270 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



fact that a man has settled upon land 

 will, however, not influence the de- 

 cision with respect to its agricultural 

 character. 



5. Any one who was a bona fide 

 settler on land within a forest reserve 

 before January 1, 1906, but who has 

 already' exercised or lost his home- 

 stead privilege, may, if otherwise qual- 

 ified, make homestead entry under the 

 provision of the proposed law, but 

 must pay $2.50 per acre for any lands 

 entered. 



6. The first preference right to enter 

 lands classified and listed under the 

 Act will be given to persons who set- 

 tled upon such lands prior to January 

 1, 1906. The second preference right 

 to enter any particular listed tract will 

 be given to persons who apply to have 

 the classification made, but this latter 

 class should not apply for the classifi- 

 cation of a tract occupied by a settler 

 before that date; otherwise, they 

 might lose their preference rights. 



7. Supervisors are often absent 

 from their headquarters, and so can 

 not be reached at all times with equal 

 certainty by all applicants. To avoid 

 any undue advantage of one applicant 

 over another due to this cause, all ap- 

 plications under this Act must be for- 

 warded by mail to the Forester, Wash- 

 ington, D. C, by the applicants. 



8. Applications dated and mailed 

 before the bill had become a law will 

 have no value and the Forester will re- 

 turn them at once, notifying the send- 

 er that he may apply again. 



9. All applications received in 

 Washington in the same mail for the 

 examination of the same tract will be 

 treated as simultaneous, and simul- 

 taneous applicants will be notified. A 

 similar notice will be given to the later 

 of two applicants for the examination 

 of the same tract. 



10. No examination of more than 

 one quarter-section will be ordered 

 upon the application of the same per- 

 son, but if an application is withdrawn 

 or rejected a second application will 

 be received for other land. 



11. All applications must give the 

 name of the forest reserve and de- 

 scribe the land, examination of which 

 is requested, by legal subdivisions, sec- 

 tion, township, and range, if surveyed, 

 and if not surveyed, by reference to 

 natural objects, streams, or improve- 

 ments with sufficient accuracy to iden- 

 tify the land. 



12. Forest officers must not make 

 application for the examination and 

 listing of lands under this Act. 



13. Instructions governing the al- 

 lowance of entries to be made under 

 the Act after the listing will be issued 

 by the Interior Department. 



" 14. When notified that the bill has 

 become a law the Supervisors should 

 inform the public as fully as practica- 

 ble. 



15. The Act expressly provides that 

 no settlement on any lands within for- 

 est reserves is authorized until they 

 have been publicly declared open to 

 settlement by the Secretary of the In- 

 terior. Any settlement on such lands 

 prior to the opening by the Secretary 

 of the Interior will not only confer no 

 rights on the settler but will constitute 

 trespass. 



16. You will please be diligent in 

 discovering and preventing any such 

 trespasses "and report them promptly 

 to the Forester. 



17. Please give the widest possible 

 publicity to this order to discourage 

 such settlement and to prevent loss 

 and trouble to intending settlers. 



It will be impossible, with the official 

 force and funds at the Forester's com- 

 mand, to list agricultural land within 

 forest reserves as soon as the appli- 

 cants may wish. The first effort will 

 be to place people who were actually 

 living within the reserve on January 

 1, 1906, and who are technically tres- 

 passers, in the proper position by ex- 

 aming and listing their lands, if they 

 are found chiefly valuable for agricul- 

 ture. Thereafter all purely agricul- 

 tural lands within forest reserves will 

 be brought within the reach of would- 

 be homestead settlers as soon as prac- 

 ticable. There is some danger that 



