The Coconino sun., 1913-11-21
THE ENLARGED
HOMESTEAD LAW
Secretary Lane Outlines Methods of
Procedure for Homestead
Entrymen.


homestead law, has made possible
the entry of many million acres of
dry land in the Western States in
tracts double the size allowed I'M
der the original homestead law.
Only land which has been de-
signated" by the Secretary of the
Interior as 'nonirrigable" can be
entered under this act. More than
200, 900, 900 acres have been thus
designated, but petitions and
sworn statements requesting fur
Their designations are constantly
being received.
In an interview Just given out,
Secretary Lane calls attention to
the fact that there appears to be
considerable misunderstanding
among western homesteaders as
to the procedure necessary in order
that enlarged homestead designa-
tons may be made. The Secre-
tary states that only the simplest
and most direct action by the set
tier is required, and that it is
wholly unnecessary for him to in
cur the charges now made by at
torneys who draw up formal petit
tons that are in fact no more effect
i've than the homesteader's own
letter would be. On this account
a brief statement of the essential
facts relative to the enlarged
| homestead law is timely.
The first enlarged-homestead act
was approved February 10, 1909,
and as later amended provides
that in the States of Arizona, Cali.
fornia, Colorado, Idaho, Montana,
Nevada, New Mexico, North Da-
kota, Oregon, Utah, Washington,
and Wyoming any person who is
qualified to make entry under the
homestead laws may enter as much
as $40 acres of public land which
is in a reasonably compact body
and is non-mineral, nonirrigable,
unreserved, and unappropriated
and does not contain merchantable
timber. Before such entry can be
made, however, the land must be
designated by the Secretary of the
Interior as not being, in his opin-
ion, susceptible of successful irri-
CATION at a reasonable cost from
any known source of water supply.
The work of classifying the
lands and determining what AREAS
may be considered nonirrigable
has been assigned by Secretary
Lane to the United States Geolog-
ical Survey. Although, under the
present ruling of the Secretary,
large areas may be designated as
nonirrigable without raising the
question whether the land is in
other respects subject to home
stead entry, the work of examining
and classifying these large areas
necessarily proceeds rather slow
ly. In addition to these so-called
blanket" designations, therefore,
designations of smaller areas are
made as rapidly as their nonirri-
gable character is determined, in
cludiug areas whose designation
has been requested by individual
settlers for enlarged-homestead
entry or for additional entry on
tracts adjacent to their present I'M
perfected homestead entries.
No definite form of petition is
required, but each application
should be limited as far as poss-
ible to the specific tract desired
for entry and should contain a de-
scription, by section, township,
and range, of the applicants orig
inal homestead entry and the date
of this entry, as well as descrip-
ton, also by legal subdivisions, of
the land desired for additional en-
try. Information as to the posi-
bility of irrigating the land should
also be furnished and should in
clude the distance and direction Of
. /