Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 25.djvu/1054

 FIFTIETH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ons. 414, 415. 1889. 1009 That where the original cash purchasers are the present owners this can pmmms. act shall be operative to confirm the title onl of such said cash purchasers as the Secretary of the Interior shall be satisfied have purchased without fraud and in the belief that they were thereby obtainugg valid title from the United States. That nothing herein contain shall be construed to confirm any sales or entries of lands, or any tract in any such State selection, upon which there were bona fide preemption or homestead claims on the first day of PM-emrtion md May, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, arising or asserted by actual h°m°"°“d °m'"‘ occupation of the land under color of the laws of the United States, and all such preem tion and homestead claims are hereby confirmed. Sec. 4. That no l)ands declared forfeited to the United States by Dtgpositiou or lopthis act shall inure to the benefit of any State or corporation to '°‘ '“"“S· which lands ma have been ranted by Congress except as herein otherwise provided; nor shall this act be construed to enlarge the area of land originally covered by any such grant, or to waive or release in any way any right of the United States now existing to have any other ands granted by them, as recited in the first section, forfeited for any failure, past or future, to compl with the conditions of the (grant. Nor shall the moiety of the Lnds granted to any railroa company on account of a main and a branch line appertaining to uncompleted road, and hereby forfeited, within the conflicting limits of 518 grants for such main and branch lines, when but one of such lines has been completed, inure, by virtue of the forfeiture hereby declared, to the benefit of the completed line. SEO. 5. That all persons who may have settled upon and are now Present settlers inin possession of any of the lands hereby forfeited, and who may de- }§}'$,{'},,§’0}”,*;?‘,§’d§,'§c“QY sire to enter the same under the homestead law, shall be allowed, when making nnal proof, for the time they have already resided upon and cultivated the same. Approved, March 2, 1889. A 415.-An act to provide for the protection of the salmon fisheries of Merch 2·|889· as Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Reineseniafires of the United Skates of America in Congress a.s·.s·emble¢, That the erection Salmon emacs of dams, barricades, or other obstructions in any of the rivers of *“§€.*f,‘ém,,,,,,d,m,_ Alaska, with the purpose or result of preventing or impeding the gay-· in dm ¤¤¤¤*- ascent of salmon or other anadromous species to their spawning ' ounds, is hereby declared to be unlawful. and the Secretary of the il·eaSm·y.1¤ hereby authorized and directed to establish such regulations and surveillance as may be necessary to insure that this prohibition is strictly enforced and to otherwise rotect the salmon nsheries of Alaska; and every person who shall be found guilty of a P¤¤i¤h¤w¤t. violation of the provisions of this section shall be fined not less than two hundred and fifty dollars for each day of the continuance of _ such obstruction. - _ Sno 2. That the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries is hereby Iqvmignrign into, empowered and directed to institute an investigation into the habits, ° "° abundance, and distribution of the salmon of Alaska, as well as the present conditions and methods of the fisheries, with a view of recomunending to Congress such additional legislation as may be necessary to revent the impairment or exhaustion of these valuable fisheries, and placing them under regular and permanent conditions of production. SEC 3. That section nineteen hundred and fifty-six of the Revised Beprmzseq. _ Statutes of the United States is hereby declared to include and ayéply ,§,m,m'?§°'h{“‘{g*§"§;F to all the dominion of, the United States in the waters of Behring ea; and it shall be the dut of the President, at a timely season in_each K.S..¤¤¢.K.ll.8II. year, to issue his proclamation and cause the same to be published 1"°°'*"'“"'*· · sur L--·VOL XXV--64