The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1904-12-30
MARTINS GAO ACRE BILL
Text Of the Bill Increasing the Size
of homesteads

Of homesteads
The following is Congressman Mar
tins bill introduced In congress
amending the homestead laws as to
certain inappropriated lands IN South
Dakota, about which there is at pre-
seut 50 much talk in the newspapers:
BE it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the Unit
ed Statet of America in Congress as
semhled That from and after sixty
days after the approval Of this Act,en-
tries made under the homestead laws
IN the State OF South Dakota, west OF
the Missouri river and not within for
est reserves or other reservations, may
equal but shall not exceed in area six
hundred and forty acres, and shall be
as nearly compact in form as possible,
and IN no event over two miles in et
treme length: Provided. That there
shall be excluded from the provisions
of this Act such lands within the ter
ritory herein described as in the opin-
ion OF the Secretary of the Interior it
may be reasonably practicable to irri-
gate under the national irrigation
law or by private enterprise, and that
said Secretary shall, prior to the GATE
above mentioned, designated and ex-
clude under this Act the lands whic!,
in his opinion 1T may be practicable to
irrigate as aforesaid. and Shall there
after from time to time open to entry
under this Act any of the lands SO en-
cluded which upon further investi-
cation he may conclude can be prac-
tlcally irrigated in the manner afore.
said: And provided That the lands in
Gregory county, South Dakota, open
ed to settlement under and by virtue
of the Act of Congress approved April
twenty-third, nineteen hundred and
FOUR shall not be subject to the
1 provisions of this Act.
Sec. ,. That a former homestead
entry shall not be- a bar to the entry
under the provisions of this Act Ct a
tract which together with the former
entry shall not exceed six hundred
and forty acres.
Sec. 3 That the cntrymen under
tho homestead laws of the United
States, within the territory above de-
scribed, who own and occupy the land
heretofore entered by them, NAV, un.
der the provisions of this Act and sub
ject to its conditions, enter other lands
contiguous to their homestead entry
which shall not, with the land already
entered owned, and occupied, exceed
in the aggregate six hundred and forty
acres; and residence upon the original
homestead shall be accepted as equiv
alent to residence upon the additional
land SO entered, but final entry shall
not be allowed of such additional land
until five years after first entering the
same. Any former homestead entry
man who shall be entitled to an ad-
ditional entry under this section shall
haye, for ninety days after the passage
of this Act, the preferential right to
make additional entry, as herein pro-
yided.
Sec. 4. That the fees and commits
SONS on all entries under this Act
shall be uniformly the same as those
charged under the present law for a
maximum entry at the minimum
price. That the Communication provis-
ions of the homestead law shall not
apply to entries under this Act, and
at the time Of making final proof the
entryman must prove atfirmatively
that he has placed upon the land en-
tered permanent improvements OF the
value Of not less than one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre for each
acre included in his entry: Provided,
That when a homesteauer under the
provisions of this Act shall have Scry.
ed as a private soldier or officer i'm the
Army, Navy. or Marine Corps OF the
United States during the war OF the
Rebellion, and shall have been honor
ably discharged, the time which such
homestead settler has SO served shall
be deducted from the time hercinbe-
fore required to perfect title. or il
discharged on account Of wounds re-
ceived or disability incurred in the
line Of duty, then the term enlistment
shall be deducted from the time here
in required to perfect title withou,
reference to the length OF time he
may have seryed; but no patent sllal
issue to any homesteader settler who
has not resided npon. improved. anl
cultivated his homestead for a periot
of at least one year after he Shall hav.
commenced his improvements.