Arizona republican., 1909-05-08
DRY FARMING OPPORTUNITIES.
Homesteaders Properly Lo- cated May Increase Their Holdings and Others May Enter 32O Acres --- The Lands Designated.

Several weeks ago the dispatches announced the passage of a bill en- abllng those who have homestead rights to enter upon not more than 320 acres of nonirrigable and nonmineral land, and also enabling those having homesteads to add to them sufficient nonirrigable and nonmineral land to total their holdings at 320 acres, when the lands subject to entry had been designated. Yesterday the local register and receiver of the land office received from the department. notice of the lands designated for entry under that act The text of the act and the lanNs designated, will therefore be of great interest to many ArizOnians as the land totals over a million acres in numerous parts of the territory.
 Following is the act of February 19, 1909 in full:
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Unit ed States of America in Congress as sembled. That any person who is qualified entryman under the home stead laws of the United States may enter. by legal subdivisions. under the provisions of this act, in the states of Colorado, Montana, Nevada, oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, and the territories of Arizona and New Mexico, three hundred and twenty acres, or less, of nonmineral nonirriga- ble, unreserved and unappropriated surveyed public lands which do not contain merchantable timber. located in a reasonably compact body, and not over one and one-half miles in eX- treme length: Provided, That no lands shall be subject to entry under the provisions of this act until such lands shall have been designated by the sec retary of the interior as not being, in his opinion, susceptible of successful irrigation at a reasonable cost from any know source of water supply.
 Sec. ?. That any person applying to enter land under the provisions of this act shall make and subscribe be- fore the proper officer an affidavit as required by section twenty-two hun dred and ninety of the Revised Stat utes, and in addition thereto shall make affidavit that the land sought to be entered is of the character de- scribed in section one of this act, and shall pay the fees now required to be paid under the homestead law.
 Sec. g. That any homestead entry man of lands of the character herein described. upon which final proof has not been made, shall have the right to enter public lands subject to the pro visions of this act, contiguous to his former entry which shall not, together with the original entry. exceed three hundred and twenty acres. and resi- dence upon and cultivation of the orig inaI entry shall be deemed as residence upon and cultivation of the additional entry.
 Sec. f. That at the time of making final proofs as provided in section twenty two hundred and ninety-one of the Revised Statutes the entryman un- der this act shall. in addition to the proofs and affidavits required under the said section, prove by two credible witnesses that at least one-eighth of the area embraced in his entry was continuously cultivated to agricultural crops other than native grasses begin ming with the second year of the en- try, and that at least onefourth of the area embraced in the entry was so con tinuously cultivated beginning with the third year of the entry.
 Sec. s. That nothing herein con- tained shall be held to affect the right of a qualified entryman to make home stead entry in the states named in sec tion one of this act under the pro- of ,+tr- -fttrn htn6ra6 and eighty nine of the Revised Stat utes, but no person who has made en- try under this act shall be entitled to make homestead entry under the pro- visions of said section, and no entry made under this act shall be com muted.
 Sec S. That whenever the secretary of the interior shall find that any tracts of land. in the state of Utah, subject to entry under this act, do not have upon them such a sufficient sup ply of water suitable for domestic pur- poses as would make continuous resi- dence upon the lands possible, he may in his discretion, designate such tracts of land, not to exceed in the aggregate two million acres, and thereafter they shall be subject to entry under this act without the necessity of residence: Provided, That in such event the en- tryInan on any such entry shall in good faith cultivate not less than one eighth of the entire area of the entry during the second year. one-fourth during the third year, and one-half during the fourth and fifth years after the date of such entry, and that after