cuted their claims; it is also a legal presumption that the officers of the government performed their duty when the claims were presented, and determined the same upon the merits of each case.

The act of June 2, 1858, was passed for the relief of a certain class of claimants; not for the relief of all whose names were reported by Commissioner Cosby, nor for all of those who had originally presented claims, but only for those whose claims had been confirmed by Congress. The third section of the act of March 3, 1819, expressly excepted from confirmation all settlement claims in conflict with prior confirmed grants. Of this class, Hatchell's is one.

The third and twelfth sections of the same act confirmed only those claims where settlement was made prior to April 15, 1813.

There is nothing in the act of June 2, 1858, which relieves the land department of the duty of ascertaining the fact that a claim has been confirmed before scrip can issue. And the applicant must establish that fact to the satisfaction of the department, both in regard to the matter of settlement and the matter of location. In view of the fact that many years have elapsed since the claims were initiated, the probable loss of many documents, the difficulty of definitely locating the land, and the death of most of the witnesses, it cannot be expected that the evidence submitted will be of that positive and convincing character that would be required to establish a claim of a recent date. The original documents should be submitted in all cases, unless their loss is accounted for; additional evidence, parol or documentary, either direct or circumstantial, may be admitted. With reference to the matter of location, it is not necessary that the exact limits of the original claim should be defined, unless in close proximity to a confirmed private land claim, but its approximate location must be established in order that the department may be satisfied that it does not conflict with claims recognized by the first and second sections of the act of March 3, 1819. surveyor general should be instructed to give all the aid and assistance in his power in the determination of the status of each case. The local officers should be instructed to submit the evidence, with their report and recommendation, to you, for your consideration, and should you be satisfied that certificate should issue, you will direct the register and receiver to issue the same, and, upon presentation to the surveyor general, certificate of location should issue as required by the act of June 2, 1858.

The

Each case must depend upon its merits, as the question of confirmation is one of fact. Experience and reason demonstrate that these precautions are necessary in order to protect the government from imposition by fraud and speculation.

It is alleged that the claims recognized by the third section of the act of March 3, 1819, were confirmed, and that the requirements of the twelfth section and the instructions issued thereunder November 15, 1819, and August 13, 1823, had reference to applications for patents for specific tracts of land, and that they do not apply to applications for scrip under the remedial act. I cannot concur in this view. The objects are the same. In the one case, before a patent can issue the land department must be satisfied that the tract for which patent is asked has been confirmed. This is ascertained by means of evidence establishing the fact of settlement, and by means of a survey establishing the location of the tract; one object of the survey is to show that the claim does not conflict with prior grants. In the other case, applications for scrip can be based only upon confirmed claims, and in order to ascertain the status of said claims the evidence of settlement and location must be satisfactory.

It is also alleged that the practice of your office prior to August 26, 1872, was to recognize the claims reported as confirmed. The presumption is, however, that in each case the Commissioner of the Land Office was satisfied that the certificate was fairly obtained, according to the true intent and meaning of the law. If, in some instances, hardship should result from the inability of the applicant to furnish the necessary proof, relief must be sought in additional legislation."

The certificate issued to the representative of William Hatchell was erroneously issued, and your decision, approving the action of the surveyor general, is affirmed. The papers in the case are herewith returned.

Very respectfully,

The COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE.

SOUTHERN PUBLIC LANDS.

C. SCHURZ, Secretary.

The act of Congress of the 22d June, 1876 (19 Stat., pp. 73 and 74), in providing for the restoration to market for sale at ordinary private entry of all the public lands in the five States of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida, made necessary a vast amount of work, in addition to the current official business, for the purpose of examining the records in this office, in order to select the vacant tracts and include

them in descriptive lists; for the comparison of these with corresponding lists made up from the records of the several district land offices and the correction of any errors found to exist therein; the preparation of executive proclamations, and the offering of the land for sale in the manner prescribed in chapter 7, title 32, of the Revised Statutes of the United States. Since the statement in reference to this matter, to be found on pages 49 and 50 of the last annual report, was drawn up, the work has been pursued, until now comparatively little remains to be done to bring it to a close.

1. The vacant public lands in the State of Alabama, included in the former Saint Stephens, Demopolis, Greenville, Elba, Montgomery, and part of the former Lebanon land districts, comprising more than onehalf of the State, have been proclaimed and will be offered, a portion at Montgomery, on the 19th November, 1878, and the remainder at Mobile, on the 26th of the same month. This leaves the lands in the northern portion of the State, embraced in the former Tuscaloosa and Huntsville districts and in the northern portion of the former Lebanon district, unproclaimed. These lands have been listed and examined and are ready to be proclaimed for sale, but this action has been deferred until an investigation can be had, in view of allegations having been made that they are in great part mineral and not legally subject to sale as agricultural lands.

2. The vacant public lands in the State of Mississippi have all been proclaimed, and they were to have been offered at the district land office at Jackson, Miss., a portion October 29, 1878, and the residue December 3, 1878; but in view of the prevalence of the yellow fever in that section of the country, the offering proclaimed for the former date has been postponed, and will take place at the latter.

3. Lists have been made up from the records of this office of all the lands found on examination to be vacant in the State of Louisiana. About two-fifths of the lists of these lands required to be made out from the records of the district offices, and sent here for comparison therewith, have been received. It is expected that the residue will be received in a short time, and that the lands in this State will all be proclaimed and offered early in the ensuing year.

4. The public lands in Arkansas have all been offered at public sale, pursuant to Presidential proclamation, offerings having been held as follows, viz: One at Harrison, beginning on the 1st October, 1877; one at Little Rock, beginning on the 22d of the same month, and another beginning on the 4th February, 1858; one at Camden, and one at Dardanelle, each beginning on the 4th February, 1858.

5. In the State of Florida, a proclamation has been issued for the sale of vacant lands in the former Newnansville land district, south of the base line and east of the Tallahassee meridian, and within the following limits, viz: The base line on the north and the line between townships 19 south and 20 south, on the south; the line between ranges 24 east and 25 east, on the east; and the line between ranges 11 east and 12 east, on the west. These lands are to be offered at the district land office at Gainesville on the 29th October, 1878. Much labor has been devoted to perfecting lists of the vacant lands in the former Saint Augustine and Tampa land districts, and in the course of a few months all the vacant lands in the State will have been offered under said act.

TIMBER AND STONE LANDS.

The act of Congress approved June 3, 1878, entitled "An act for the sale of timber lands in the States of California, Oregon, Nevada, and

Washington Territory," provides a new method of disposing of public lands, as it contains provisions for the sale of surveyed public lands in the States and Territory mentioned which are not yet proclaimed and offered at public sale, which are valuable chiefly for timber or stone, unfit for cultivation, and, consequently, unfit for disposal under the preemption and homestead laws. This office has prepared and issued the following circular instructions for giving effect to the provisions referred to, viz:

Circular to the registers and receivers of United States district land offices in California, Ore gon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., August 13, 1878. GENTLEMEN: Your attention is directed to the first, second, and third sections of the act of Congress approved June 3, 1878, entitled "An act for the sale of timber lands in the States of California, Oregon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory." These sections provide for the sale of surveyed lands not yet proclaimed and offered at public sale, valuable chiefly for timber and stone, unfit for cultivation, and, consequently, for disposal under the pre-emption and homestead laws.

I refer you to the terms of the act, a copy of which is annexed. The provisions of the sections indicated, which are in specific language, must be strictly observed. When a party applies to purchase a tract thereunder, you will require him to make affidavit that he is a citizen of the United States by birth or naturalization, or that he has declared his intention to become a citizen under the naturalization laws. If native born, parol evidence of that fact will be received. If not native born, record evidence of the prescribed qualification must be furnished. In connection therewith, he will be required to make the sworn statement in duplicate, according to the attached form, No. 1, as provided for in the second section of the act. One of the duplicate statements filed in each case is by the act required to be transmitted to this office, and you will accordingly send up with your monthly returns the duplicate statements to be transmitted for the month.

The evidence in regard to the publication of notice, required to be furnished in the third section of the act, must consist of the affidavit of the publisher or other person having charge of the newspaper in which the notice is published, with a copy of the notice attached thereto, setting forth the nature of his connection with the paper, and that the notice was duly published for the prescribed period. The evidence required in the same section with regard to the non-mineral character of the land and its unoccupied and unimproved condition, must consist of the testimony of at least two disinterested witnesses, who must swear that they know the facts to which they testify from personal inspection of the land and of each of its smallest legal subdivisions, as per form attached, No. 2. This testimony may be taken before the register or receiver, or any officer using an official seal and authorized to administer oaths in the land district in which the land lies. Upon such proof being produced, if no adverse claim shall have been filed, the entry applied for may be allowed in pursuance of the provisions of the act. The receiver will issue his receipt for the purchase money, and the register his certificate of purchase, numbering the entry in the regular cash series. Forms of application, receipt, and certificate are attached, Nos. 3, 4, and 5. You will enter the sale on your books and make the usual returns therefor to this office, noting on the monthly abstracts, opposite the entry, and on the entry papers, a reference to the act of Congress under which allowed. You will forward all the papers in the case with the returns to this office, except the retained duplicate statement filed under the second section of the act, to which you will give the same number with the other papers for the entry, and retain it on the appropriate file with the formal application in your office.

You will be entitled to a fee of $5 each for allowing an entry under said act, and jointly at the rate of 224 cents per hundred words for testimony reduced by you to writing for claimants, which will be accounted for as other fees.

If, at the expiration of the sixty days' notice provided for in the third section of the act, an adverse claim should be found to exist, calling for an investigation, you will proceed in the case according to the rules of practice approved November 29, 1875, pages 7, 8, and 9 of pamphlet.

In case of an association of persons making application for such entry, each such person must prove the requisite qualifications, and their names must appear in, and be subscribed to, the sworn statement as in case of an individual person. They must also unite in the regular application for entry, which will be made in their joint names as in other cases of joint cash entry. The forms herewith may be adapted to cover applications of this class.

The fourth and fifth sections of the act of June 3, 1878, relative to the cutting and removing of timber from the public lands in Calfornia, Oregon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory, do not require consideration in connection with the foregoing in regard to the sale of certain lands provided for in the previous sections.

Very respectfully,

J. A. WILLIAMSON,

Commissioner.

AN ACT for the sale of timber lands in the States of California, Oregon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That surveyed public lands of the United States within the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and in Washington Territory, not included within military, Indian, or other reservations of the United States, valuable chiefly for timber, but unfit for cultivation, and which have not been offered at public sale according to law, may be sold to citizens of the United States, or persons who have declared their intention to become such, in quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one person or association of persons, at the minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre; and lands valuable chiefly for stone may be sold on the same terms as timber lands: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall defeat or impair any bona-fide claim under any law of the United States, or authorize the sale of any mining claim, or the improvements of any bona-fide settler, or lands containing gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal, or lands selected by the said States under any law of the United States donating lands for internal improvements, education, or other purposes: And provided further, That none of the rights conferred by the act approved July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, entitled "An act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes," shall be abrogated by this act; and all patents granted shall be subjeet to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been acquired under and by the provisions of said act; and such rights shall be expressly reserved in any patent issued under this act.

SEC. 2. That any person desiring to avail himself of the provisions of this act shall file with the register of the proper district a written statement in duplicate, one of which is to be transmitted to the General Land Office, designating by legal subdivisions the particular tract of land he desires to purchase, setting forth that the same is unfit for cultivation, and valuable chiefly for its timber or stone; that it is uninhabited; contains no mining or other improvements, except for ditch or canal purposes, where any such do exist, save such as were made by or belong to the applicant, nor, as deponent verily believes, any valuable deposit of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal; that deponent has made no other application under this act; that he does not apply to purchase the same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive use and benefit; and that he has not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with any person or persons whatsoever, by which the title which he might acquire from the government of the United States should inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person except himself; which statement must be verified by the oath of the applicant before the register or the receiver of the land-office within the district where the land is situated; and if any person taking such oath shall swear falsely in the premises, he shall be subject to all the pains and penalties of perjury, and shall forfeit the money which he may have paid for said lands, and all right and title to the same; and any grant or conveyance which he may have made, except in the hands of bona-fide purchasers, shall be null and void.

SEC. 3. That upon the filing of said statement, as provided in the second section of this act, the register of the land-office shall post a notice of such application, embracing a description of the land by legal subdivisions, in his office, for a period of sixty days, and shall furnish the applicant a copy of the same for publication, at the expense of such applicant, in a newspaper published nearest the location of the premises, for a like period of time; and after the expiration of said sixty days, if no adverse claim shall have been filed, the person desiring to purchase shall furnish to the register of the land-office satisfactory evidence, first, that said notice of the application prepared by the register as aforesaid was duly published in a newspaper as herein required; secondly, that the land is of the character contemplated in this act, unoccupied and without improvements, other than those excepted, either mining or agricultural, and that it apparently contains no valuable deposits of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal; and upon payment to the proper officer of the purchase-money of said land,

together with the fees of the register and the receiver, as provided for in case of mining claims in the twelfth section of the act approved May tenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, the applicant may be permitted to enter said tract, and, on the transmission to the General Land Office of the papers and testimony in the case, a patent shall issue thereon: Provided, That any person having a valid claim to any portion of the land may object, in writing, to the issuance of a patent to lands so held by him, stating the nature of his claim thereto; and evidence shall be taken, and the merits of said objection shall be determined by the officers of the land-office, subject to appeal, as in other land cases. Effect shall be given to the foregoing provisions of this act by regulations to be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

SEC. 4. That after the passage of this act it shall be unlawful to cut, or cause or procure to be cut, or wantonly destroy, any timber growing on any lands of the United States, in said States and Territory, or remove, or cause to be removed, any timber from said public lands, with intent to export or dispose of the same; and no owner, master, or consignee of any vessel, or owner, director, or agent of any railroad, shall knowingly transport the same, or any lumber manufactured therefrom; and any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be fined for every such offense a sum not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent any miner or agriculturist from clearing his land in the ordinary working of his mining claim, or preparing his farm for tillage, or from taking the timber necessary to support his improvements, or the taking of timber for the use of the United States; and the penalties herein provided shall not take effect until ninety days after the passage of this act.

SEC. 5. That any person prosecuted in said States and Territory for violating section two thousand four hundred and sixty-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States who is not prosecuted for cutting timber for export from the United States, may be relieved from further prosecution and liability therefor upon payment, into the court wherein said action is pending, of the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per acre for all lands on which he shall have cut or caused to be cut timber, or removed or caused to be removed the same: Provided, That nothing contained in this section shall be construed as granting to the person hereby relieved the title to said lands for said payment; but he shall have the right to purchase the same upon the same terms and conditions as other persons, as provided hereinbefore in this act: And further provided, That all moneys collected under this act shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States. And section four thousand seven hundred and fifty-one of the Revised Statutes is hereby repealed, so far as it relates to the States and Territory herein named.

SEC. 6. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

Approved June 3, 1878.

[Revised Statutes of the United States. Title LXX.-Crimes.-Ch. 4.]

SEC. 5392. Every person who, having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true, is guilty of perjury, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment, at hard labor, not more than five years; and shall, moreover, thereafter be incapable of giving testimony in any court of the United States until such time as the judgment against him is reversed. [See § 1750.]

[FORM No. 1.]

Sworn statement under act of June 3, 1878.

LAND OFFICE AT
(Date)

18-.

I,

of

of section

County,

township

desiring to avail myself of the provisions of the act of Congress of June 3, 1878, entitled "An act for the sale of timber-lands in the States of California, Oregon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory," for the purchase of the of range do solemnly [swear or affirm] that [here state whether the applicant is a citizen of the United States by birth or naturalization, or has declared his intention of becoming a citizen;*] that the said land is unfit for cultivation, and valuable chiefly for its [timber or stone]; that it is uninhabited; that it contains no mining or other improvements [here except such as were made for ditch or canal purposes, if any, or such as were made by or belong to the applicant, if any],