334 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



damns to compel the Secretary of the Interior to recall and revoke his 

 decision, to reinstate the entry, and to issue patent, A rule to show 

 cause was issued, and this office assisted in the preparation of the 

 Secretary's return. The matter was pending argument at the close 

 of the year. 



As a result of the ruling of the Secretary of the Interior in the 

 Hoglund case, four other cases of similar nature were subsequently 

 decided in favor of the Government. 



In Ada B. Millican, upon the appeal of this office, the Secretary of 

 the Interior overruled the Commissioner of the General Land Office 

 and held that where a 40-acre subdivision of land is chiefly valuable 

 because of a spring which it contains, and not for its timber, it can 

 not be appropriated under the timber and stone law of June 3, 1878 

 (20 Stat., 89), and that each 40-acre subdivision applied for must be 

 sold at not less than the minimum price of $2.50 per acre, notwith- 

 standing the purchase price of the entire tract would be sufficient to 

 make the average price per acre more than the sx^ecified minimum. 



TEESPASS. 



Damages and fines recovered during the year for trespasses upon 

 the National Forests were : 



class of trespass. 



Grazing. 

 Timber. 

 Fire 



General. 



Total... 



Damages. 



$4,617.09 



9,127.59 



2,088.44 



233. 90 



16,067.02 



Fines. 



$260 



25 



890 



310 



1,485 



In addition, 45 cases of illegal occupancy of National Forest lands, 

 principally involving the appropriation of lands for hydroelectric 

 power development and transmission without permit, illegal in- 

 closures, and claims of title adverse to the United States, were dealt 

 with by the institution of injunction proceedings, settlement without 

 recourse to the courts, or other means not including the assessment 

 of damages or fines. Decrees for the United States were entered 

 in 15 cases; decree passed for defendant in one case which is now 

 pending on the Government's appeal; 2 cases were dismissed; 1 

 was settled by defendant's quitclaiming the land to the United States ; 

 and the remaining cases were pending in various stages in court at 

 the close of the year. 



From the financial standpoint, the most important trespass case 

 handled during the year was that against the Great Northern Rail- 

 way Co., C. W. Werdenhoff, and Winston Bros, Co. Suit was in- 

 stituted against these defendants in the district of Montana to re- 

 cover upward of $232,000, the value of timber destroyed hj fires 

 started through the alleged negligence of Winston Bros. Co., sub- 

 contractor of Werdenhoff, who had contracted with the railway 

 company to widen and clear a portion of its track. 



GENERAL LITIGATION. 



Twenty-three cases not referable to any of the above classes were 

 handled. Among these were two suits for the recovery of damages 

 for breaches of timber-sale contracts; one by the Northern Pacific 



