi-
| leges Of other citizens, the Secretary OF
the Interior shall have authority to
cause said entry to be amended or modi-
fed or in his discretion to finally can
Gel the same"
/. General Land Office instructions,
letter "E" dated July 7, 1899, which re
ceved departmental approval under
date July 8, 1899, state as follows:
1T is not the intention of this act to
permit any one settler 10 take long and
narrow strips Of land on both sides of a
stream, and thus monopliZe the water
privileges to the detrime.t of other
SETTLERS, and claims should be taken in
square form, as nearly AS it is practic-
able to do so, and include the improve.
ments of the settlers. In no case
should the claims be of less width than
that of the smallest legal subdivision
| (twehty chains)."
In addition to this Limitation, the
stated letter charges this office with the
consideration of the shape of claim as
possibly affecting public interests or
| rights of other citizens, with directions
to deny an application If lot satisfact, ry
in this regard Further, it is not un-
Cerstood that avoidabe departures from
regular legal Subdivisions will be sane
toned, or departure made for inclusion
of other than substantial improvements.
Should the facts as disclosed by subse-
uuent survey be unsatisfactory in these
respects, the survey will be liable to
suspension.
2. 1t i'd to be carefully noted that
this law does not enlarge the rights of a
settler in any respect but one. His
entry must still be under the provisions
of the homestead law" Nothing new
is granted to him, only this. that under
certain important restrictions and under
them alone may his entry depart from
legal subdivisions. Hence, the legal
qualifications of the applicant in respect
Of age, citizenship, headship of family,
present land ownership, existing home
stead right, etc, still apply and it will
be useless for any one to ask for survey
who is not so qualified, for evidently, he
cannot proceed to patent.
3. The above reCited provisions of
law and departmental regulations there
under contemplate Survey Of only such
agricultural claims as are SD situated
that "the entry of legal subdivision
(the smallest of which is the regular
forty.acre tract, according 70 existing
law, will not embrace the improve
nents." That improvements will not
he so embraced can evidently be known
only after the regular system has been
extended over the claim. 1t will there
fore he useless to present applications
for these special surveys in advance of
the regular township subdivisions.
4. Likewise it will be useless to ap-
ply for survey of such claims as are
situated on lands not more valuable
for agriculture than for any other pur-
pose" Or Of claims initiated subsequent
to September nineteenth, 1898, or Of
those In excess of l60 acres And last
ly, a prospective applicant would better
consider beforehand whether any con-
ditions exist which, under the conclud-
ing proviso Of the above recited portion
of law, would defeat his application for
survey in the first instance or event
ually modify, amend or cancel his en-
try.
5. Inasmuch as an application to this
Office for surveying the first step in
proceedings to entry under stated law,
it is very essential that the application
be carefully and fully prepared. 1t
should explicitly state the applicants
legal qualifications as above. that he has
made actual bona ffde settlement on
lands in question, that he requests the
survey under the provisions of the
above tecited law and for the specific
purpose therein mentioned and fof no
other. 1t should contain specific
statement in respect Of each and every
of the conditions legally antecedent to
survey as above and should support
each statement whenever possible by
detailed explanations. Thus. the sup.
porting statements must show, with
other things, the date Of settlement. i'm
provement and established residence,
the character, extent and approximate
value of each improvement. and the
location OF the claim by township, range
and section or sections Of the public