Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 49 Part 1.djvu/720

 74TH CONGRESS. SESS. I. CH. 599. AUGUST 21, 1935 . sion of any permit be yond Dece mber 31, 1 938, shall be grant ed un der authority of this Act, or any other Act. W het her the lan ds sought in any such application and permit are surveyed or unsur- v eyed the ap plica nt sh all, p rior to fi ling his ap plica tion for pe rmit, locate such lands in a reasonably compact form and according to the legal subdivisions of the public-land 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 sh all post a notice in writing on or near said monume nt, stat- ing that an a pplication for permi t will be made with in thirty days a fter date of post ing said notice, the name of the a pplicant, the date of t he notice, and such a general descripti on 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 thi rty 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 receiv- ing 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 : Prov ided furt her, Th at in the Territory of Alaska prospecting permits not more t han five in numbe r 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 valuab le deposits of oi l or gas shall be sooner discovere d, within three years from date of the permit and to an aggregate depth of not le ss than two thous and feet unless v aluable 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 te mpor ary mon umen ts and not ice post ed on or near the sam e for six months following such marking and posting, and upon receiv- ing 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 : Provided further, That any person holding a permit to prospect for oil or gas which shall not be subject to cancelation for violation of the law or operating regula- tions or which shall have been extended under the authority of this or any other Act, in force on or after the effective date of this am endatory Act, or for which timely and acceptable ap plication for extensio n shall have been filed prior to said date, shall have the right pr ior to the termin ation of such per mit to exchange t he same for a lease to the area described in the permit without proof of discovery, at a royalty of not less than 121/2 per centum or value of the produc- tion, to be determined by the Secretary of the Interior by eneral rule and under such other conditions as are fixed in section' 17 of this Act : Provided fu rther, That no such lease shall be subject to the acreage limitations of section 27 of this Act, as amended, until one year after the discovery of valuable deposits of oil or gas thereon : Provided further, That any application for any prospecting permit filed af ter ninety days p rior to the effec tive date of this Location sites. Dimensions. 675 Notices ; posting ; con- tents. Corner marks on tracts . Drilling periods in Al aska. Preference rights of a pplic ant. Exchange of valid permits for leases here- under. Royalty. Acreage lim itati ons not to apply. Vol .41,p.448;U.S. C.,p .1342. L eases to supe rsede prospecting permits.