274 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



rigation project, the time during 

 which the desert-land entryman has 

 been or may be so hindered, delayed, 

 or prevented from complying with the 

 desert-land law shall not be computed 

 in determining the time within which 

 such entryman has been or may be 

 required to make improvements or 

 reclaim the land embraced within any 

 such desert-land entry: Provided, 

 That if after investigation the irriga- 

 tion project has been or may be aban- 

 doned by the Government, time for 

 compliance with the desert-land law 

 by any such entryman shall begin to 

 run from the date of notice of such 

 abandonment of the project and the 

 restoration to the public domain of the 

 lands withdrawn in connection there- 

 with, and credit shall be allowed for 

 all expenditures and improvements 

 heretofore made on any such desert- 

 land entry of which proof has been 

 filed; but if the reclamation project 

 is carried to completion so as to 

 make available a- water supply for 

 the land embraced in any such desert- 

 land entry, the entryman shall there- 

 upon comply with all the provisions 

 of the aforesaid Act of June 17, 1902. 

 and shall relinquish all land embraced 

 within his desert-land entry in excess 

 of 160 acres, and as to such 160 acres 

 retained, he shall be entitled to make 

 final proof and obtain patent upon 

 compliance with the terms of payment 

 prescribed in said Act of June 17, 

 1902, and not otherwise. But nothing 

 herein contained shall be held to re- 

 quire a desert-land entryman who 

 owns a water right and reclaims the 

 land embraced in his entry to accept 

 the conditions of said Reclamation 

 Act. 



On June 9, 1906, the President ap- 

 proved "An Act to provide for the dis- 

 position, under the public land laws, 

 of lands within the abandoned Fort 

 Shaw Military Reservation, Mont." 

 The act is brief and its terms can be 

 readily understood from the following 

 text : 



An Act to provide for the disposi- 

 tion under the public land laws of 

 the lands in abandoned Fort Shaw 

 Military Reservation, Mont. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and 

 House of Representatives of the 

 United States of America in Congress 

 assembled, That the Secretary of the 

 Interior is hereby authorized to dis- 

 pose of the lands in the abandoned 

 Fort Shaw Military Reservation, in 

 Montana, under the provisions of the 

 public land laws, and the public land 

 surveys shall be extended over the 

 lands therein : Provided, That he may 

 reserve for Indian school purposes the 

 following-described lands in township 

 twenty north, range two west, Mon- 

 tana principal meridian, as determined 

 by the extension of the public surveys : 

 That portion of section two lying 

 south of Sun River, all of sections 

 eleven, fourteen, and twenty-three, 

 and that portion of section twenty-six 

 lving within the present reservation 

 boundry : Provided further. That be- 

 fore opening the reservation to entry, 

 the Secretary of the Interior may 

 withdraw any other lands therein 

 needed in connection with an irriga- 

 tion project under the provisions of 

 the Act of June 17, 1902, known as 

 the Reclamation Act, for use or dis- 

 position thereunder. 



The lands in the Fort Shaw Mili- 

 tary Reservation will form an import- 

 ant part of the Sun River project in 

 Montana, and the fact that this area 

 of 29,843 acres, which contains 17,- 

 500 acres of irrigable land, was not 

 open to disposition under the Recla- 

 mation Act excluded from the Sun 

 River project some of the best lands 

 which could have been irrigated under 

 the system. 



This large area was unused except 

 for the Indian school, which was es- 

 tablished there some years ago. The 

 school could properly use but a very 

 small portion of the land and this act 

 consequently sets apart about 2,200 

 acres, which includes the lands al- 

 ready improved by the school and is 

 supposed to be ample for all its pur- 

 poses. 



The passage of this act will simplify 

 the development of the Sun River 

 project and add to it a considerable 

 area of valuable land. 



