Adjudications under above: 3 Aug., 1846, c. 78, s. 1, v. 9,

SEC. 2451. Every such adjudication shall be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney-Gen- how approved. eral, acting as a board; and shall operate only to divest p.51. the United States of the title of the lands embraced thereby, without prejudice to the rights of conflicting claimants.

SEC. 2452. The Commissioner is directed to report to Congress at the first session after any such adjudications de have been made a list of the same under the classes prescribed by law, with a statement of the principles upon was determined.

Report of adjudications un

preceding sections.

3 Aug., 1846, c. 78, s. 2, v. 9. p. 51.

which each class

into classes.

Decisions to be arranged 3 Aug., 1846, c. 78, s. 3, v. 9,

SEC. 2453. The Commissioner shall arrange his decisions into two classes; the first class to embrace all such cases of equity as may be finally confirmed by the board, P. 51. and the second class to embrace all such cases as the board reject and decide to be invalid.

SEC. 2454. For all lands covered by claims which are placed in the first class, patents shall issue to the claimants; and all lands embraced by claims placed in the second class shall ipso facto revert to, and become part of, the public domain.

Patents to issue for lands

in

the first class, and lands in United States. p. 51.

second class to revert to the 3 Aug., 1846, c. 78, s. 4, v. 9,

Commissioner to order into 3 Aug.,1846, c. 78, s. 5, v. 9,

SEC. 2455.' It may be lawful for the Commissioner of the General Land Office to order into market, after due market lands of second class. notice, without the formality and expense of a proclama. p. 51. tion of the President, all lands of the second class, though heretofore unproclaimed and unoffered, and such other isolated or disconnected tracts or parcels of unoffered lands which, in his judgment, it would be proper to expose to sale in like manner. But public notice of at least thirty days shall be given by the land officers of the district in which such lands may be situated, pursuant to the directions of the Commissioner.

cases.

SEC. 2456. Where patents have been already issued Patents surrendered and on entries which are confirmed by the officers who are new constituted the board of adjudication, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, upon the canceling of the outstanding patent, is authorized to issue a new patent, on such confirmation, to the person who made the entry, his heirs or assigns.

ones issued in certain 3 Mar., 1853, c. 152, s. 2, v. 10, p. 258.

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26 June, 1856, c. 47, v. 11,

SEC. 2457. The preceding provisions, from section Extent of foregoing protwenty-four hundred and fifty to section twenty-four visions. hundred and fifty-six, inclusive, shall be applicable to P. 22. all cases of suspended entries and locations, which have arisen in the General Land Office since the twenty-sixth day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, as well as to all cases of a similar kind which may hereafter occur, embracing as well locations under bounty-land warrants as ordinary entries or sales, including homestead entries and preemption locations or cases; where the law has been substantially complied with, and the error or informality arose from ignorance, accident, or mistake which is satisfactorily explained; and where the rights of no other claimant or preempter are prejudiced, or where there is no adverse claim.

[The rules and regulations of the board of equitable adjudication will be found printed hereinafter. See Appendix No. 85, p. 265.|

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' Amended by act of February 26, 1895 (28 Stat., 687), Appendix No. 63, p. 238.

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SEC. 2469. The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall cause to be prepared, and shall certify, under the seal of the office, such copies of records, books, and papers on file in his office as may be applied for, to be used in evidence in courts of justice. (See secs. 461 and 891.)

SEC. 2470. Literal exemplifications of any records which have been or may be granted in virtue of the preceding section shall be deemed of the same validity in all proceedings, whether at law or in equity, wherein such exemplifications are adduced in evidence, as if the names of the officers signing and countersigning the same had been fully inserted in such record. (Secs. 461, 891.)

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CERTIFIED COPIES.

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Power of Commissioner of

title.

SEC. 2478. The Commissioner of the General Land Land Office to enforce this Office, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, is authorized to enforce and carry into execution, by appropriate regulations, every part of the provisions of this title not otherwise specially provided for.

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APPROPRIATE REGULATIONS.

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[No. 2.]

PENALTY OF PERJURY.

AN ACT to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States.

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SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where any oath, affirmation, or affidavit shall be made or taken before any register or receiver, or either or both of them, of any local land office in the United States or any Territory thereof, or where any oath, affirmation or affidavit shall be made or taken before any person authorized by the laws of any State or Territory of the United States to administer oaths or affirmations, or take affidavits, and such oaths, affirmations, or affidavits are made, used, or filed in any of said local land offices, or in the General Land Office, as well in cases arising under any or either of the orders, regulations, or instructions concerning any of the public lands of the United States, issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office or other proper officer of the Government of the United States, as under the laws of the United States, in anywise relating to or affecting any right, claim, or title, or any contest therefor, to any of the public lands of the United States, and if any person or persons shall, taking such oath, affirmation, or affidavit, knowingly, willfully, or corruptly swear or affirm falsely, the same shall be deemed and taken to be perjury, and the person or persons guilty thereof shall, upon conviction, be liable to the punishment prescribed for that offense by the laws of the United States.

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Approved, March 3, 1857. (11 Stat., 250.)

REVISED STATUTES, SEC. 5392. Every person who, having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that

he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true, is guilty of perjury, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment, at hard labor, not more than five years, and shall, moreover, thereafter, be incapable of giving testimony in any court of the United States until such time as the judgment against him is reversed. (See sec. 1750.)

[No. 3.]

SALT SPRINGS.

AN ACT providing for the sale of saline lands.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever it shall be made appear to the register and the receiver of any land-office of the United States that any lands within their district are saline in character, it shall be the duty of said register and said receiver, under the regulation of the General Land Office, to take testimony in reference to such lands to ascertain their true character, and to report the same to the General Land Office; and if, upon such testimony, the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall find that such lands are saline and incapable of being purchased under any of the laws of the United States relative to the public domain, then, and in such case, such lands shall be offered for sale by public auction at the local land-office of the district in which the same shall be situated, under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and sold to the highest bidder for cash at a price not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; and in case said lands fail to sell when so offered, then the same shall be subject to private sale at such land-office, for cash, at a price not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, in the same manner as other lands of the United States are sold: Provided, That the foregoing enactments shall not apply to any State or Territory which has not had a grant of salines by act of Congress, nor to any State which may have had such a grant, until either the grant has been fully satisfied, or the right of selection thereunder has expired by efflux of time. But nothing in this act shall authorize the sale or conveyance of any title other than such as the United States has, and the patents issued shall be in the form of a release and quit-claim of all title of the United States in such lands.

SEC. 2. That all executive proclamations relating to the sales of public lands shall be published in only one newspaper, the same to be printed and published in the State or Territory where the lands are situated, and to be designated by the Secretary of the Interior.

Approved, January 12, 1877. (19 Stat., 221.)

[No. 4.]

DESERT LANDS.

AN ACT to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and Territories.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for any citizen of the United States, or any person of requisite age "who may be entitled to become a citizen, and who has filed his declaration to become such," and upon payment of twenty-five cents per acre, to file a declaration, under oath, with the register and the receiver of the land district in which any desert land is situated, that he intends to reclaim a tract of desert land, not exceeding one section; by conducting water upon the same within the period of three years thereafter: Provided, however, That the right to the use of water by the person so conducting the same on or to any tract of desert land of six hundred and forty acres shall depend upon bona fide prior appropriation; and such right shall not exceed the amount of water actually appropriated and necessarily used for the purpose of irrigation and reclamation; and all surplus water over and above such actual appropriation and use, together with the water of all lakes, rivers, and other sources of water supply upon the public lands, and not navigable, shall remain and be held free for the appropriation and use of the public for irrigation, mining, and manufacturing purposes subject to existing rights. Said declaration shall describe particularly said section of land if surveyed, and if unsurveyed shall describe the same as nearly as possible without a survey. At any time within the period of three years after filing said declaration, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and receiver of the reclamation of said tract of land in the manner aforesaid, and upon the payment to the receiver of the additional sum of one dollar per acre for a tract of land not exceeding six hundred and forty acres to any one person, a patent for the same shall be issued to him: Provided, That no person shall be permitted to enter more than one tract of land, and not to exceed six hundred and forty acres, which shall be in compact form.

SEC. 2. That all lands exclusive of timber lands and mineral lands which will not, without irrigation, produce some agricultural crop, shall be deemed desert lands within the meaning of this act, which fact shall be ascertained by proof of two or more credible witnesses under oath, whose affidavits shall be filed in the land-office in which said tract of land may be situated.

SEC. 3. That this act shall only apply to and take effect in the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, and Dakota, and the determination of what may be considered desert land shall be subject to the decision and regulation of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Approved, March 3, 1877. (19 Stat., 377.)

[No. 5.]

HOMESTEAD PROOF.

AN ACT to amend section twenty-two hundred and ninety-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in relation to proof required in homestead entries.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proof of residence, occupation, or cultivation, the affidavit of non-alienation, and the oath of allegiance, required to be made by section twenty-two hundred and ninety-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, may be made before the judge, or in his absence, before the clerk of any court of record of the county and State, or district and Territory in which the lands are situated; and if said lands are situated in any unorganized county such proof may be made in a similar manner in any adjacent county in said State or Territory; and the proof, affidavit, and oath, when so made and duly subscribed, shall have the same force and effect as if made before the register or receiver of the proper land district; and the same shall be transmitted by such judge, or the clerk of his court, to the register and the receiver, with the fee and charges allowed by law to him; and the register and receiver shall be entitled to the same fees for examining and approving said testimony as are now allowed by law for taking the same.

SEC. 2. That if any witness making such proof, or the said applicant making such affidavit or oath, swears falsely as to any material matter contained in said proof, affidavits, or oaths, the said false swearing being willful and corrupt, he shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and shall be liable to the same pains and penalties as if he had sworn falsely before the register.

Approved, March 3, 1877. (19 Stat., 403.)

[No. 6.]

TIMBER AND STONE ENTRIES.

AN ACT for the sale of timber lands in the States of California, Oregon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That surveyed public lands of the United States within the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and in Washington Territory, not included within military, Indian, or other reservations of the United States, valuable chiefly for timber, but unfit for cultivation, and which have not been offered at public sale, according to law, may be sold to citizens of the United States, or persons who have declared their intention to become such, in quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one person or association of persons, at the minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre; and lands valuable chiefly for stone may be sold on the same terms as timber lands: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide claim under any law of the United States, or authorize the sale of any mining claim, or the improvements of any bona fide settler, or lands containing gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or