The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1917-02-16
new RULIk:s.:ss 4lN
640-ACRE% %Ea<,;,,
Land Office Receives Official In
structi0ns Relating to New
Bill
EXPLAINS MANY DOUBTFUL POINTS
Officials Now Able to Give Clear In
depreciation of Stock Raising
Homestead Act. Many
Interested

Official instructions on the opera
tion of the recently enacted 640-acre
homestead law have been received by
the local land Office.
The instructions on the new law
contai nmany clauses that a great
deal of doubt and Misrepresentation
have been current about. The i'm
portant rulings are given verbatim by
the Courier in order that no misrep-
resentation may be made on the
wording.
A circular also recently issued re-
lates to imperfect applications and
petitions under the new act. Because
of the fact that the approved forms
have not heretofore been available,
applications are doubtless imperfect.
The local officials are instructed to
reject applications heretofore or
hereafter filed which do not substan-
TALLY contain the allegations pre-
scribed in the approved forms, SUBJ
.ject to make proper amendment or
appeal thirty days from notice.
Excerpts from the instructions fol-
low:
What Lands Subject to Act
81. The secretary of the interior is
authorized, pursuant to application or
otherwise, to designate unreserved
public lands in any Of the public land
states, but not in Alaska, as stock
raising lands.' This includes ceded
Indian lands, unless entries therefor
are limited to a smaller area by the
acts governing their appropriations;
but it does not include lands in ma
tional forests. From time to time
lists of land thus designated will be
sent to the registers and receivers in
the districts wherein the land is sit
uated and they will be advised of the
dates when the designations become
effective.
"2. The lands to be designated are
those the surface of which is, in the
opinion of the secretary of the inter-
ior, chiefly valuable for grazing and
raising forage crops, which do not
contain merchantable timber ,are not
susceptible of irrigation from any
known source of water supply, and
are of such character that $40 acres
are reasonably required to support a
family. The classification will be
made, so far as practicable, so as to
exclude lands that are not chiefly
valuable for grazing and raising for
age crops, either because too valu-
able for such use or too poor for such
use. Land which is capable of pro-
ducing valuable crops Of grain OF
other food cereal or fruit are not sub
ject to designation, being, if otherwise
subject to entry, disposable under the
16O-acre or 32O-acre homestead law
according to their character. Lands
of such arid or poor character that
they are worthless or fit only for oc.
casional grazing in connection with
large areas of other land are not sub
ject to designation and entry under
this act. No tract may be designated
which contains water hole or othel
body of water, and other tracts re-
quired for access of the public thereto
may be reserved by the president ant
kept open to the public use under
rules prescribed by the secretary o:
the interior. Whether the land will
or will not support family is no
guaranteed in any manner by th'
designation of the land as subject tt
this act. The homesteader himself
must take the burden of accepting tn
land designated as of a character tina
meets the requirements of the law.
Qualifications for Entrymen
"a. (a) Any person qualified un
der the general laws to make home
stead entry (that is, who has not ex
ercised his right, or who is entitled t.
restoration of his right under genera
provisions of law may make stocl
raising homestead entry for not ex
ceeding GAO acres of inappropriate
surveyed land, in reasonably compac
form, which has been designated b.
the secretary as above indicated. N
rights can be acquired by an appli
ito nfor unsurveyed land; but wher
tract of unsurveyed land has bee
designated a settlement right on no
more than GAO acres may be estat
lished and maintained if the boun
daries are plainly marked on tn
ground.
"(b) A person who has perfected
or has pending, an entry or entrie
initiated since August 30, 1890, unde
the desert-land, timber-and-stone, Q
preemption laws for 320 acres in tn
aggregate is disqualified from maxim
any kind of entry under this act.
he made entries under said laws fo
not more than 160 acres they do NJ
affect his right under this act. If h