Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/135

123 HOMESTEAD 123 Commissions. Fee. Total of Acres. Acre. Payable when Entry is made. Payable when final Proof is made. Payable when Entry is made. Com mis sions. 160 $2 50 $8 00 $8 00 $10 00 $26 00 80 2 50 4 00 4 00 5 00 13 00 40 2 50 2 00 2 00 5 00 9 00 160 1 25 4 00 4 00 10 00 18 00 80 1 25 2 00 2 00 5 00 9 00 40 1 25 1 00 1 00 5 00 7 00 On lauds in California, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, and in the Territories of Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, the commissions are 50 per cent, greater, but the fees are as given above. If the settler does not wish to remain five years upon his land, the law permits him to pay for it with cash, military bounty land warrants, or agricultural college, private claim, or certain other scrip, upon making proof of residence and cultivation for a period of riot less than six months from date of entry. Scrip is a paper issued by the Government, either as a gratuity, or in lieu of a claim for lands, and made receivable by the land bureau in payment for other lands. When the land is paid for in this way the homestead becomes virtu ally a &quot;pre-emption.&quot; Every person qualified to make a homestead entry is also a qualified pre-emptor, provided he is already the owner of 320 acres of land in the United States, and does not abandon a residence on his own land, in the same State or Territory, to go upon the land he wishes to pre-empt ; but only one pre-emption can be made by any citizen. Land to the extent of 160 acres may be obtained by actual settlers under the pre-emption laws, by purchase (sections 2257 to 2288, U. S. Revised Statutes). A residence of at ! least six months, with cultivation and improvement of the land, is required. Pre-emption claims may he initiated upon un surveyed lands, although in such a case title cannot be obtained until after the official survey has been made. The first step in securing a pre emption right is to go upon the land and commence &quot;improvements/ When this has been done, if the land is &quot;offered&quot; that is, if at some time it has been offered at public sale by proclamation of the president, or otherwise the applicant, within thirty days from date of his settlement, must file with the district land office a declaratory statement setting forth his claim ; and within one year from date of settlement he must appear before the registrar and receiver, and make proof of actual residence on and cultivation of the tract. He will then be permitted to obtain title to the land, by locating upon it land warrants or scrip, or by paying for it with cash at the rate of $1.25 per acre, or, if within the limits of a public improvement grant, at the rate of $2.50 per acre. In case the land has not been offered at public sale, the applicant has three months after settle- ment within which to file his declaratory statement with the local land officers, and thirty -three months from settlement within which to make final proof and payment for the land. If the land is un- surveyed when the settlement is made, the claimant must file his declaratory statement within three months from the date of the receipt at the district land office of the approved plat of survey of the township embracing the tract. Where compliance with the requirements of the homestead or pre-emption laws is rendered diffi cult or impossible in consequence of the destruction of crops by grasshoppers, an absence of one year is allowed, during which time no adverse right can accrue. Public notice by advertisement must he given, under direction of the registrar, before final proof can be made in homestead and pre-emption entries. Under the homestead laws the land is virtually a gift to the settler by the Government, in consideration of settlement and cultivation, the fees charged being about sufficient to cover the cost of entry and conveyance. Under the pre-emption laws the right of purchase is conceded to the actual settler only. With regard to the value of improvements which must be put upon the land in order to entitle the claimant to make final proof and obtain a patent, nothing is definitely stated in the laws themselves, and no absolute rule has been laid down by the general land office ; it can only be said generally that homestead and pre-emption improvements must be sufficient to satisfy the land officers that settlement has been made in good faith. A habitable house, which must be used as the home of the settler, with his family, if lie is the head of a family, is always required, and a part of the claim must be brought under cultivation. It will be noted that under the homestead laws none but citizens of the United States, native or naturalized, can make final proof and receive a patent, while a pre-emption entry may be made and consummated by a settler who has declared his intention to become a citizen, whether or not he has taken out his final citizenship papers. After a settler has exercised his right of pre-emption, and obtained title to his claim, there is nothing in the laws or in the regulations of the department to prevent him from proceeding to settle upon another tract under the homestead law ; and he may also, during the time he is residing upon his pro emption or home stead claim, make entry of 160 acres under the &quot;timber culture act.&quot; It is possible for a settler in this way to acquire title to an aggregate quantity of 480 acres ; and this is frequently done. The privileges of the land laws of the United States are extended equally to male and female citizens. Lands entered under the homestead and pre-emption laws are exempt from taxation during the term of residence necessary to acquire title ; and in a majority of the States such lands are not taxable until a patent has been issued. Upon the death of a claimant under the homestead, pre-emption, or tim ber culture laws, any rights he may have acquired accrue to his heirs. Large portions of the unoccupied public lands of the United States are devoid of timber. &quot; To encourage the growth of timber on the western prairies &quot; the following privileges are granted by the Act of March 3, 1873, and subsequent amendments. Any person who is the head of a family or over twenty-one years of age, and who is a citizen of the United States, or has declared his intention to become such, may enter as a &quot;timber culture&quot; claim one-quarter section (160 acres) of prairie land, upon making affi davit to the fact that he desires for his own benefit to plant and cultivate timber upon the tract. The section of land in which such an entry is made must be naturally devoid of limber, and only one- quarter of any one section can be entered. A person making an entry of 160 acres is required to break or plough 5 acres during the first year and 5 acres in addition during the second year. The 5 acres broken or ploughed during the first year he is required to cultivate during the second year, and to plant in timber, seeds, or cuttings during the third year. The 5 acres broken or ploughed during the second year he is reqiiired to cultivate during the third year, and to plant in timber, seeds, or cuttings duringthe fourth year. Land embraced in entries of a less quantity than one-quarter section must be cultivated arid planted during the same periods and in the same proportion, viz., to the amount of one-sixteenth of the area claimed. The trees must be such ns are suitable for timber, the culti vation of fruit trees and shrubbery not being sufficient. Provision is made under the act for an extension of time in cr.sc the trees, seeds, or cuttings planted should be destroyed by grasshoppers or 1 y extien:e arid unusual drought. If, at the expiration of eight years from the date of entry, or at any time within five years thereafter, the claim ant shall prove by two credible witnesses that he has successfully cultivated the required amount of timber for not less than eight years, according to fhe provisions of the act of June 14, 1878, lie will be entitled to a patent for the hind embraced in the entry. At any time after one year from the date of entry, if the applicai.t fails to comply with any of the requirements of the act, his claim becomes liable to contest, and, upon due proof of such failure, the entry will be cancelled and the land become again subject to entry under the homestead laws, or by some other person, under the Act of June 14, 1878. The fees for timber culture entries are $10 if the tract applied for is more than 80 acres, and $5 if it is 80 acres or less. The commissions on all entries are $4 at the date of entry, and $4 at the date of final proof. The foregoing statements refer to public lands which are agri cultural in character. There are special laws for the disposal of desert lands, mineral lands, town sites on the public domain, and lands which are unfit for cultivation, and valuable chiefly for timber or stone. By deser-t lands is meant a class of lands which will not. without irrigation, &quot;produce any agricultural crop.&quot; Title to such lands in any of the following States and Territories may be acquire d under Act of Congress of March 3, 1877: the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, and Dakota. Any person desiring to avail himself thereof must file with the registrar and receiver of the proper land office a declaration, under oath, setting forth that the applicant is a citizen of the United States or that he has declared his intention to become such, that he has made no other declaration for desert lands, and that he intends to reclaim the tract applied for, not exceeding one section, by conducting water thereon within three years from the date of his declaration ; and he must show by the testimony of at least two disinterested and credible witnesses that the tract applied for is desert land. After this proof has been made to the satisfaction of the district officers, 25 cents per acre will be received from the applicant as a prelimi nary payment for the land. At any time within three years after the date of the filing of his declaration the claimant may offer proof that he has conducted water upon the land, which proof must consist of the testimony of at least two disinterested and credible witnesses. When such proof is satisfactory to the district officers, the final payment of $1 per acre may be made, and the papers will be forwarded to the general land office at Washington, as the basis for a patent. The laws extending the homestead, pre-emption, timber culture, and desert land entry privileges make bonafidc settlement or im provement of the land a condition precedent to obtaining title. The United States Government does not offer at public sale any of