The Arizona sentinel., 1901-02-13

REGULATIONS
Governing the Opening of the
 AlgOdones Grant Lands.

clear and explicit statement of the provisions of the law which will govern the opening of the Algodones grant lands
 Your attention is called to the provisions of the act of con- gress approved January IA, 1901, entitled An Act for Relief of Occupants of Lands Included in the Algodones Grant in Arizona, , which act is as follows:
 Whereas, the title to lands in that section of the country in the county Of Yuma and the Terri tory of Arizona, and included within the boundaries of the old Mexican land grant known as the Algodones grant, was tried by the United States Court of Pri- vate Land Claims, created for ! the settlement of titles to such grants, in the years 1895 and 1896; and
 Whereas, in the hearing of said contest before said court the al- legged grantees under said grant were successful and their title thereto by said trial court con- frmed, and immediately there after the said alleged grantees, for large and valuable consider tions, sold to numbers of people, citizens and bona fde settlers on said lands, in tracts of less than forty acres to each, and said set tiers, then believing that they had a bona fide title to said lands sold, made lasting and valuable improvements and permanent homes thereon; and
 Whereas, the government of the United States appealed said cause from the decision of said court below, and on said appeal the said decision of the said court below was reversed and the title to said grant in said alleged grantees adjudged to be void, and that the said lands included within the boundaries of said grant, and sold as aforesaid, be- longed to the United States; and if said settlers, citizens and oc- cupants of said lands who so pur- chased the same as aforesaid be not permitted to retain the same, and pay the government there for, they will be deprived of their homes, at ruinous consequences to them; Therefore,
 Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That where such persons in good faith and for valuable considerations pur- chased from the grant claimants prior to May 23rd, 1898, portions of the land covered by the said grant, and have occupied and improved the same, such persons may, within six months from and after the passage of this act, or within three months after the said lands shall be restored to entry, purchase the same at the price of one dollar and twenty five cents per acre, upon making proof of the facts required by this act under regulations to be provided by the Commissioner of the General Land Office and ap- proved by the Secretary of the Interior, joint entries being ad- missible, where two or more per sons have purchased land on the same forty y-acre tract: Provided, that no one person shall pur chase more than forty acres, and no purchase shall be allowed for a less quantity than that con- tained in the smallest legal sub division.
 SEC. 2. That where persons duly qualified to make entry under the homestead or desert land laws have occupied any of said lands with the intention of entering the same under the homestead or desert1and laws, such persons shall be allowed three months from and after the passage of this act, or after the said lands shall be restored to entry, within which to make their entries, and the fact that such persons have improved or reclaimed such desert lands shall be no bar to their making such entries.
 The lands affected by this act were originally withdrawn from entry on January 9, 1875, to sat- isfy the Paso de los Algodones grant, which was finally rejected by the courts on November P, 1899.
 In his decision of August 9, 1900, (3O l.. D., 22O), in the case of Katharine Davis, the secretary of the interior held that upon