§ 161. Who may enter unappropriated public lands generally.

Every person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who has filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws, shall be entitled to enter one-quarter section, or a less quantity, of unappropriated public lands, to be located in a body in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands; but no person who is the proprietor of more than one hundred and sixty acres of land in any State or Territory, shall acquire any right under the homestead law. And every person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this section, enter other land lying contiguous to his land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres. (R. S. § 2289; Mar. 3, 1891, ch. 561, § 5, 26 Stat. 1097.)

§ 162. Application for entry; affidavit.

Any person applying to enter land under section 161 of this title shall first make and subscribe before the proper officer and file in the proper land office an affidavit that he or she is the head of a family, or is over twenty-one years of age, and that such application is honestly and in good faith made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not for the benefit of any other person, persons, or corporation, and that he or she will faithfully and honestly endeavor to comply with all the requirements of law as to settlement, residence, and cultivation necessary to acquire title to the land applied for; that he or she is not acting as agent of any person, corporation, or syndicate in making such entry, nor in collusion with any person, corporation, or syndicate to give them the benefit of the land entered, or any part thereof, or the timber thereon; that he or she does not apply to enter the same for the purpose of speculation, but in good faith to obtain a home for himself, or herself, and that he or she has not directly or indirectly made, and will not make, any agreement or contract in any way or manner, with any person or persons, corporation, or syndicate whatsoever, by which the title which he or she might acquire from the Government of the United States should inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person, except himself, or herself, and upon filing such affidavit with the officer designated by the Secretary of the Interior on payment of $5 when the entry is of not more than eighty acres, and on payment of $10 when the entry is for more than eighty acres, he or she shall thereupon be

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43 U.S.C.-PUBLIC LANDS-SEC. 164

permitted to enter the amount of land specified. (R. S. § 2290; Mar. 3, 1891, ch. 561, § 5, 26 Stat. 1097; Oct. 28, 1921, ch. 114, § 1, 42 Stat. 208; Mar. 3, 1925, ch. 462, 43 Stat. 1145; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)

§ 164. Certificate or patent generally; general requisites to issuance.

No certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor until the expiration of three years from the date of such entry; and if at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry, or if he be dead his widow, or in case of her death his heirs or devisee, or in case of a widow making such entry her heirs or devisee, in case of her death, proves by himself and by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have a habitable house upon the land and have actually resided upon and cultivated the same for the term of three years succeeding the time of filing the affidavit and makes affidavit that no part of such land has been alienated, except as provided in section 174 of this title, and that he, she, or they will bear true allegiance to the Government of the United States, then in such case he, she, or they, if at that time citizens of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided by law: Provided, That upon filing in the local land office notice of the beginning of such absence the entryman shall be entitled to a continuous leave of absence from the land for a period not exceeding five months in each year after establishing residence, and upon the termination of such absence the entryman shall file a notice of such termination in the local land office, but in case of commutation the fourteen months' actual residence required by law must be shown, and the person commuting must be at the time a citizen of the United States: Provided further, That when the person making entry dies before the offer of final proof those succeeding to the entry must show that the entryman had complied with the law in all respects to the date of his death, and that they have since complied with the law in all respects, as would have been required of the entryman had he lived, excepting that they are relieved from any requirement of residence upon the land: Provided further, That the entryman shall, in order to comply with the requirements of cultivation herein provided for, cultivate not less than one-sixteenth of the area of his entry, beginning with the second year of the entry, and not less than one-eighth, beginning with the third year of the entry and until final proof, except that in the case of entries under section 218(f) of this title, double the area of cultivation herein provided shall be required, but the Secretary of the Interior may, upon a satisfactory showing, under rules and regulations prescribed by him, reduce the required area of cultivation: And provided further, That the above provision as to cultivation shall not apply to entries under section 224 of this title, commonly known as the Kinkaid Act, or entries under sections 372, 373, 381, 383, 391, 392, 411, 416, 419, 421, 431, 432, 434, 439, 461, 491, and 498 of this title, commonly known as the reclamation law, and that the pro

43 U.S.C.-PUBLIC LANDS-SEC. 179

2025

visions of this section relative to the homestead period shall apply to all unperfected entries as well as entries hereafter made upon which residence is required. (R. S. § 2291; June 6, 1912, ch. 153, 37 Stat. 123.)

§ 169. Failure to establish residence; reversion to Government.

If, at any time after the filing of the affidavit as required in section 162 of this title and before the expiration of the three years mentioned in section 164 of this title, it is proved, after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate that the person having filed such affidavit has failed to establish residence within six months after the date of entry, or abandoned the land for more than six months at any time, then, and in that event, the land so entered shall revert to the Government: Provided, That the three years' period of residence herein fixed shall date from the time of establishing actual permanent residence upon the land: And provided further, That where there may be climatic reasons, sickness, or other unavoidable cause, the Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate may, in his discretion, allow the settler twelve months from the date of filing in which to commence his residence on said land under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe. (R. S. § 2297; Mar. 3, 1881, ch. 153, 21 Stat. 511; June 6, 1912, ch. 153, 37 Stat. 124; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F. R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)

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§ 174. Right to transfer claim.

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Any bona fide settler under the preemption, the homestead, or other settlement law shall have the right to transfer, by warranty against his own acts, any portion of his claim for church, cemetery, or school purposes, or for the right-ofway of railroads, telegraph, telephones, canals, reservoirs, or ditches, for irrigation or drainage across it; and the transfer for such public purposes shall in no way vitiate the right to complete and perfect the title to his claim. (R. S. § 2288; Mar. 3, 1891, ch. 561, §§ 3, 4, 26 Stat. 1097; Mar. 3, 1905, ch. 1424, 33 Stat. 991.)

§ 175. Exemption from execution of homestead land.

No lands acquired under the provisions of the homestead laws and laws supplemental and amendatory thereof shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor. (R. S. § 2296; Apr. 28, 1922, ch. 155, 42 Stat. 502.)

§ 179. Free homesteads to settlers; commutation rights; payments to Indians. All settlers under the homestead laws of the United States upon the agricultural public lands, which were prior to May 17, 1900, opened to settlement, acquired prior to May 17, 1900, by treaty or agreement from the various Indian tribes,

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43 U.S.C.-PUBLIC LANDS—SEC. 182

who have resided or shall reside upon the tract entered in good faith for the period required by existing law, shall be entitled to a patent for the land so entered upon the payment to the local land officers of the usual and customary fees, and no other or further charge of any kind whatsoever shall be required from such settler to entitle him to a patent for the land covered by his entry: Provided, That the right to commute any such entry and pay for said lands in the option of any such settler and in the time and at the prices fixed by existing laws on May 17, 1900, shall remain in full force and effect: Provided, however, That all sums of money so released which if not released would belong to any Indian tribe shall be paid to such Indian tribe, by the United States, and that in the event that the proceeds of the annual sales of the public lands shall not be sufficient to meet the payments provided for agricultural colleges and experi mental stations by sections 321-326 and 328 of Title 7, for the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agricultural and mechanic arts, established under sections 301-305, 307, and 308 of Title 7, such deficiency shall be paid by the United States: And provided further, That no lands shall be herein included on which the United States Government had made valuable improvements, or lands that have been sold at public auction by said Government. (May 17, 1900, ch. 479, § 1, 31 Stat. 179.)

§ 182. Entry after forfeiture of prior entry without fault.

Any person otherwise duly qualified to make entry or entries of public lands under the homestead or desert-land laws, who has prior to September 5, 1914, made or may thereafter make entry under said laws, and who, through no fault of his own, may have lost, forfeited, or abandoned the same, or who may lose, forfeit, or abandon same, shall be entitled to the benefit of the homestead or desert-land laws as though such former entry or entries had never been made: Provided, That such applicant shall show to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior that the prior entry or entries were made in good faith, were lost, forfeited, or abandoned because of matters beyond his control, and that he has not speculated in his right nor committed a fraud or attempted fraud in connection with such prior entry or entries. (Sept. 5, 1914, ch. 294, 38 Stat. 712.)

§ 183. Minor veterans; serving in Military Establishment; relinquishment of entries.

No person who has served, or may hereafter serve, for a period not less than fourteen days in the Army or Navy of the United States, either Regular or Volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this chapter on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.

Any person, under the age of twenty-one, who has served or shall hereafter serve in the Army of the United States during the emergency contemplated

43 U.S.C.—PUBLIC LANDS—SEC. 185

2027 by the act of August 31, 1918, shall be entitled to the same rights under the homestead and other land and mineral entry laws, general or special, as those over twenty-one years of age now possess under said laws: Provided, That any requirements as to establishment of residence within a limited time shall be suspended as to entry by such person until six months after his discharge from military service: And provided further, That applications for entry may be verified before any officer in the United States, or any foreign country, authorized to administer oaths by the laws of the State or Territory in which the land may be situated.

No relinquishment of any public-land entry made under and by authority of the preceding paragraph shall be valid or effective for any purpose unless executed after the entryman shall have actually resided upon and cultivated the land, in the case of a homestead entry, for at least six months, and in the case of an entry made under other than the homestead laws, after the entryman shall have complied with the provisions of the applicable law for at least one

year.

Any person, firm, or corporation soliciting or dealing with the relinquishment of such claim or entry prior to the completion of compliance with the applicable law and with this section, and who or which solicits, demands, or receives, or accepts any fee or compensation for locating, filing, or securing the claims or entries for persons entitled to the benefits of said paragraph shall, upon conviction, be fined not to exceed $1,000 or imprisoned for not exceeding two years, or both. (R. S. § 2300; Aug. 31, 1918, ch. 166, § 8, 40 Stat. 957; Sept. 13, 1918, ch. 173, 40 Stat. 960.)

§ 184. No distinction on account of race or color.

No distinction shall be made in the construction or execution of sections 161-164, 169, 171, 173, 175, 183, 184, 191, 201, 211, 239, 254, 255, 271, 272, 274, 277 and 278 of this title, on account of race or color. (R. S. § 2302.) § 185. Preference right of entry of successful contestants.

In all cases where any person has contested, paid the land-office fees, and procured the cancellation of any preemption, homestead or timber culture entry, he shall be notified by the officer designated by the Secretary of the Interior of the land office of the district in which such land is situated of such cancellation, and shall be allowed thirty days from date of such notice to enter said lands: Provided, That should any such person who has initiated a contest die before the final termination of the same, said contest shall not abate by reason thereof, but his heirs who are citizens of the United States, may continue the prosecution under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, and said heirs shall be entitled to the same rights under this section that contestant would have been if his death had not occurred. (May 14, 1880, ch. 89, § 2, 21 Stat. 141; Mar. 3, 1891, ch. 561, § 4, 26 Stat. 1097; July 26, 1892, ch. 251, 27 Stat. 270; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)