Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1906-06-30
RESERVE SETTLERS BILL.
Forest Reserve Lands TO be Opened fol
Settlement by Act OF Congress.

An Act TO PROVIDE Tor the entry OF ag-
ricultural lands within forest reserves.
Be il enacted by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That
the Secretary of agriculture may, in his
discretion, and he is hereby authorized,
upon application or otherwise, to exam
inc and ascertain as to the location and
extent Of lands within permanent or
temporary forest reserves, except the
following counties in the State of Cali.
fornia, Inyo, Tulare, Kern, San Luis
Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los
Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, River
side and San Diego which are chiefly
valuable for agriculture, and which, in
his opinion, may be occupied for agri-
cultural purposes without injury to the
forest reserves, and which are not need
ed for public purposes, and may list and
describe the same by metes and bounds,
or otherwise, and file the lists and des-
criptions with the Secretary of the In
terror, with the request that the said
lands be opened to entry in accordance
with the provisions of the homestead
law and this Act.
Upon the fling of any such list or des-
cription the Secretary Of the Interior
shall declare the said lands open to
homestead settlement and entry in tracts
not exceeding one hundred and sixty
acres in area and not exceeding one
mile in length, at the expiration Of six
ty days from the filing of the list in the
land office Of the district within which
the lands are located, during which
period the said list or description shall
be prominently posted in the land office
and advertised for a period of not less
than four weeks in one newspaper of
general circulation, published in the
county in which the lands are situated !:
Provided That any settler actually oc-
cupying and in good faith claiming such
lands for agricultural purposes prior to
January first, nineteen hundred and six, =,
and who shall not have abandoned the
same, and the person, if qualified to
make homestead entry, upon whose
application the land proposed to be en-
tered was examined and listed, shall
each in the order named, have prefer
ence right of settlement and entry :
Provided further, That any entryman
desiring to obtain patent to any lands
described by metes and bounds entered
by him under the provisions Of this Act
shall, within FIVE years Of the date of
making settlement, file with the requir-
ed proof of residence and cultivation, a
plat and field notes of the lands entered,
made by or under the direction Of the
United States surveyor,general, showing
accurately the boundaries of such lands,
which shall be distinctly marked by
monuments on the ground, and by post
ing copy Of such plat, together with a
notice OF the time and place of offering
proof in a conspicuous place on the
land embraced in such plat during the
period prescribed by law for the publ
cation of his notice Of intention to offer
proof, and that copy Of such plat and
field notes shall also be kept posted in
the office of the register of the land Of
fee for the land district in which such
lands are situated for like period and
further, that any agricultural lands with
in forest reserves may, at the discretion
of the Secretary, be surveyed by metes
and bounds, and that no lands entered
under the provisions of this Act shall
be patented under the Communication pro-
visions of the homestead laws, but set
tiers, upon final proof, shall have credit
for the period of their actual residence
upon the lands covered by their en-
tries.
Sec. 2. That settlers upon lands chief
ly valuable for agriculture within for
est reserves on January first, nineteen
hundred and six, who have already ex-
ercised or lost their homestead privi-
lege, but are otherwise competent to en-
ter lands under the homestead laws,
are hereby granted an additional home
stead right of entry for the purposes of
this Act only, and such settlers must
otherwise comply with the provisions
of the homestead law, and in addition
thereto must pay two dollars and fifty
cents per acre for lands entered under
the provisions of this section, such pay
ments to be made at the time of making
final proof Oh such lands.
Sec. g. That all entries under this
Act in the Black Hills Forest Reserve
shall be subject to the quartz or lode
mining laws of the United States, and
the laws and regulations permitting the
location, appropriation, and use of the
waters within the said forest reserves
for mining, irrigation, and other pur-
poses; and no titles acquired to agricul-
tural lands in said Black Hills Forest
Reserve under this Act shall vest in the
patentee any riparian rights to any
stream or streams of flowing water with
in said reserve; and that such Limitation
of title shall be expressed in the patents
for the lands covered by such entries
See. T. That no homestead settle
ments or entries shall be allowed in that
nortion nf tho Rlaek Hills Eorast Pa
serve in Lawrence and Pennington coun-
ties in South Dakota except to persons
occupying lands therein prior to Janu.
AIRY first, nineteen hundred and six, and
the provisions of this Act shall apply TO
the said counties in said reserve only so
far as Is necessary to give and perfect
title of such settlers or occupants to
lands chiefly valuable for agriculture