The National tribune., 1907-11-14
LAND OFFICE NOTES.
Sale OF Lands--Addition to Forest Re-
serves-OId Land Patents to He Rec
OgniZed,

Sale OF Lands--Addition to Forest Re-
serves-OId Land Patents to He Rec
oEnized.
The General Land Office has adjusted
its account with the State of Utah un-
der the act of July 16, 1894. showing
five per cent of the net proceeds aris-
ing from the sales of public lands with
in said State for the fiscal year ended
June 80, 1907, as shown by the returns
from the two local land offices at Salt
Lake City and VernaI. The receipts
from the sales of public lands were
S137,063.32; from the sales of Indian
lands. s28.633.S4. and from fees and
commissions, s1S,131.71; making a to-
tai of s1S3.S2S.S7.
Repayments for lands enormously
sold, together with the fees and COM
missions thereon. amount to s1,317.50.
which amount, deducted from the re-
ceipts from the sales of public lands,
makes the gross proceeds of such sales
$137,063.32. The share of expenses
chargeable to the State amounts to sS,-
343.39, which amount deducted from
the gross proceeds, makes the net pro-
ceeds for the year s12S.719.93. The
amount found to be due the State is
s6,436.
There has been approved to the State
of Washington the indemnity school
land selections embraced within its list
No. %. aggregating 1S,613.59 acres. The
selected lands lie within the Waterville
Land district, and are in lieu of It's losses
in sections 16 and 36, school sections.
AS proposed addition to the Sierra
National Forest, in California, there
has been temporarily withdrawn from
all forms of entry, except under the
mineral land laws. all of the unappro-
priated public land In about 29,4S1
acres lying along the eastern border of
the National Forest in Inyo County,
Cal. The lands withdrawn are in the
Independence land district.
The Department of the Interior has
vacated it's order of withdrawal in so
far as the same affects the withdrawal
for irrigation purposes under the act
Of June II. 1902, of all Of Townships
and 2, Ranges 83, "a and 85 west, Sixth
p. NJ, for use in connection with the
Rouge Canyon reservoir site, in the
State of Colorado. The lands are with
in the Glenwood Springs land district.
and those not otherwise appropriated
or reserved will become subject to set
tlement on Jan. 16. 1908. but not to en-
try. filing or selection, at the above
named land Office. until Feb. Is, 1908.
Eot more than half of the area restored
is believed to be subject to appropria-
ton.
In a circular letter of instructions to
local land officers the Commissioner of
the General Land Office has reiterated
the position of his Bureau in the mat
ter of the verification of all affidayits
required under the mineral land laws,
and directed the local officers to re-
quire the jurat in all such affidavits
except where otherwise specially pro-
vided. to specifically show where the
same was executed In order that the
General Land Office can readily deter
mine whether or not the same was veri-
fled within the proper land district. 1t
being clearly the duty of the General
Land Office to strictly adhere to the
practice in this respect, and which has
been uniformly followed since 1882.
The Commissioner Of the General
Land Office has formulated a plan
whereby parties having some interest
in lands, patents for which were issued
years ago. but which have never been
called for by the patentees, altho such
lands are in many instances extremely
valuable and have passed by convey
ances and are improved as farms, or
included In cities and subdivided into
town lots, may, without incurring the
expense of searching for lost duplicate
receipts, or furnishing abstracts Of title.
have such patents sent directly to the
proper County officer for record, upon
showing that they have deposited the
necessary fees for that purpose with
that officer, the patents to be there
after delivered to the party who de-
posted the fees.
This method will be the means of
placing many of these ancient instru-
ments of record and of Strengthening
out the title to the tracts of land de-
scribed therein without imposing any
expense upon interested parties other
than the County officers fee for re-
cOrding.
Where abstracts of title have been
required, which has been the case in
numerous instances where the patents
were issued years ago and in the ma
jority of which cases many convey
ances have been made. ii meant quite
an expense to the applicant to furnish
such abstracts, showing their interest in
the land, and the plan now adopted
will reduce to minimum such items
of expense.
The General Land Office is engaged
upon the work Of revising the forms of
to make entry under the
various public land laws and the con-
solidatiOn into one form of the applica-
ton and the necessary affidavits which
are required to be executed by each
entryman, with the idea of securing a
in this matter, as to style
and size of the forms, and at the same
time reduce to minimum the number
of papers to be executed by the appli-
cant. Under the new forms but one
signature and jurat will be required in
each case. while under some of the old
forms as many as five such signatures