PATENTS AND WATER-RIGHT CERTIFICATES FOR DESERT-LAND ENTRYMEN ON RECLAMATION PROJECTS [Extract from] An act making appropriations to supply deficiencies in appropriations for the fiscal year 1912, and for prior years, and for other purposes. (Act August 26, 1912, ch. 408, 37 Stat. 595) [Patents to desert-land entrymen within reclamation projects-Proof required.]-That any desert-land entryman whose desert-land entry has been embraced within the exterior limits of any land withdrawal or irrigation project under the act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, known as the reclamation act, and who may have obtained a water supply for the land embraced in any such desertland entry from the reclamation project by the purchase of a waterright certificate, may at any time after having complied with the provisions of the law applicable to such lands and upon proof of the cultivation and reclamation of the land to the extent required by the reclamation act for homestead entrymen, submit proof of such compliance, which proof, if found regular and satisfactory, shall entitle the entryman to a patent and a final water-right certificate under the same terms and conditions as required of homestead entrymen under the act entitled "An act providing for patents on reclamation entries, and for other purposes, approved August ninth, nineteen hundred and twelve." (37 Stat. 610.) * NOTES Cross reference.-See notes under act August 9, 1912 (37 Stat. 265). SETTLEMENT OF WATER RIGHTS OF YAKIMA INDIANS [Extract from] An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes, and for other purposes, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915. (Act August 1, 1914, ch. 222, 38 Stat. 582) [Additional water to Yakima Indians-Apportionment-Payment of first installment Plan for distribution, etc., to be submitted to Congress.]-It appearing by the report of the Joint Congressional Commission, created under section twenty-three of the Indian appropriation act, approved June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen (Senate Document Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven, Sixtythird Congress, second session), that the Indians of the Yakima Reservation in the State of Washington, have been unjustly deprived of the portion of the natural flow of the Yakima River to which they are equitably entitled for the purposes of irrigation, having only been allowed one hundred and forty-seven cubic feet per second, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to furnish at the northern boundary of said Yakima Indian Reservation, in perpetuity, enough water, in addition to the one hundred and forty-seven cubic feet per second heretofore allotted to said Indians, so that there shall be, during the low-water irrigation season, at least seven hundred and twenty cubic feet per second of water available when needed for irrigation, this quantity being considered as equivalent to and in satisfaction of the rights of the Indians in the low-water flow of Yakima River and adequate for the irrigation of forty acres on each Indian allotment; the apportionment of this water to be made under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $635,000 to pay for said water to be covered into the reclamation fund; the amount to be appropriated annually in installments upon estimates certified to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury. One hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated to pay the first installment of the amount herein authorized to be expended, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to prepare and submit to Congress the most feasible and economical plan for the distribution of said water upon the lands of said Yakima Reservation, in connection with the present system and with a view to reimbursing the Government for any sum it may have expended or may expend for a complete irrigation system for said reservation. (38 Stat. 604.) * RECLAMATION EXTENSION ACT An act extending the period of payment under reclamation projects, and for other purposes. (Act August 13, 1914, ch. 247, 38 Stat. 686) [Sec. 1. Payments of construction charges under future rights-Entry subject to announcement.]-That any person whose lands hereafter become subject to the terms and conditions of the act approved June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, entitled "An act appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal of public lands in certain States and Territories to the construction of irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands," and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, hereafter to be referred to as the reclamation law, and any person who hereafter makes entry thereunder shall at the time of making water-right application or entry, as the case may be, pay into the reclamation fund five per centum of the construction charge fixed for his land as an initial installment, and shall pay the balance of said charge in fifteen annual installments, the first five of which shall each be five per centum of the construction charge and the remainder shall each be seven per centum until the whole amount shall have been paid. The first of the annual installments shall become due and payable on December first of the fifth calendar year after the initial installment: Provided, That any water-right applicant or entryman may, if he so elects, pay the whole or any part of the construction charges owing by him within any shorter period: Provided further, That entry may be made whenever water is available, as announced by the Secretary of the Interior, and the initial payment be made when the charge per acre is established. (38 Stat. 686.) NOTES Amendment.-Sections 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of this act amended by act of May 15, 1922 (42 Stat. 541.) See departmental opinion of September 29, 1923, 50 L. D. 142. Sections 1 and 2 amended by acts December 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 703) and May 25, 1926 (44 Stat. 636.) See notes under section 1, act of May 15, 1922 (42 Stat. 541.) When lands are taxable by State.-Under this act, making the charges for reclamation of arid lands payable in installments, and act of August 9, 1912 (37 Stat. 267) and act of February 15, 1917 (39 Stat. 920), allowing a patent for such lands on payment of all installments due at the time of final proof, which patent conveys a full legal title but reserves a prior lien to the Government for all installments unpaid, an entryman who has received a patent subject to the lien can be taxed by the State on his interest in such lands. (Irwin v. Wright (1922), 42 S. Ct. 293, 258 U. S. 219, 66 L. Ed. 573.) Lands affected.-Upon acceptance of the extension act by the filing of a waterright application, or otherwise, the following described lands become subject to the provisions of section 1 of said act, to wit: (a) Land in private ownership which was not made subject to the reclamation law. prior to August 13, 1914; (b) public land entered not subject to the reclamation law and not subjected to said law after entry and before August 13, 1914. Such land is not considered public land in respect to water-right applications, Form B of the application being used; (c) public land entered subject to the reclamation law on or after August 13, 1914. As a general rule, for land of this class, both entry and water-right application are initiated simultaneously. Sometimes, however, entries are permitted under the last proviso of section 1 before public notice is issued, in which event, the order opening the lands should specify a reasonable time after date of public notice within which water-right applicaton must be made and the initial installment paid. In each of the above cases, the initial installment of the construction charge is payable at the time of filing water-right application, and the second on December 1 of the fifth calendar year. For example, if the initial payment was made December 2, 1914, the second installment would be payable on December 1, 1919. There can be no accumulation of either construction or operation and maintenance charges prior to filing water-right application in these cases. (Departmental decision, October 18, 1919; C. L. 852 or 47 L. D. 285. C. L. 862, Dec. 19, 1919, supplements C. L. 852.) Circular letters.-Questions and answers, November 7, 1914, regarding the act in general. No. 409, December 9, 1914, as to revised forms of water-right applications. No. 536, January 26, 1916, in reference to credit on new entries under act of March 4, 1915, 38 Stat. 1215. No. 640, March 23, 1917, increased construction charge under section 9 of this act. No. 745, March 11, 1918, applicability of section 2 of this act instead of section 1 to State lands, Idaho. See No. 751, on same subject. No 852, October 18, 1919, interpretation of and procedure regarding this section, printed at 47 L. D. 285. No. 862, December 19, 1919, supplements C. L. 852. See public notice, September 24, 1914, regarding water-right charges, 43 L. D. 406. Sec. 2. [Payments of construction charges under existing rights.]— That any person whose land or entry has heretofore become subject to the terms and conditions of the reclamation law shall pay the construction charge, or the portion of the construction charge remaining unpaid, in twenty annual installments, the first of which shall become due and payable on December first of the year in which the public notice affecting his land is issued under this act, and subsequent installments on December first of each year thereafter. The first four of such installments shall each be two per centum, the next two installments shall each be four per centum, and the next fourteen each six per centum of the total construction charge, or the portion of the construction charge unpaid at the beginning of such installments. (38 Stat. 687.) NOTES Amendment.-Sections 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of this act amended by section 1 of act May 15, 1922 (42 Stat. 541). (See departmental opinion of September 29, 1923, 50 L. D. 142.) Sections 1 and 2 amended by acts December 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 703), and May 25, 1926. (44 Stat. 636.) Lands affected.-All persons whose land was, prior to August 13, 1914, subscribed to any reclamation project through the medium of a water-user's association, an irrigation district, a trust deed, a water-right application, a homestead entry, or any form of contract or agreement with the United States under the terms of which the United States may at any time be required to deliver water to said land, were subject to the terms and conditions of the reclamation law within the meaning of this section. (Departmental decision, October 17, 1914.) Lands of the State of Idaho and of other States having similar laws prior to August 13, 1914, in reference to the Federal reclamation law, are subject to the terms and conditions of the reclamation law within the meaning of this section. (Departmental decisions, February 8, 1918, and April 1, 1918, overruling departmental decisions, October 17, 1914, and January 14, 1915; C. L. * * * Lands not affected. The following-named lands are not subject to the terms and conditions of the reclamation law within the meaning of this section: (a) Railroad lands unsold on or before August 13, 1914, whether or not affected by a declaration of the railroad company that purchasers shall comply with the terms of the reclamation law; and (b) railroad lands sold on or before August 13, 1914, which on that date had not been included in a waterright application duly accepted. (Departmental decision, January 14, 1915.) Water charges.-Section 2 of the extension act specifically provides that the first installment of the construction charge "shall become due on December 1 of the year in which public notice is issued." The subjecting of his land to the reclamation law is an agreement on the part of the owner or entryman to abide by the law and regulations issued thereunder. Such owner or entryman therefore has no right, after the issuance of public notice, to defer the filing of water-right application or to postpone the payment of installments of water-right charges. Congress evidently had this thought in mind in fixing the date so definitely. This construction charge is due and payable on December 1, as stated in the law, without reference to whether a water-right application is filed, and if payment is not made on that due date the penalties provided by section 3 of the extension act become effective. Public notices covering lands subject to section 2 will not be issued, as a rule, in the month of December. Section 9 of the extension act does not apply to lands subject to section 2. (Departmental decision, October 18, 1919; C. L. 852, or 47 L. D. 285. C. L. 862, December 19, 1919, supplements C. L. 852.) Construction charge installments not cumulative.—The reclamation extension act taken as a whole does not require that installments of the construction charge, prior to water-right application for either private or public lands, be cumulative. Therefore, the first installment upon a water-right application made under section 2 of the act will fall due on December 1 of the year in which application is made. (Circular letter No. 516, September 2, 1915.) See circular letter No. 595, September 21, 1915, and paragraph 4, circular letter No. 603, October 7, 1916. Miscellaneous references.-Section (c) of circular letter No. 394, November 9, 1914, in reference to lands affected. Circular letter No. 409, December 9, 1914, regarding revised forms of waterright application. Circular letter No. 497, June 2, 1915, relative to payments by nonresident landowners who have accepted the reclamation extension act, but have not made water-right application. Sec. 3. [Penalties for nonpayment of construction charges Cancellation and forfeiture-Actions for recovery.]-That if any water-right applicant or entryman shall fail to pay any installment of his construction charges when due, there shall be added to the amount unpaid a penalty of one per centum thereof, and there shall be added a like penalty of one per centum of the amount unpaid on the first day of each month thereafter so long as such default shall continue. If any such applicant or entryman shall be one year in default in the payment of any installment of the construction charges and penalties, or any part thereof, his water-right application, and if he be a homestead entryman his entry also, shall be subject to cancellation, and all payments made by him forfeited to the reclamation fund, but no homestead entry shall be subject to contest because of such default: Provided, That if the Secretary of the Interior shall so elect, he may cause suit or action to be brought for the recovery of the amount in default and penalties; but if suit or action be brought, the right to declare a cancellation and forfeiture shall be suspended pending such suit or action. (38 Stat. 687.) NOTES Amendments.—Sections 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of this act amended by section 1 of act May 15, 1922. (42 Stat. 541.) (See Departmental opinion of September 29, 1923, 50 L. D. 142.) |