Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-01
TO RELEASE
OIL LANDS
SMITH BILL WILL OPEN NEW
PETROLEUM FIELDS
GIVES RIGHT TO MAKE CLAIMS
ON FOREST RESERVES
Senator Flint Writes That 1t Will
Probably Pass House-Text
of the Bill Now
Amended

California oil men, who are inter-
ested in the exploitation of lands re-
served by the government for for
estry purposes in the development of
the oil and asphaltum industries, are
writing to Representative Smith and
Senators Flint and Perkins indorsing
the bill which Mr.. Smith has introduced
in congress releasing the reserved
lands for oil and asphaltum develop
ment.
The government now has much land
on which the privilege of making
claims for oil development is prohib-
tied and yet it is known that this land
is rich in petroleum. The bill intro
duced by Mr.. Smith has been report
ed favorably by the house committee,
with some amendments. the chief one
making the law applicable to the re-
served land in California only.
In q letter to Secretary George w.
Arndt Of the chamber of mines Rep
resentative Smith says the interior de-
partment reported adversely on the bill
at first through misunderstanding, but
after he had explained it's purposes
and effect the opposition was with
drawn and the committee made a fa-
vorable report. The opposition. how
ever, served to delay the progress of
the bill several weeks.
Senator Flint, in later letter to Mr..
Arndt (March 25), says the bill has
been. reported favorably after being
amended so as to apply to California.
The prospect of it's passing the house,
he writes, is favorable, and when it
reaches the senate he will use every
endeavor to have it passed in the sem
ate.
The Smith Bill
The bill as introduced by Represen-
tative Smith is as follows:
Be it enacted by the senate and
house of representatives of the United
States of America in congress assem-
bled, that public lands of the United
States chiefly valuable for mineral oil
or asphaltum may be acquired under
the provision of this act. and from
and after the passage of this act such
lands may not be located as placer
mining claims.
Sec. 2. That any citizen of the
United States over the age of twenty
one years, and any person who has
filed his declaration of intention to be-
come such citizen, may file a declara-
tion under OATH with the register and
receiver of the land district where such
land is situated that he intends to
claim and improve or cause to be i'm
proved for the oil or asphaltum there
on a tract of land, describing 1t. not
exceeding one hundred and sixty acres.
If such land be surveyed, it shall be
located by legal subdivisions, and if
unsurveyed. it shall be located in rec
tangular form by metes and bounds,
and described with certainty by ref
erence to some well established and
conspicuous post monument, or natural
object. In no case shall a claim be
more than one mile in length. Such
oath shall be made before the regis
ter or receiver aforesaid or before the
clerk of any court of record in the
land district where the land is situ-
ated. and shall state that the affiant
believes such land to be chiefly val
liable for its deposits of mineral Oil
or asphaltum and distinctly his rea-
sons for so believing; that he intends
to make or cause to be made bona
fide effort to produce oil or asphaltum
on said land in paying quantities; that
he has not previously claimed any
land in the same county under the
provisions of this act.
Twenty-Five Cents an Acre
Upon filing said declaration. the ap-
plicant shall pay to the receiver a fee
equal to twenty-five cents per acre of
the land claimed, and thereupon the
register shall enter such application
upon his books. and no entry or filing
shall thereafter be received for said
land until such claim has been aban-
doned, as herein provided. If the
claimant has made his declaration of
intention to become a citizen, or If
he be a naturalized citizen, he shall
furnish satisfactory record evidence of
that fact which evidence shall be filed
with the application and be there
after conclusive of the right of the
party to enter the land, if the claim
shall have passed to an innocent pur-
chaser.
Sec. g. That at any time within five
years from the filing of the claim
aforesaid the claimant or his successor
in interest may file his application for
patent. Such application shall show
the applicants right to or interest in
said claim; that there has been made
such drillings or excavations on said
claim as enables the claimant to pro-