Alaska sentinel., 1905-05-18
Important Decision,
Record Miner.]

tions from the general land depart
 ment in regard to the entry of coal land laws in Alaska. The letter is
 dated March 25, 1905, and is as followsi
 "The notice of location or declar-
 atory statement, as it may be call
 ed, of a coal claim in Alaska is re- quired by said act of April 2S,19O4,
 as will be observed from the quota tion from the statute (section of
 said act), to be filed with the regis
 ter and receiver of the land district
 in which the lands are located or
 situated, and, accordingly, iC is your duty to receive such papers
 when offered, note the date of filing thereon, and record the same upon your abstracts as is the case of oth-
 CT applications to take public land.
 The word record" as used in the l statute is not construed to mean so far as your office is concerned, that the entire paper offered shall
 be copied into the records as is re- ouired when the same is filed with the recorder of the recording dis trict. The notice of location, which l is equivalent to the declaratory
 statement under the general land
 laws, must be sworn to by the claimant himself, and an attorney
 in fact may then file the same, and
 if the claimant shows by his affida-
 vit that he is not personally ac- quainted with the character of the
 land, the agent may make the re- l quired affidavit as to it's character. l (See paragraphs B to 35 coal land
 regulations, approved July 1,18S2. Accordingly when filed by an agent, the notice of location should
 be sworn to by the claimant, should contain in substance the particu. lars set out in the form in para graph 2S of the general regulations
 before mentioned (except that the affidavit as to the charscter of the
 land may be made by the agent) 1 and be accompanied by duly exc
 cuted power of attorney. The so- called notice of location accom- panying the papers you enclose is
 of no effect, as it is signed by the attorney in fact and does not con-
 tain the statements required under the regulations. * *
 "Unless papers follow, in sub stance and form, the statutes and the regulations (meaning the regu-
 lations of July IS, 1904, and of
 July 1882, so far as applicable), !, they should be rejected subject to
 the right of appeal, No record whatever should be made of pow
 CTS of attorney, bills of sale or oth-
 CT instruments effecting the title to such coal claims. Such papers
 should not be received by your of flee except as part of a showing of
 title on application to enter. A power of attorney showing author ity for the making of a coal loca-
 tion might be received and filed
 with the notice of location already
 in your files. Deeds or other as- signments of title should be filed
 for record in the recording district
 and you have no duty to perform in relation thereto. You
 will be allowed to charge as fees three dollars for filing each notice of location, and ten dollars for each application for patent or adverse
 claim, under the provisions of par agraph g of section 223S U. s. Re. vised Statutes, coal lands being held 10 be mineral lands"
 Up to date about 800 coal land locations have been filed in the Ju- neau land office, nearly all of which are ineffective under the above ruling, and will therefore be rejected. The most of these notices can, however, be cured by the filing of proper declaratory statement by the claimant and his agent.