The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1916-01-19
SENATOR PITTMAN PASSES
AN IMPORTANT LAND BILL
Measure Provides for the Encour.
agement of the Development of
Sub-Surface Waters.

Senator Pittman's bill giving
prospectors the right to drill for
water in tracts of 1850 acres of nom
mineral or non-timber land in Me-
vada and their choice of $40 acres
if successful in finding enough wat
er to produce at profit agricultur-
al crops other than native grasses
upon not less than twenty acres OF
land, passed the Senate last week.
Under the provisions of the act
any citizen or association of citi-
zens may procure from the secre-
tary of the interior a permit which
shall give the exclusive right for a
period of not exceeding two years,
to drill or otherwise explore for
water beneath the surface of not
exceeding 1850 acres of unreserved
unappropriated, non-mineral and
n-timbered public lands of the
United States in the State of Nevada
not now susceptible of successful ir-
rigation from any known available
source of surface water supply.
1t is a condition of the permit
that operation for the development
of underground water shall begin
within six months from the date of
the permit and continued with reas-
enable diligence until water has
been discovered in sufficient quanti-
ty to successfully irrigate at least
twenty acres of land and the produc-
ton of agricultural crops other than
native grasses at profit, or until
the expiration of the date of the
permit.
Upon the establishing at any time
within two years from the issuance
of the permit that the terms there
of have been complied with, the
owner of the permit shall be entitl-
ed to a patent for one-fourth of the
land embraced in the permit, such
area to be selected by the permittee
in compact form according to legal
subdivisions of the public land sur
veys if the land be surveyed or to
be surveyed at his expense under
rules and regulations established by
the secretary of the interior II To-
lcated upon unsurveyed land.
The remaining area within the
limits of the permit shall thereafter
be reserved from other disposition
and may, within the discretion of
the secretary of the Interior, be
sold at public auction to citizens Of
the United States under such rules
and regulations as he may prescribe
and in such farm units not less than
forty acres in area as he may pre-
scribe to the highest bidder for cash
or for amounts payable in annual
Iinstallments not exceeding five.
The receipts obtained from the
sale of lands under the provisions
of the act shall be paid into, re-
served, and appropriated as a part
of the reclamation fund and after
use thereof in the construction OF
reclamation works and upon return
to the reclamation fund of any such
moneys in the manner provided by
the reclamation Act fifty per centum
of the amounts so utilized in and re-
turned to the reclamation fund shall
be paid by the secretary of the
Treasury after the expiration OF
each fiscal year to the State of Me-
vada, said moneys to be used by
said State for the support of public
schools or other educational institu-
tions or for the construction OF pub
lie improvements, or both, as the
legislature of the State may direct.
All entries made and patents is
sued under the provisions of the act
are subject to reservation of all
coal and other valuable minerals,
together with a right to prospect
! for and mine the same. Such coal
5 and minerals shall be subject to
; disposal by the United States in ac-
: cordance with the coal and mineral
land laws. Provision is made for
: the right to enter upon said lands
to prospect for coal or mineral with
the proviso that the lands or I'M
? provements of the entryman are not
v damaged, who shall be entitled 10
3 compensation for such damages. II
e is further provided that all patents
e issued under this act shall contain
! lannropriate notations declaring
= them to be subject to the provisions
of the act with reference to the dis
position, use and occupancy of the
surface land.