therefrom to property of any kind," and by the provisions of the acts of March 3, 1879, June 14, 1880, and March 3, 1881, appropriation was made for the completion of the survey above referred to and the construction of said reservoirs; and

Whereas it appears by the report of the United States engineer having in charge the survey provided for by said act, which report was made to the Secretary of War, and dated St. Paul, Minn., November 4, 1881, that certain vacant public lands of the United States in the State of Minnesota will be affected in the event of affirmative Congressional action upon said matter, and which action by the appropriations aforesaid has now been taken: Therefore,

I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States, do hereby direct that the following-described public lands in the State of Minnesota, being lands referred to in said report, be withheld from sale or disposal under the various acts for the sale and disposal of the public lands:

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 28th day of November, A. D. 1881.

By the President:

N. C. MCFARLAND,

Commissioner General Land Office.

O

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

SELECTION OF TIMBER LANDS IN LIEU OF LANDS IN FOREST RESERVES.

JANUARY 25, 1905.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. HANSBROUGH, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 14622.]

The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 14622) prohibiting the selection of timber lands in lieu of lands in forest reserves, having had the same under consideration, beg leave to report it back with the following amendments, and recommend that as amended the bill do pass:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

That in cases in which a tract of land covered by an unperfected bona fide claim lawfully initiated, or by a patent, is included within the limits of a public forest reservation hereafter created, the settler or owner thereof may, if he desires to do so, with the consent of the Secretary of the Interior, relinquish the tract to the Government, in which case he shall be entitled to receive from the Government compensation for all his right, title, or interest in the land so relinquished, including improvements thereon, if any, such sum as may be agreed upon between the Secretary of the Interior and the party so relinquishing, after examination, appraisement, and report by an official of the Department of the Interior: Provided, That no payment or payments under the provisions of this section shall be made until the sum or sums required for that purpose shall have been appropriated by Congress, on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 2. That no forest reservation shall hereafter be created covering any lieu land or lands within the place or indemnity limits of any railroad land grant or any platted city, village, or town.

SEC. 3. That all selections of land made in lieu of land hereafter relinquished to the United States, within any public forest reservation heretofore created, shall be limited to land of the same character and quality both as to soil and timber as the land so relinquished, and no selection shall be allowed in lieu of any land that has been denuded of its timber: Provided, That the selection of lieu lands shall be limited to lands within the State or Territory within the boundaries of which the land serving as a base of exchange is situated: Provided further, That nothing herein contained shall in any manner affect the provisions of the agreement heretofore entered into by the Secretary of the Interior for the exchange of lands within the San Francisco Mountains Forest Reserve.

SEC. 4. That in the event of the modification or revocation of any order of the President or of the Secretary of the Interior temporarily withdrawing lands from settlement and entry for a proposed forest reserve, resulting in the release of lands from

such withdrawal, or in the event of the exclusion or release of lands from any forest reserve established by the President under section twenty-four of the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An act to repeal timberculture laws, and for other purposes," the nonmineral public lands so released from temporary withdrawal, or excluded or released from a forest reserve, shall become subject to settlement from the date of the order or proclamation so releasing or excluding them, but shall not become subject to entry, filing, or selection under any law providing for the disposal of nonmineral public lands until after ninety days' notice by such publication as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe: Provided, however, That a preference right for thirty days after the expiration of said period of publication is hereby granted to bona fide settlers on said lands to make entry of the same under the provisions of the homestead laws.

SEC. 5. That the Secretary having supervision of forest reserves may, upon application or otherwise, ascertain, list, and describe, by metes and bounds or otherwise, lands within such reserves which are chiefly valuable for agriculture, and the lands so listed may, at the expiration of ninety days from the filing of such lists in the land office of the land district in which they are situated, be disposed of to actual settlers under the homestead laws only, in tracts not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in area and not exceeding one and one-half miles in length: Provided, That when such lands are ascertained and listed upon the application of any person qualified to make homestead entry, such applicant may settle upon and enter such lands thirty days after the date of such filing: Provided further, That no person settling upon, entering, or occupying such lands shall thereby have a right to use any other lands within such reserve for grazing or other purposes; that any entryman desiring to obtain patent to any lands described by metes and bounds entered by him under the provisions of this act may do so by filing with the required proof of residence and cultivation a plat and field notes of the lands entered, made by or under the direction of the United States surveyor-general showing accurately the boundaries of such lands, which shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of the time and place of offering proof, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat during the period prescribed for the publication of his notice of intention to offer proof, and that a copy of such plat and field notes shall also be kept posted in the office of the register of the land office for the land district in which such lands are situated for a like period: And provided further, That any agricultural lands within forest reserves may, at the discretion of the Secretary, be surveyed by metes and bounds, but that no lands entered under these provisions shall be patented under the commutation provisions of the homestead laws or be exchanged for other public lands.

The proposed amendment is the substitution of Senate bill 4429, which is now upon the Calendar, in lieu of the House bill. Section 3 of the amended bill covers the points reached by section 1 of the House act. Section 1 of the amended bill provides a method of surrender of lands which may be found to be in private ownership and within the bounds of any forest reservation hereafter created.

Section 2 limits the creation of forest reservations to tracts of land which do not contain lieu lands or lands within the place or indemnity limits of any railroad land grant or any platted city, village, or town. Section 4 was drafted in the Department of the Interior and provides for the manner of taking up of lands which are restored to entry upon the abandonment of a proposed forest reservation.

Section 5 is also a departmental measure and provides for homesteads within forest reservations where the land in the valleys or in other localities is found to be specially adapted for grazing or agricultural purposes, specifically enacting, however, that the settler thereon shall have no right by virtue of his homestead to graze on the other lands within the forest reservation.

The committee recommends that the title be amended so as to read: "An act relating to the creation of forest reservations on the public domain, and for other purposes."

O

3d Session.

No. 3333.

USE OF EARTH, STONE, AND TIMBER IN CERTAIN CONSTRUCTION WORKS.

JANUARY 25, 1905.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. HANSBROUGH, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 14710.]

The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 14710) authorizing the use of earth, stone, and timber on the public lands and forest reserves of the United States in the construction of works under the national irrigation law, having had the same under consideration, beg leave to report it back with the following amendment and recommend that as amended the bill do pass:

In lines 9 and 10 strike out the words "and forest reserves."
In line 11, after the word "works," add the following:

And the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to permit the use of earth, stone, and timber from the forest reserves of the United States for the same purpose, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him.

The necessity for the amendment is due to the fact that proposed legislation puts the control of forest reserves under the Secretary of Agriculture.

The House report on this measure is as follows:

[House Report No. 2584, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session.]

The Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands, having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 14710) authorizing the use of earth, stone, and timber on the public lands and forest reserves of the United States in the construction of works under the national irrigation law, report the same back with the recommendation that it do pass.

In the national irrigation law of June 17, 1902, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to use the reclamation fund "in the examination and surveys for and the construction and maintenance of irrigation works;" and "upon the determination by the Secretary of the Interior that any irrigation project is practicable, he may cause to be let contracts for the construction of the same.

Some question has arisen as to whether under this law the Secretary of the Interior has authority to use earth, stone, and timber from the public lands and forest reserves in the prosecution of the surveys and examinations provided for, and whether or not the contractors who contract to construct the works are authorized or the Secretary of the Interior has the power to grant them such authority as may be necessary S R-58-8-Vol 2- -3