The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1909-05-12
WEDNESDAY, NAY ~, 1909.
THE LARGER HOMESTEAD.

THE LARGER HOMESTEAD.
Advices from Washington are to tn
effect that diagrams Of public land
that will be subject to entry under tn
new 320.acre homestead law are beine
prepared by the interior department
and will be sent to the local land
Offices az soon as completed. The ares
Of public domain in Montana upon
which such entries may be made, ia
estimated At about 1864, 900 acres,
. liberalIpercentage of which, however
is believed to be unsuitable for
GUILTY. alton.
Instructions regarding 320.acre
homestead filing are already being
issued by thei general land Office at
Washington, to the registers and re.
ceivers Of land Offices in the states
affected by the new law. The more
important features Of these regulations
are IS follows:
The term ''non-irrigable land" as
used in this act, is construed to
mean land which, IS q rule, lacks
sufficient rainfall to produce agricul.
tural crops without the necessity of
Fesorting TO unusual methods of cult.
vation, such ss the system commonly
known0as 'dry farming, and for
which there 10 no known source Of
water supply from which such land
may be successfully irrigated at .
reason ableccost.
Therefore, isnds containing mer-
charitable timber. mineral lands, and
lands within q reclamation project, or
lands which may be irrigated at rea-
sonable costifromsany known source.
Of water supply, may not be entered
under this act.E: Minor portions Of
. legal subdivision susceptible Of
irrigation from natural sources, as,
for instance, Ia spring, will not ex.
clude such subdivision. from entry un.
der this ..act, provided however. that
nc one entry. shall embrace in the
aggregatelmore than forty acres of
such irrigable lands.
Lands entered under this act must
be in q reasonably compact form, and
in no event exceed one and q half
miles in length.
The act provides that the fees shall
be the same assthose now required to
be paid under the homestead laws;
therefore, while the fees may not in
any n casesexceed the maximum fee
of $40, required sunder the general
homestead law. the lcommission will
be determined by the area of land EN-.
braced in the entry.
Section 3 of the act provides that
any homestea dlentryman of lands of
the char cter described in the fret
section OF that act, Eupon which entry
final prooflhas not. been made, may
enter such other lands, subject to the
provisions of this act, contiguous to
to the former entry, which shall not,
together with the lands embraced in
the original entry, exceed 800 acres,
and that residence upon and cultiva.
ton Of the originate entry shall be
accepted as equivalent ito residence
upon and cultivation of the additional
entry.
This section contemplates that lands
heretofore entered may be classified
or design atedsb BY the secretary Of the
interior a. falling within the pro-
visions of this act and in such cases
an entrymanlof such lands who had
not, at thesdate of the act. made final
proof, may make such additional
entry provided he is ~iotherwise
qualified. Applicants for such addi.
tional entries must, of course, tender
the proper fees and commissions and
must make Observation-Disclosures on
Form No. 4'003, attached hereto.
Entrymeu who .lmade final proof on
the original entriestprior to the date
OF the act are not entitled to make
additional entriesiunder this act.
Final proofs musts be made as in
ordinary homestead cases, and in
addition to the showing required of
ordinary homestead entrymen it must
be shown thatlat least one.eighth of
the area embraced in each entry has
been continuously cultiv ated to agri.
cultural crops other than native
grasses, beginningj with the second
year OF the entry, and that at least
%one-fourth OF the area embraced in the
entry has been continuously guilty At
ed to agriculturali crops other than
native grasses, beginning with the
third year of the entry and continu.
ing to date oflfnsl proof.
BUTTE. May Gifted by a tire.
mendous discharge of dynamite, the
ice jam In the Big Hole river south.
west Of Butte. went out last Monday.