party who enters a quarter section, or a proportionate quantity for any smaller fractional subdivision; Provided, however, That no final certificate shall be given or patent issued for the land so entered until the expiration of eight years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or any time within five years thereafter, the person making such entry, or, if he or she be dead, his or her heirs or legal representatives, shall prove, by two credible witnesses, that he, or she, or they have planted, and, for not less than eight years, have cultivated and protected, such quantity and character of timber as aforesaid, they shall receive a patent for such quarter section or legal subdivision of eighty or forty acres of land, or for any fractional quantity of less than forty acres, as herein provided. And in case of the death of a person who has complied with the provisions of this act for the period of three years, his heirs or legal representatives shall have the option to comply with the provisions of this act, and receive at the expiration of eight years, a patent for one hundred and sixty acres, or receive without delay a patent for forty acres, relinquishing all claim to the remainder.

SEC. 3. That if, at any time after the filing of said affidavit, and prior to the issuing of the patent for said land, the claimant shall abandon the land, or fail to do the breaking and planting required by this act, or any part thereof, or shall fail to cultivate, protect and keep in good condition such timber, then, and in that event, such land shall be subject to entry under the homestead laws, or by some other person under the provisions of this act; Provided, That the party making claim to said land, either as a homestead settler or under this act, shall give, at the time of filing his application, such notice to the original claimant as shall be prescribed by the rules established by the commissioner of the general land office, and the rights of the parties shall be determined as in other contested cases.

SEC. 4. That each and every person who, under the provisions of the act entitled "an act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain," approved May twentieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, or any amendment thereto, having a homestead on said public domain, who, at any time after the end of the third year of his or her residence thereon, shall, in addition to the settlement and improvements now required by law, have had under cultivation, for two years, one acre of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way, and in a good thrifty condition, for each and every sixteen acres of said homestead, shall, upon due proof of such fact by two credible witnesses, receive his or her patent for said homestead.

SEC. 5. That no land acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of certificate therefor.

SEC. 6. That the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and the receivers of the several land offices shall each be entitled to receive two dollars at the time of entry, and the same sum when the claim is finally established and the final certificate issued.

SEC. 7. That the fifth section of the act entitled "an act in addition to an act to punish crimes against the United States and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this set.

SEC. 8. That parties who have already made entries under the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, of which this is amendatory, shall be permitted to complete the same upon full compliance with the provisions of this act.

Approved, March 13, 1874.

[From U. S. Revised Statutes, Chapter Two.]

SEC. 2164. Every person who plants, protects, and keeps in a healthy growing condition for ten years forty acres of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way, on any quarter section of any of the public lands, shall be entitled to a patent for the whole of such quarter section at the expiration of the ten years, on making proof of such fact by not less than two credible witnesses; Provided, That only one quarter in any section shall be thus granted.

SEC. 2465. Every person applying for the benefit of the preceding section shall, upon application to the register of the land office in which he is about to make such entry, make affidavit before the register or receiver that such entry is made for the cultivation of timber, and upon filing his affidavit with the register and receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified.

SEC. 2466. No certificate shall be given or patent issue therefor until the expiration of at least ten years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within three years thereafter, the person making such entry, or, if he be dead, his heirs or legal representatives, shall prove by two credible witnesses that he has planted, and for not less than ten years, has cultivated and protected such quantity and character of timber. he shall receive the patent for such quarter section of land.

SEC. 2467. If at any time after the filing of such affidavit, and prior to the issuing of the patent for the land, it is proved, after due notice to the party making such entry and claiming to cultivate such timber, to the satisfaction of the register of the land office, that such person has abandoned or failed to cultivate, protect, and keep in good condition such timber, then, and in that event, the land shall revert to the United States.

SEC. 2468. No land acquired under the provisions of the four preceding sections shall, in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of a patent therefor.

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SURVEY OF THE PUBLIC LANDS.

[From U. S. Revised Statutes, Chapter Nine.]

SEC. 2395. The public lands shall be divided by north and south lines run according to the true meridian, and by others crossing them at right angles, so as to form townships of six miles square, unless where the line of an Indian reservation, or of tracts of land heretofore surveyed or patented, or the course of navigable rivers, may render this impracticable; and in that case this rule must be departed from no further than such particular circumstances require.

Second. The corners of the townships must be marked with progressive numbers from the beginning; each distance of a mile between such corners must be also distinctly marked with marks different from those of the corners. Third. The township shall be subdivided into sections, containing, as nearly as may be, six hundred and forty acres each, by running through the same, each way, parallel lines at the end of every two miles; and by marking a corner on each of such lines, at the end of every mile. The sections shall be numbered respectively, begining with the number one, in the north-east section, and proceeding west and east alternately through the township with progressive numbers, till the thirty-six be completed.

Fourth. The deputy surveyors, respectively, shall cause to be marked on a tree near each corner established in the manner described, and within the section, the number of such section, and over it the number of the township within which such section may be; and the deputy surveyors shall carefully note, in their respective field books, the names of the corner-trees marked and the numbers so made.

Fifth. Where the exterior lines of the townships which may be subdivided into sections or half-sections exceed, or do not extend, six miles, the excess or deficiency shall be specially noted, and added to, or deducted from, the western and northern ranges of sections or half-sections in such township, according as the error may be in running the lines from east to west, or from north to south; the sections and half-sections bounded on the northern and western lines of such townships shall be sold as containing only the quantity expressed in the returns and plats respectively, and all others as containing the complete legal quantity.

Sixth. All lines shall be plainly marked upon trees, and measured with chains, containing two perches of sixteen and one-half feet cach, subdivided into twenty-five equal links; and the chain shall be adjusted to a standard to be kept for that purpose.

Seventh. Every surveyor shall note in his field book the true situations of all mines, salt licks, salt springs, and mill seats which come to his knowl

edge; all water courses over which the line he runs may pass; and also the quality of the lands.

Eighth. These field-books shall be returned to the surveyor-general, who shall cause therefrom a description of the whole lands surveyed to be made out and transmitted to the officers who may superintend the sales. He shall also cause a fair plat to be made of the townships and fractional parts of townships contained in the lands, describing the subdivisions thereof, and the marks of the corners. This plat shall be recorded in books to be kept for that purpose; and a copy thereof shall be kept open at the surveyor-general's office for public information, and other copies shall be sent to the places of the sale, and to the General Land Office.

SEC. 2396. The boundaries and contents of the several sections, half-sections and quarter-sections of the public lands shall be ascertained in conformity with the following principles:

First. All the corners marked in the surveys, returned by the surveyorgeneral, shall be established as the proper corners of sections, or subdivisions of sections, which they were intended to designate; and the corners of half and quarter sections, not marked on the surveys, shall be placed as nearly as possible equidistant from those two corners which stand on the same line.

Second. The boundary lines, actually run and marked in the surveys returned by the surveyor general, shall be established as the proper boundary lines of the sections, or subdivisions, for which they were intended, and the length of such lines, as returned, shall be held and considered as the true length thereof. And the boundary lines which have not been actually run and marked shall be ascertained, by running straight lines from the established corners to the opposite corresponding corners; but in those portions of the fractional townships where no such opposite corresponding corners have been, or can be, fixed, the boundary lines shall be ascertained by running from the established corners due north and south, or east and west, lines, as the case may be, to the water course, Indian boundary line, or other external boundary of such fractional township.

Third. Each section or subdivision of section, the contents whereof have been returned by the surveyor-general, shall be held and considered as containing the exact quantity expressed in such return; and the half-sections and quarter-sections, the contents whereof shall not have been thus returned, shall be held and considered as containing the one-half or the one-fourth part, respectively, of the returned contents of the section of which they may make part.

SEC. 2397. In every case of the division of a quarter-section, the line for the division thereof shall run north and south, and the corners and contents of half quarter-sections which may thereafter be sold, shall be ascertained in the manner and on the principles directed and prescribed by the section preceding, and fractional sections containing one hundred and sixty acres or upwards shall in like manner, as nearly as practicable, be subdivided into half quarter-sections, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and in every case of a division of a half quarter-section, the line for the division thereof shall run east and west, and the corners and contents of quarter quarter-sections, which may thereafter be sold, shall be ascertained as nearly as may be, in the manner, and on the principles directed and prescribed by the section preceding; and fractional sections containing fewer or more than one hundred and sixty acres shall in like manner, as nearly as may be practicable, be subdivided into quarter quarter-sections, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 2398. Contracts for the survey of the public lands shall not become binding upon the United States until approved by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, except in such cases as the Commissioner may otherwise specially order.

SEC. 2399. The printed manual of instructions relating to the public surveys, prepared at the General Land Office, and bearing date February twentysecond, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, the instructions of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and the special instructions of the surveyor-general, when not in conflict with such printed manual, or the instructions of the Commissioner, shall be taken and deemed to be a part of every contract for surveying the public lands.

SEC. 2400. The Commissioner of the General Land Office has power, and it shall be his duty, to fix the prices per mile for public surveys, which shall in no case exceed the maximum established by law; and, under instructions to be prepared by the commissioner, an accurate account shall be kept by each surveyor-general of the cost of surveying and platting private land claims, to be reported to the General Land Office, with the map of such claim, and patents shall not issue for any such private claim until the cost of survey and platting has been paid into the treasury by the claimant.

SEC. 2401. When the settlers in any township, not mineral or reserved by government, desire a survey made of the same, under the authority of the Surveyor General, and file an application therefor in writing, and deposit in a proner United States depository, to the credit of the United States, a sum sufficient to pay for such survey, together with all expenses incident thereto, without cost or claim for indemnity on the United States, it may be lawful for the surveyor-general, under such instructions as may be given him by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and in accordance with law, to survey such township and make return thereof to the general and proper local land office, provided the township so proposed to be surveyed is within the range of the regular progress of the public surveys embraced by existing standard lines or bases for the township and sub-divisional sur

veys.

SEC. 2402. The deposit of money in a proper United States depository, under the provisions of the preceding section, shall be deemed an appropriation of the sums so deposited for the objects contemplated by that section, and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to cause the sums so deposited to be placed to the credit of the proper appropriations for the surveying service; but any excesses in such sums over and above the actual cost of the surveys, comprising all expenses incident thereto, for which they were severally deposited, shall be re-paid to to the depositors, respectively.

SEC. 2403. Where settlers make deposits, in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-four hundred and seven, the amount so deposited shall go in part payment for their lands situated in the townships, the surveying of which is paid for out of such deposits.

SEC. 2404. The Commissioner of the General Land Office may authorize, in his discretion, public lands in Oregon, densely covered with forests or thick undergrowth, to be surveyed at augmented rates, not exceeding eighteen dollars per mile for standard parallels, fifteen dollars for township and twelve dollars for section lines.

SEC. 2405. The Commissioner of the General Land Offie, in his discretion, may hereafter authorize public lands in California, and in Washington Territory, densely covered with forest or thick undergrowth, to be surveyed at augmented rates, not exceeding eighteen dollars per near mile for