Amador ledger., 1904-06-17
A CIRCULAR LETTER


Department, addressed to the Registers
and Receivers, has BEEN received at
this office, and may be of interest to
many of our readers:
Gentlemen: Your attention is called
to the provisions of an act of congress
entitled, san act providing for second
and additional homestead entries, and
for other purposes, approved April
2o, 1904 (Public-No. 20S), copy of
which is hereto attached.
The hrst section of said act allows
any person who has Heretofore made
a homestead entry and was unable to
perfect the same on account of some
unavoidable complication of his per-
sonal or business affairs, or on account
OF an honest mistake as to the char
acter OF the land, to make second en-
try, providing it is shown to the satis-
faction OF the commissioner OF the gen.
eral land Office that he made a bona
tide effort to comply with the home
stead law, and that he did not relin-
quish his entry or abandon his claim
for consideration.
A person applying to make entry
under this section should be required
to file formal application for specific
tract of land, on the regular homestead
blanks, modified to show that the en-
try is made under the act of April %.
1904, and to furnish description of his
former entry by section, township, and
range, or the nun Der of the entry, and
land office where made.
He should also be required to furnish
an affidavit, duly corroborated by one
or more disinterested witnesses. setting
forth in full the complications of his
personal or business affairs that pre-
vented his perfecting title to the land
covered by his first entry, or where
the failure to perfect title was caused
by mistake as to the character of the
land entered, the manner in which such
mistake occurred, and the specific
| reasons that render the land worthless
for agricultural purposes should be
fully set forth. The affidavit should
also show whether the applicant ever
resided upon, improved, or cultivated
the land embraced in his former entry,
and If so, to what extent, and that he
did not abandon his claim thereto or
relinquish his entry for valuable con-
sideration.
When such application is presented
you will make proper notations on your
records and transmit all the papers for
action by the commissioner of the gen.
eral land office. You should accom-
pany each application with your report
and recommendation in the premises.
The second section is substantially a
reenactment of section 5 of the act of
March 2, 1889 (25 Stat. L. S54), only
modified so as to apply to entries for
less than 160 acres each made after the
date of the act (April 2s 1900, as we'll
as those made before, and provides for
an additional entry of land which shall
be contiguous to the land embraced in
the original entry, for which the final
proof of residence and cultivation made
on the original entry shall be sufficient,
but of which no party shall have the
benefit who does not, at the date of his
tappliootinn- -therefnr, and occupy
the land covered by his original entry,
and which shall not be permitted, or if
permitted shall be Cancelled, if the
original entry should fail for any rea-
son prior to patent, or should appear
to be illegal or fraudulent. Applicants
for additional entries under this section
will be required to produce evidence
that they own and occupy the land en-
braced in their original entries, to be
properly described by legal subdivisions
and by reference to the number and
date of the original entry, and the evil
dence to consist of their own affidavits,
corroborated by the affidavits of dis
interested witnesses executed before
any officer authorized to administer
oaths in such cases in the county, par
ish, or land district in which the land
applied for is situated, under section
2294, United States Revised Statutes,
as amended by act of March 4, 1904,
| (Public-No. 80. In addition to this
the proper homestead application and
| affidavit must be filed, which may be
on the forms prescribed under the act
of March 8, 1879 4-O1S and 4-OS6),
properly modified by you so as to show
the section and act under which appli-
cation is made, and the affidavit modi-
fed by striking out the portion that
refers to military services, which is not
required under this act.
Section 8 prohibits the communication,
under the provisions of section 23O1,
Revised Statutes, of an entry made
under this act. You will be careful to
refuse all applications made to commute
such entries. ]. Il. FIMPLE,
Acting Commissioner.