SALE OF LAND IN MINIDOKA PROJECT FOR RAILROAD PURPOSES An act to authorize the sale of certain lands at or near Minidoka, Idaho, for railroad purposes. (Act December 17, 1919, ch. 9, 41 Stat. 1453) [Sec. 1. Authority to convey lands-Price to be not less than $50 per acre.]-That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to sell and convey to Oregon Short Line Railroad Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Utah and authorized to do business in the State of Idaho, its successors and assigns, for railroad purposes, and at a price to be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior in order to return the expenditure heretofore made or proposed for the irrigation of the lands at not less than $50 per acre, and under such terms, conditions, and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, the following described land, situated in Minidoka County, Idaho: All that part of the west half of the southeast quarter and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section two, and the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the north half of he northwest quarter of section eleven, all in township eight south, range twenty-five east of the Boise meridian, within the following described area : Beginning at the intersection of the present south easterly right of way boundary of the Twin Falls Branch of the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company with the section line common to said sections two and eleven, one hundred feet southeasterly from and at right angles to the center line of main track of said railroad, said intersection also bearing north eighty-nine degrees five minutes west, four hundred and sixty and one-tenth feet from the quarter section corner common to said sections two and eleven; thence north forty degrees twenty-five minutes east along said southeasterly right of way boundary, being one hundred feet southeasterly from and parallel to said center line of main track, for a distance of seventeen hundred and twenty-six and eight-tenths feet; thence south naught degrees one minute east, and parallel to the north and south center line of said section two, for a distance of thirteen hundred and thirtytwo and six-tenths feet, to a point in the section line common to said sections two and eleven; thence continuing south naught degrees one minute east, and parallel to the north and south center line of said section eleven, for a distance of thirteen hundred and twenty feet, to the south line of the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the north half of the northwest quarter of said section eleven; thence north eighty-nine degrees five minutes west, along said south line, for a distance of twenty-two hundred and twenty-nine and five-tenths feet, to a point in the present southeasterly right of way boundary of said railroad; thence north forty degrees twenty-five minutes east, along said right of way boundary, and being one hundred feet southeasterly from and parallel to said center line of main track, for a distance of seventeen hundred and ten and four-tenths feet, to the point of beginning, and containing in all sixty-seven and eightyseven one-hundredths acres, more or less, within the proposed pumping unit of the Minidoka project of the United States Reclamation Service. (41 Stat. 1454.) SPECIAL PATENT AUTHORIZED-APPROPRIATION TO RECLAMA- An act to authorize the issuance of patent to John Albert Thompson, and for other purposes. (Act December 30, 1919, ch. 30, 41 Stat. 1456) [Sec. 1. Patent to John Albert Thompson.]-That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to issue patent for the west half of the northeast quarter of section twentythree, township one hundred and fifty-eight north, range ninety west of the fifth principal meridian, North Dakota, to John Albert Thompson, pursuant to his homestead entry naught two thousand and twenty-two, Minot series. (41 Stat. 1456.) [Sec. 2. Appropriation to reclamation fund.]-That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed to set aside and appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of section 1 of the act of June 17, 1902, 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 reclamation of arid lands," the sum of $120, which was paid by said Thompson as purchase price of the described land. (41 Stat. 1456.) 181 the སེལ་ PREFERENCE RIGHTS TO SOLDIERS Joint resolution giving_to discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines a preferred right of homestead entry. (Joint resolution, February 14, 1920, Public Res. No. 29, ch. 76, 41 Stat. 434) [Sec. 1. World War veterans given preferred right of 60 days under homestead and desert-land laws.]-That hereafter, for the period of two years following the passage of this act, on the opening of public or Indian lands to entry, or the restoration to entry of public lands theretofore withdrawn from entry, such opening or restorat on shall in the order therefor, provide for a period of not less than sixty days before the general opening of such lands to disposal in which officers, soldiers, sailors, or marines who have served in the Army or Navy of the United States in the war with Germany and been honorably separated or discharged therefrom or placed in the Regular Army or Naval Reserve shall have a preferred right of entry under the homestead or desert-land laws, if qualified thereunder, except as against prior existing valid settlement rights and as against preference rights conferred by existing laws or equitable claims subject to allowance and confirmation: Provided, That the rights and benefits conferred by this act shall not extend to any person who, having been drafted for service under the provisions of the selective service act, shall have refused to render such service or to wear the uniform of such service of the United States. (41 Stat. 434.) Sec. 2. [Powers of Secretary.]-That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to make any and all regulations necessary to carry into full force and effect the provisions hereof. (41 Stat. 435.) NOTES Amendment.-This resolution amended by resolution of January 21, 1922 (42 Stat. 358); further amended by public resolution No. 79, December 28, 1922 (42 Stat. 1067), extending its provisions to those citizens of the United States who served with the allied armies during the World War, and who were honorably discharged upon the resumption of citizenship in the United States, provided the service with the allied armies was similar to service with the Army of the United States for which recognition is granted by said resolution No. 29, as amended. (See 49 L. D. 430. See also 49 L. D. 123.) See notes under resolution of January 21, 1922. Effect of amendment on orders of restoration prior to January 21, 1922.— Lands that had become subject to general disposition prior to January 21, 1922, will not be affected by the amendment, but where lands have been restored heretofore and the period of 63 days' preference right provided by Circular 678 (47 L. D. 346), had not expired January 21, the preference right for the officers, soldiers, sailors, and marines will be held to extend for the period of 91 days from the beginning of the period. (49 L. D. 1.) Regulations.-Proof of military service required. General Land Office regulations of March 31, 1920 (47 L. D. 346), C. L. No. 936, October 2, 1920; and instructions of November 18, 1921 (48 L. D. 302), C. L. No. 1064, December 19, 1921. Regulations at 47 L. D. 346 amended by instructions of General Land Office dated January 24, 1922; C. L. No. 1099, March 29, 1922. See also circular letters Nos. 871 and 874. OIL LEASING ACT [Extract from] An act to promote the mining of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas, and sodium on the public domain. (Act February 25, 1920, ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437) * * * NOTES * For instructions relating to coal-prospecting permit under section 2 of this act see 49 L. D. 646. See also C. L. 1244, July 26, 1923. Sec. 13. [Prospecting permits-Shall not be within known producing fields Notice of application for unsurveyed lands-Corner marks on reserved tracts-Drilling periods, etc., in Alaska.]-That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, under such necessary and proper rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to grant to any applicant qualified under this act a prospecting permit, which shall give the exclusive right, for a period not exceeding two years, to prospect for oil or gas upon not to exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres of land wherein such deposits belong to the United States and are not within any known geological structure of a producing oil or gas field upon condition that the permittee shall begin drilling operations within six months from the date of the permit, and shall, within one year from and after the date of permit, drill one or more wells for oil or gas to a depth of not less than five hundred feet each, unless valuable deposits of oil or gas shall be sooner discovered; and shall, within two years from date of the permit, drill for oil or gas to an aggregate depth of not less than two thousand feet, unless valuable deposits of oil or gas shall be sooner discovered. The Secretary of the Interior may, if he shall find that the permittee has been unable, with the exercise of diligence to test the land in the time granted by the permit, extend any such permit for such time, not exceeding two years, and upon such conditions as he shall prescribe. Whether the lands sought in any such application and permit are surveyed or unsurveyed the applicant shall, prior to filing his application for permit, locate such lands in a reasonably compact form and according to the legal subdivisions of the publicland surveys if the land be surveyed; and in an approximately square or rectangular tract if the land be an unsurveyed tract, the length of which shall not exceed two and one-half times its width, and if he shall cause to be erected upon the land for which a permit is sought a monument not less than four feet high, at some conspicuous place thereon, and shall post a notice in writing on or near said monument, stating that an application for permit will be made within thirty days after date of posting said notice, the name of the applicant, the date of the notice, and such a general description of the land to be covered by such permit by reference to courses and distances from such monument and such other natural objects and permanent monuments as will reasonably identify the land, stating the amount thereof in acres, he shall during the period of thirty days following such marking and posting, be entitled to a preference right over others to a permit for the land so identified. The applicant shall, within ninety days after receiving a permit, mark each of the corners of the tract described in the permit upon the ground with substantial monuments, so that the boundaries can be readily traced on the ground, and shall post in a conspicuous place upon the lands a notice that such permit has been granted and a description of the lands covered thereby: Provided, That in the Territory of Alaska prospecting permits not more than five in number may be granted to any qualified applicant for periods not exceeding four years, actual drilling operations shall begin within two years from date of permit, and oil and gas wells shall be drilled to a depth of not less than five hundred feet, unless valuable deposits of oil or gas shall be sooner discovered, within three years from date of the permit and to an aggregate depth of not less than two thousand feet, unless valuable deposits of oil or gas shall be sooner discovered, within four years from date of permit: Provided further, That in said Territory the applicant shall have a preference right over others to a permit for land identified by temporary monuments and notice posted on or near the same for six months following such marking and posting, and upon receiving a permit he shall mark the corners of the tract described in the permit upon the ground with substantial monuments within one year after receiving such permit. (41 Stat. 441.) Prospecting permits.-The Secretary of the Interior has discretionary authority under section 13 of this act to deny an application for an oil and gas prospecting permit embracing lands within a reclamation withdrawal, which, though owned by the United States, have been dedicated to purposes authorized by law, if the permit may not be granted except at the risk of serious impairment or perhaps complete loss of their use for the purpose to which dedicated. (Martin Wolfe, 49 L. D. 625; C. L. 1258, September 20, 1923.) The word authorized as used in section 13 of this act is to be construed as clothing the Secretary of the Interior with discretionary authority in the granting of oil and gas permits under that section. (Idem.) 66 An oil and gas prospecting permit will be denied under section 13 of the act of February 25, 1920, for lands dedicated to some special public purpose, such as a bird reservation, if drilling operations will jeopardize or impair the use of the land for the special purpose to which it was dedicated. (J. D. Mell et al., 50 L. D. 308; C. L. 1258, September 20, 1923; C. L. 1259, September 24, 1923.) Lands acquired by purchase or condemnation pursuant to section 7 of the reclamation act, when no longer needed for reclamation purposes, can be disposed of only at public auction, and the proceeds derived therefrom must be placed in the reclamation fund to the credit of the particular project; such lands and the oil and gas deposits therein are not subject to prospecting or lease under the act of February 25, 1920. (Idem.) Improvements.-Public lands withdrawn for a reservoir site, which can not be restored to the public domain without damage to the project, or which have, because of improvements placed thereon, become lands that may be sold only for the benefit of the reclamation fund, are not subject to the operation of the leasing act of February 25, 1920. (Idem.) Public lands withdrawn for a reservoir site, or other similar purpose, which contain deposits of oil or gas, may be restored and leased pursuant to the act of February 25, 1920, where their restoration can be effected without damage to the project, or unless, because of improvements placed thereon, the lands have become subject to disposition only by sale for the benefit of the reclama |