Meade County news., 1914-11-05

Circular No. 354
Second Homestead and Desert-Land
Entries-Act of September 8,
1914 public, No. 104).
Department of the Interior,
General Land Office,
Washington, Sept. 26. 1914.
Registers and Receivers,
United States Land Offices.
Sirs: Your attention is directed to
the act of Congress, approved Septem-
ber 5. 1914 (Public, No. 194). enti-
tied, "An act providing for second
homestead and desert-land entries"
copy of which is hereto appended.
Said act governs the disposition of
every application for second home
stead or desert-land entry, where the
applicant, at any time before filing
same, had made an entry, or entries,
of the same character, but failed to
perfect same.
2. The question whether the first
entry, or entries, were made before
or after the passage of the act is en-
tirely immaterial. Moreover, it will
be seen that the act imposes upon
the Land Department the duty of
passing upon the good faith of the
applicant. there being no hard and
fast provision. as in the act of Feb
ruarx3, 1911, limiting its benefits to.
clearly defined class of persons. In
order that there may be uniformity
of rulings thereon, no applications
will be allowed by the local officers
on their own initiative. but all will
be forwarded to the General Land
Office for consideration.
8. In order that the General Land
Office may properly pass upon the
right of an applicant for second entry,
he must (besides filing in the proper
local Office an application to enter a
specific tract) furnish his affidavit
showing the following facts:
(a) Data from which his first entry
(Or eutries) may be identified, pref
erably it's series and number. as well
as description of the tract by sec
tion, township and range.
(b) What examination of the land
and what inquiries as to It's character
lie made prior to filing his previous
application (or applications) for en-
try and, in case of desert-land en-
tries, what reason he had to believe
that the required proportion of the
tracts could be reclaimed by him
through irrigation.
(c) With reference to a homestead
entry, whether he established resi-
dence upon the tract, and, if so, how
long he lived there and what cultiva-
tion he effected; as to desert-land
entry, whether he took possession of
the tract, and, if so, how long he
continued to exercise acts of owner
ship thereover.
(d) What improvements, if any,
he made upon the land, describing in
detail their nature and cost.
(e) The date of his Abandonment
of the claim and the reason therefor
and whether he ever executed re-
linquishment of the entry.
(f) What consideration, if any, he
received for abandoning or relin-
gushing the entry; also whether he
sold the improvements on the tract,
giving full details as to said sale, if
any, including the date thereof and
the consideration received.
A. This affidavit must be executed
before an officer authorized to admin
lister oaths in homestead cases; that
is, the register or receiver of the dis
trict where the land is situated, or
United States commissioner, or judge
or clerk of a court of record within
said district or within the county in
which the tract lies. It's statements
must be corroborated on all matters
susceptible of corroboration by at
least one witness having knowledge
of the facts, or there may be several