The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1917-01-11
$40 ACRE LAND LAW
IS MAKING LOTS Of
WORK FOR OFFICIALS

The first of the year ushered in the
new section law and coming on Mon
day IL was necessary to wait Until
Tuesday to get into the local land Of
fee as Monday was legal holiday.
There was big crowd in line on
Tuesday morning but il was impossi-
BILE to handle them as the land Office
did not have the necessary blanks and
the clerks were required to make ne
cessary changes to satisfy those who
were eager TO file. On Tuesday fifty
eight applications were received and
1898 collected
Wednesday sixty-four applications
were made and 1897 collected. The
next day was the big one eighty-four
applications being received and $li21
received in payment thereof. Friday
only for,y four applications were re-
ceived but .ls14 were taken IN pay
nent. Thi, was caused by most all Of
the filings being large. Saturday 40
applications received and 1888 collect
ed. Monday 38 applications and 1878
The total applicants in six days were
1928, and the total amount of money re-
ceived was $7,033. The rush is not all
over. Up to Tuesday morning at II
o'clock there were % applicant and the
land Office has been crowded every day
this week.
No real law has been received and
the officials here do not understand it
fully. but are interpreting it to the
best of their ability and seems to be
somewhat unfavorable to those who
came here years ago to file, proved
up and sold out because they could not
make a living on u section, the same
reason this section law was recon-
mended and passed.
Provisions Of the new 64O-acre home
stead law, which will open up millions
Of acres of New Mexico land for graz
ing purposes, reduced to ordinary Ian
guage, are as follows:
Any person qualified to make entry
under the homestead laws may take
up $40 acres Of reasonably compact
unappropriated or unreserved public
land, which has been designated by the
secretary of the interior as "stock-
raising land"
Sto,x-raising lands shall be lands
chiefly valuable for grazing and con-
tanning no marketable timber and hav-
ing no susceptible possibilities for ir-
rigation. Land not already designated
may be applied for and entry sus-
pended until the secretary of the In
terror has approved it as stockraising
land. In the meantime 1t may not be
disposed Of. This, however, does not
give the right Of occupancy if the ap-
plication is refused and does not count
as residence.
Any homesteader who has already
taken up tracts Of land similar to the
stockraising land may take up enough
more to make up $40 acres within a
radius of twenty miles, providing that
the contiguous land is taken up first.
Improvements increasing the land for
stockraising purposes must be made
70 the amount of Sl.25 per acre, one
half of which must be made within
three years. The homesteader living
on his original tract may patent these
extra acres simply by proving the
necessary improvements. In cases
where patent has not yet been made
on the homestead. the additional acres
may be entered to make $40 and resi-
dence on the original entry will be
credited on both.
When no contiguous land or lands
within a radius of twenty miles are
obtainable, the original homestead may
be reconveyed to the United States and
| In nd
ed in the same land Office district. In
case contiguous lands are not suffi-
cient for the surrounding homestead
ers the first to make application has
the preferential right, though the U.
s. reserves the right to divide the
lands. IL there are two or more appli-
cants, within ninety days after the
lands are designated.
, All coal and mineral deposits on the
stockraising lands belong to the U
s., as well as the right to prospect for
them and to sell the right of minire
and removal Of the deposits, providing
that all damage to improvements and
crops be paid.
. Lands containing water needed OF
used by the public shall not be desig.
mated for entry, and all lands neces.
sary for access to these bodies of wa.
ter may be withdrawn from entry by
the secretary Of the Interior. Land:
J needed for the transfer of stock from
summer TO winter range or to shipping
, points may be reserved. These lands
may be from one to five miles In
width and stock on them must NOV,
, from three to six miles day.