each case, together with their written opinion, both as to the existence of the mistake and the credibility of each person testifying thereto, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, who, if he be entirely satisfied that the mistake has been made, and that every reasonable precaution and exertion has been made to avoid it, is authorized to change the entry and transfer the payment from the tract erroneously entered to that intended to be entered, if unsold, but if sold, to any other tract liable to entry; but the oath of the person interested shall in no case be deemed sufficient, in the absence of other corroborating testimony, to authorize such change of entry, nor shall anything herein contained affect the right of third persons.

It will be observed that section 2369 is intended to afford relief to purchasers of public lands at private sale whose errors in entry have been occasioned by the original incorrect marking by the surveyor, or by the subsequent change or obliteration of those marks, or by any other error originating either with the surveyor or the land officers.

Section 2370 extends the foregoing provision to cases where patents have been or may be issued.

Section 2371 extends the provisions of both the preceding sections to errors in the location of land warrants.

Section 2372, further extending these provisions, applies to all classes of entries, and also embraces cases where the error was not occasioned by any act of the surveyor or of the land officers, but restricts changes of entry to cases in which the tract erroneously entered does not in quantity exceed one half-section, and where the certificate of the original purchaser has not been assigned or his right in any way transferred.

Change of entry may therefore be allowed, in accordance with these provisions, in respect to either of the following classes of cases, viz. :

Purchases at public sale.

Private entries.

Pre-emption entries.

Military bounty land warrant locations.

Scrip locations, etc.

A change of entry, when allowed, will be made from the tract erroneously entered to that intended to have been entered, if vacant; but if not vacant, the change may be made to any other tract liable to entry.

APPLICATION FOR CHANGE OF ENTRY.

The application must, in all cases, be made by the party making the original entry, or, in case of his death, by his legal representatives, not being assignees or transferees.

The applicant must file an affidavit showing the nature and particular cause of the error, and that every reasonable and proper precaution had been used to avoid it, accompanied by the best corroborative testimony that can be procured. The oath of the party interested is not of itself sufficient.

The affidavit must also show that the land erroneously entered has not been transferred or otherwise encumbered.

This evidence, together with the joint opinion of the Register and Re. ceiver as to the existence of the mistake, and the credibility of each person testifying thereto, will be forwarded for the decision of this office.

Where a patent has not been issued they will require the surrender of the duplicate receipt, or certificate of location (as the case may be), accom. panied by the affidavit of the party that he has not sold, assigned, nor in any way encumbered the title to the land described in the application, and that said title has not become a matter of record.

Where a patent has issued it must be surrendered.

Where the title has become a matter of record, and in all cases where patent has issued, they will require a quit-claim deed, or release, to the

United States, which deed must be executed. acknowledged, and recorded in accordance with the laws of the State or Territory in which the land is situated. They will also require a certificate from the county clerk, or other officer having charge of the books in which any conveyance of the land is required to be recorded to give it validity, stating that the records of such office do not exhibit any conveyance or other incumbrance of the land in question. In the case of a married man, a properly executed release of dower by the wife must be furnished, if a right of dower exists under the local law.

WHEN CHANGE OF ENTRY IS ALLOWED.

In all cases of application for a change of entry, when the evidence is satisfactory, a new Register's certificate will be authorized by this office, which certificate will bear the current number and date, and will be indorsed with the authority for such change.

The tract to which the change is allowed, its area, etc., will be reported on the proper monthly abstracts, with a noting in red ink of the items credited from the old certificate, and not included in the footings.

Any excess over an original amount will be accounted for as in case of the other excesses.

SALE OF MAPS AND PLATS.

An Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to sell township maps or plats remaining on hand in his office.

Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the passage of this act the Secretary of the Interior, through the Commissioner of Public Lands, be, and he is hereby, authorized to sell the photolithographic township plats or maps of the States and Territories now remaining on hand in that Department to citizens of the United States at the following prices: Authenticated copies, 50 cents per copy; unauthenticated copies, 25 cents per copy; the proceeds of said sales to be covered into the Treasury of the United States by the Secretary of the Interior.

Approved, October 12, 1888.

LOSS OF FINAL RECEIPTS.

Acting Commissioner STOCKSLAGER to WILLIAM DIXON, Clerk District Court, St. John, Kansas, September 1, 1887.

I am in receipt of your letter of the 5th inst., stating that several parties have lost their final receipts, and desiring to know whether the Receiver of the land office cannot issue duplicates, or give certificates showing that the parties have made proof and entry.

You are advised that the Receiver has no authority to issue duplicates of receipts alleged to have been lost, and that under no circumstances can such issue be permitted. It is easy to perceive that abuses would be unlimited, and that as many losses would be alleged and as many duplicates obtained as the market for their sale might demand.

Receipts are not given for the purpose of enabling loans to be effected, nor can Registers or Receivers issue certificates of any kind for that purpose. The loss of the receipt is of no consequence to the rights or claims of the entryman. It is not needed unless for delivery of its patent, and its loss can then be shown if necessary.

Meanwhile the record at the land office is evidence of the entry. This is good without the receipt. The receipt would be valueless without the

record.

J. B. EMERY.

Guano.-Lands containing deposits of bat guano, may be entered under any laws relative to the disposal of agricultural public lands.

Acting Commissioner HARRISON to J. B. EMERY, Lamar, Mo., June 7, 1884.

You state that there is quite a large deposit of bat guano in caves in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas, some of which caves are on public lands. You ask if such caves can be worked without infringing on any law of the United States.

In reply, I have to state that there is no law especially applicable to lands of the character indicated, but title to such lands may be acquired under any of the laws relating to the disposal of agricultural public lands.

MOUNDS AND RUINS OF CLIFF DWELLERS.

Inspector W. D. HARLAN to Acting Commissioner STONE, August 25, 1889.

In examining the field notes of survey of T. 36 N., 17 W., N. M. M., plat not yet approved, I find quite a region of country covered by ruins of Cliff, Dwellers, and on Sec. 4 the Surveyor unearthed quite an interesting ruin of an Aztec settlement, the ruins being of such a nature and so extensive as to call for a special report (copy herewith, with plat of settlement) by the deputy-surveyor.

I am informed that valuable relics have already been taken from this section, and have been offered to the State Historical Society for $3,000, and if not disposed of they will be offered to the Smithsonian Institute at a still higher price.

The facts are reported with the view of reserving the land until the Government, if it is deemed of sufficient importance, can send an agent to make an examination of the region and obtain such relics as may be found of value.

Secretary NOBLE to Acting Commissioner STONE, September 16, 1889.

I have to direct that Section 4, T. 36 N., R. 17 W., New Mexico meridian, in Colorado, within which said ("Cliff Dwellers ") ruins are situated, be withdrawn from disposal until an examination of the same can be had with a view of ascertaining their condition and historical value, and that steps be taken to protect the ruins from wrongful removal or destruction.

JACOB KEMPNER.

Hot Springs Commission.—The Act of March 3, 1877, created a commission, authorized, among other things, to hear proof offered by claimants and occupants, and a claim not so presented is thereafter debarred.

Acting Secretary MULDROW to Commissioner SPARKS, March 30, 1885.

I have considered the case presented by the appeal of Jacob Kempner from your decision of July 18, 1884, disallowing his application to purchase Lot 13, Block 127, Hot Springs, Arkansas.

May 6, 1884, Kempner applied at the local land office to purchase said lot at the appraised value (one hundred dollars). The application was rejected, for the reason that the lot had not been offered at public sale (it being embraced in the list of lands to be offered for sale on that day under instructions of January 18, 1884). In the course of the public sale the lot in question was sold (May 8, 1884,) to one John W. Bentz. From this action of the local officers Kempner appeals, presenting affidavits to establish the fact that he has had possession of the tract for the past eighteen

years, and has improvements thereon; and that under the Atherton-Fowler decision (96 U. S., 518) "the party making the necessary settlement and improvement acquired the right of preference in the purchase," and that he "availed himself of the first opportunity to pay the Government valuation of the land in question by tendering the purchase money to the Receiver of the local land office."

In making this claim Kempner ignores entirely the Act of March 3, 1877, (19 Stat., 377,) creating the board of commissioners to lay out Hot Springs This act (Sec. 5) empowered the commission, created thereby, "to hear any and all proof offered by claimants and occupants . . . in respect to said lands and in respect to the improvements thereon; and to finally determine the right of each claimant or occupant to purchase the same, or any portion thereof, at the appraised value, which shall be fixed by said commissioners: "Provided, however, that such claimants and occupants shall file their claims, under the provisions of this act, before said commissioners, within six calendar months after the first sitting of the said board of commissioners, or their claims shall be forever barred.”

By joint resolution of January 14, 1880 (21 Stat., 299), the time within which claimants might purchase was extended for sixty days from the passage of said resolution.

Under the provisions of the act first above cited, Kempner set up claim and purchased several lots in Hot Springs Reservation, including Lot 1 in this same block; but neither under the Act of 1877, nor the joint resolution of 1880, did he set up any claim to Lot 13 in question. Said Lot 13, therefore, being one of the lots "that no one had an adjudicated right to purchase," was, under section 12 of the Act of 1877, sold to the highest bidder at public sale, May 8, 1884, as herein before stated.

There is another act relative to the Hot Springs Reservation-that of June 16, 1880 (20 Stat., 288): but as that act relates solely to "any person, his heirs or legal representatives, in whose favor the commissioners . . . have adjudicated," it can have no bearing upon this case.

The lot in controversy, being one for which no claim had been filed before the board of commissioners established by Act of March 3, 1877, and having been, after proper public notice as required by law, sold to the highest bidder, was therefore properly disposed of; and I affirm your decision rejecting the claim of Jacob Kempner to purchase the same.

CHEROKEE NATION.

Courts of Record.-Courts of the Cherokee nation are recognized as courts of record, under the same rule as applied to courts in the States and Territories.

Secretary LAMAR to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, May 22, 1886.

I have considered your report of the 19th instant, on the subject of recognition of courts of the Cherokee nation in the Indian Territory as Courts of Record in the matter of execution of contracts under the provisions of section 2103 of the Revised Statutes of the United States.

This department will recognize as Courts of Record such courts of the Cherokee nation in the Indian Territory as possess the powers which entitle courts of the States and Territories to be recognized as Courts of Record.

The former ruling of this department on this subject, contained in letter of October 27, 1883, to your office, is so modified as to conform hereto.